How Do Wind Instruments Produce Sounds?
Wind instruments convert a moving column of air into sound, whether the air comes from the player's lungs or an external device. This category of instruments extends far beyond the familiar brasses and woodwinds of the orchestra to include harmonicas, accordions and bagpipes, all of which use unconventional methods of setting air into motion. For traditional wind instruments, however, players use their own lips and lungs to control the passage of air through the instrument, and in some cases the pitch as well.
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Definition
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WorldMusicalInstruments.com defines wind instruments, or aerophones, as those that make sound by using a reed or mouthpiece to set air into vibration, at which point changes to the length of the tube, by pressing valves, opening keys or adjusting a slide, aid in creating different pitches. Wind instruments include both brass and woodwind families of instruments.
The Brass Family
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The brass family of wind instruments includes trumpets, trombones, French horns, baritone horns and tubas. These metallic, tubular instruments have a cup-shaped or conical metal mouthpiece, and players produce sound by pressing their lips against the end of the mouthpiece and blowing into it in such a way that the closed lips "buzz" or vibrate, according to Hypermusic.
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Reed Instruments
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A branch of the woodwind family known as the reed instrument family uses a vibrating reed to create a sound. In single-reed instruments such as the clarinet, a single reed clamps over a slot in a plastic mouthpiece, and players wrap their lips around the end of the mouthpiece and blow air past the reed, causing it to vibrate. Double-reed instruments such as the oboe do not use a mouthpiece; instead, the two parts of the bamboo wrap around a brass stem that fits into the instrument. The player blows air past the reeds, which vibrate against each other to create a sound.
Flutes
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Flutes, which belong to the woodwind family, do not require a reed but simply use the player's breath as it travels into or over a hole in the instrument's head joint. Players of concert flutes hold the instrument horizontally and blow across the hole. The air hits the edge of the hole in a way that creates a sound, according to Conn-Selmer Keynotes. Transverse (vertically-held) flutes such as recorders and penny-whistles, by contrast, have a mouthpiece with a slotted end, into which the player blows to create a sound.
Other Wind Instruments
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Some wind instruments use different techniques than simple exhaled air. The harmonica, a handheld metal wind instrument, requires the player to exhale for some tones and inhale for others. The accordion qualifies as a wind instrument because it squeezes air inside a bellows out through tuned reeds connected to individual keys or holes to produce different sounds. Bagpipes, technically a kind of reed woodwind instrument, have the additional feature of an air reservoir that the player can squeeze to keep air flowing through the reeds, producing a seemingly endless tone.
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References
- Photo Credit la trompeta y el oboe image by rosa zaragoza from Fotolia.com
