Wind Instruments List With Pictures

Wind instruments encompass every musical instrument that takes the aid of air vibration for generating sound. There are also termed aerophones.

Without the flow of air, there is no way such instruments can function. Specifically, they possess a tube in their design.

The tube acts like a channel where the flow of air takes place. When the air vibrates, unique and soothing music is produced.

Such instruments are used in different genres of music. For example, the trumpet is used in classical, jazz, and modern genres.

Likewise, the bassoon is another wind instrument used in bands as well as orchestras.

Per the entry of air, there are two more categories inside the wind instrument.

Types Of Wind Instruments are 1. Brass instruments 2. Woodwinds. The classification is based on the method of sound production and construction material.

As a rule, brass instruments are made of brass, which is an alloy of two elements, Copper and Zinc.

Similarly, in the Woodwind family, the instruments built with wood are placed. Nevertheless, saxophones and clarinets oppose this statement.

It is because they are made of brass despite being in woodwind.

It is worth noting that until the 19th century, wind instruments were segregated per the construction material only.

The 20th century witnessed several advancements in technology and science. So did the music world.

Hence, the current classification based on the method of vibration came into existence.

Brass vs Woodwind

The main difference between brass and woodwind is that the former is vibrated using the lips of the player. Woodwind uses wooden reeds for vibration.

There are 3 ways for making the air vibrate in woodwind:

• Blowing air directly into the open hole, like in a Flute.
• Blowing air on the fipple so that it can direct the air toward the duct, like in a Recorder.
• Usage of reed, which can be single or double, like in Clarinet and Bagpipes.

Talking about brass, reeds are absent. Also, it does not comprise a single piece of wood.

Since brass uses only lips for vibration, it has been aptly given the moniker 'labrosones'. Its direct translation is lip vibrated instrument.

Brass Instruments List With Pictures consists of trumpet, euphonium, trombone, cimbasso, and a few more. Here is a list of all the brass instruments:

Trumpet

The list of brass instruments starts with the trumpet. It is one of the most sought-after tools among classical and jazz musicians.

Generally, the tube of the trumpet is about 1.48 meters long. For playing it one needs to blow air through the opening called an embouchure.

Euphonium

Euphonium is an instrument of the brass family that is neither too complex nor too easy to play. By the looks of it, one might register it as a tuba.

But they are quite contrasting. Euphonium has 3-4 valves and they can produce a wide range of notes.

Trombone

Trombone has been categorized as one of the easiest musical instruments from this family. Its origin can be traced back to the 15th century.

While most brass instruments use valves for sound production trombone uses a slide.

Cimbasso

Cimbasso is highly popular amongst Italians. Being a low-toned musical tool, it possesses 4-6 valves, a bell, and a bore.

The specialist of Cimbasso is that it can generate varieties of sounds; warm, bright, mellow, and menacing.

Tuba

The largest member of the Brass family is Tuba. In Latin, it means 'tube.'

The key feature of the Tuba is its low range of sound. That is why, mostly it is used as the base of the sound.

French Horn

Also called a horn, the French Horn has a tube that is coiled up. Similarly, it consists of rotary valves.

The types of French Horn are:

• Double French Horn
• Single French Horn

Flugelhorn

For those who are skilled in playing trumpet, Flugelhorn is a piece of cake. Compared to the former, Flugelhorn has a bore of larger size.

It produces sound with a dark and mellow tone when played in the low range.

Bugle

Bugle has neither slides nor valves making their construction simple. The parts of this instrument simple in design are:

• wide conical bore
• tube
• funnel-shaped bell

The downside is its inability to generate more than 6 notes.

Cornet

When the cornet first appeared in the scene, it used to work with rotary valves. A decade later, they were replaced by piston valves.

It seems quite similar to the trumpet. The varying attribute is the compact conical bore.

Mellophone

The mellophone can be an alternative to French Horn. Its use is mostly seen in marching bands.

To operate this musical instrument, one needs to move the tuning slide.

Woodwind Instruments List With Pictures contains 1. Recorder 2. Harmonica 3. Bagpipes and 7 others. Below is the list of all of them with origin dates:

• Recorder - 14th century
• Harmonica - 1820
• Bagpipes - 14th century
• Piccolo - 1832
• Duduk - 95-55 B.C.E.
• Fife - 12th century
• Clarinet - 1698
• Saxophone - 1840
• Bassoon - 17th-century
• Oboe - 17th century

Recorder

The recorder is a woodwind instrument consisting of 7 holes. For playing it, the fingers should be placed systematically at those holes.

Originally, they were made of wood. But, nowadays, plastic recorders are quite common.

Harmonica

Harmonica is an instrument with multi holes that can range from 10 to 48. The production of notes depends on the number of holes it has.

By blowing into them, one can play harmonica.

Bagpipes

Bagpipes are a staple piece of musical instrument among Scottish. It was heavily used in the British military and slowly it widespread around the globe.

Compared to other wind wood tools, it is quite complex. Not only its design but its method of playing has been deemed difficult by many.

Piccolo

In Italian, Piccolo simply stands for a small flute. Its origin dates back to 1832 and credit goes to Theobald Boehm for its construction.

Looking at the size, it might be smaller to flute. However, it has the highest pitch.

Duduk

Duduk stands as one of the few instruments that are played in pairs for the best sound. When Armenian traditional songs are sung duduk is used.

It is an ancient instrument invented in the 8th century BC.

Fife

Traditionally, the fife consisted of 6 holes. It is common to have 10 to 11 finger holes in modern fife instruments.

Its geometry may be similar to flute but it is not as easy to play. They are mostly used by marching bands and in the military.

Clarinet

The woodwind instrument with only 1 reed is a clarinet. It has an elongated cylindrical body comprising a bore and bell.

It has the ability to generate a wider range of pitch.

Saxophone

Typically, instruments made of brass are placed as brass instruments. Saxophone is an exception.

It is due to the fact that they possess a reed for sound production. And the reed is usually a wooden strip.

Bassoon

When the air is blown into the reed from the musician's mouth, the bassoon generates sound.

At once, the bassoonist can play two notes. If they aim for 3 notes, it can be difficult but not impossible.

Oboe

Oboe is mainly practiced in the orchestra. It has a double reed and conical bore.

Other parts of the oboe are keys, a bell, and a long wooden body.

Wind Instruments In Orchestra consist of a piccolo, saxophone, bassoon, clarinet, flute, and a few others. Both brass and woodwind are included.

These are the brass instrument used in the orchestra:

• Trumpet
• Bugle
• Cornet
• Alto Trombone
• Tuba
• Euphonium
• Cimbasso
• F Horn
• Flugelhorn

Here is a list of woodwind instruments used in the orchestra:

• Flute
• Bassoon
• Clarinets
• Oboes
• Piccolo
• Bass clarinet
• Contrabassoon
• Cor Anglais
• E-flat clarinet