How are brass and woodwind instruments similar and different?!
Question: Brass and woodwind instruments are both played by blowing into them (or over them in the case of the flute). Brass instruments do not have any moving parts that vibrate to create a sound. They merely amplify the sound created by the players lips vibrating. Woodwind instruments have a reed that vibrates except for the flute which splits a column of air to make vibrations. Brass instruments change their pitch by changing the length of tubing which the air passes through. Woodwind instruments change their pitch by changing the where the air escapes from the instrument. Hope that helps you understand a little bit more.
Answers: Brass and woodwind instruments are both played by blowing into them (or over them in the case of the flute). Brass instruments do not have any moving parts that vibrate to create a sound. They merely amplify the sound created by the players lips vibrating. Woodwind instruments have a reed that vibrates except for the flute which splits a column of air to make vibrations. Brass instruments change their pitch by changing the length of tubing which the air passes through. Woodwind instruments change their pitch by changing the where the air escapes from the instrument. Hope that helps you understand a little bit more.
A brass instrument is a musical instrument whose tone is produced by vibration of the lips as the player blows into a tubular resonator. They are also called labrosones, literally meaning "lip-vibrated instruments" (Baines, 1993).
To effectively change pitch on a valved brass instrument, two things come into play: the pressing of valves to effectively change the length of the tubing, and the player's lip aperture or "embouchure" setting, which determines the frequency of the pulsed air or vibrations into the instrument.
The view of most scholars (see organology) is that the term "brass instrument" should be defined by the way the sound is made, as above, and not by whether the instrument is actually made of brass. Thus, as exceptional cases one finds brass instruments made of wood like the alphorn, the cornett, and the serpent, while many woodwind instruments are made of brass, like the saxophone.
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A woodwind instrument is an instrument in which sound is produced by blowing against an edge or by a vibrating with air a thin piece of wood known as a reed. Most of these instruments were originally made of wood, but some such as the saxophone and some flutes are now made of other materials.
Single-reed instruments use a reed, which is a thinly cut piece of cane or plastic that is held against the aperture of a mouthpiece with a ligature. When air is forced between the reed and the mouthpiece, the reed vibrates, creating the sound. Single reed instruments include the clarinet and saxophone families of instruments.
Double-reed instruments, which use two precisely cut, small pieces of cane joined together at the base. The finished, bound reed is inserted into the top of the instrument and vibrates as air is forced between the two pieces of bound cane. There are two sub-families:
Exposed double reed instruments, where the reed goes between the player's lips. The oboe, cor anglais (also called english horn) and bassoon make up the more popular instruments within this family.
Capped double reed instruments, where there is a cap covering up the reed with a hole in that the player just blows through. This family includes most bagpipes, the crumhorn, and the shawm.
Flutes produce sound when air is blown across an edge. There are two sub-families:
Open flute family, where the player's lips form a stream of air which goes directly from the players lips to the edge, such as the transverse flute. Modern flutes are usually made of brass or silver, with gold, silver or nickel plating.
Closed flute family, where the instrument forms and directs the air stream over the edge. This family includes various whistles and the recorder family.
One important difference between woodwind and brass instruments is that woodwind instruments are non-directional. This means that the sound produced propagates in all directions with approximately equal volume. Brass instruments, on the other hand, are highly directional, with most of the sound produced traveling straight outward from the bell. This difference makes it significantly more difficult to record a woodwind instrument accurately. It also plays a major role in some performance situations, such as in marching bands. In the latter case, brass instruments will be the dominant sound in the ensemble as they are able to project their sound into the stands, while the woodwind sound will be retained primarily to the field. One exception is the piccolo, which has a distinct shrill sound that is audible with the brass sound.