Wind Instrument - Types of Wind Instruments

Types of Wind Instruments

Wind instruments are typically grouped into two families:

• Brass instruments
• Woodwind instruments

Although brass instruments were originally made of brass and woodwind instruments have traditionally been made of wood, the material used to make the body of the instrument is not always a reliable guide to its family type. A more accurate way to determine whether an instrument is brass or woodwind is to examine how the player produces sound. In brass instruments, the player's lips vibrate, causing the air within the instrument to vibrate. In woodwind instruments the player either:

• causes a reed to vibrate, which agitates the column of air (as in a clarinet, oboe or duduk)
• blows against an edge or fipple (as in a recorder), or
• blows across the edge of an open hole (as in a flute).

For example, the saxophone is typically made of brass, but is classified as a woodwind instrument because it produces sound with a vibrating reed.

On the other hand, the wooden cornett (not to be confused with the cornet, which is made of brass) and the serpent are both made of wood (or plastic tubing, in the case of modern serpents), but belong to the family of brass instruments because the vibrating is done by the player's lips.

In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, wind instruments are classed as aerophones.