wind instrument definition of wind instrument in the Free Online Encyclopedia.

wind instrument, in music, any instrument whose tone is produced by a vibrating column of air. In the pipe organ organ, a musical wind instrument in which sound is produced by one or more sets of pipes controlled by a keyboard, each pipe producing only one pitch by means of a mechanically produced or electrically controlled wind supply.
..... Click the link for more information. the column of air is set into vibration by mechanical means. Other wind instruments are blown by the player and are divided into two groups, the woodwinds and the brass winds, or brasses. The woodwinds include the flute flute, in music, generic term for such wind instruments as the fife , the flageolet , the panpipes , the piccolo , and the recorder . The tone of all flutes is produced by an airstream directed against an edge, producing eddies that set up vibrations in the air
..... Click the link for more information. family, played without a reed, the clarinet clarinet, musical wind instrument of cylindrical bore employing a single reed. The clarinet family comprises all single-reed instruments, including the saxophone. The predecessor of the modern clarinet was the simpler chalumeau, which J. C.
..... Click the link for more information. family, having single-reed mouthpieces, and the oboe oboe (ō`bō, ō`boi) [Ital., from Fr.
..... Click the link for more information. family, having double-reed mouthpieces (see reed instrument reed instrument, in music, an instrument whose sound-producing agent is a thin strip of cane, wood, plastic, or metal that vibrates as air is passed over it. The predecessor of these instruments is the Chinese sheng.
..... Click the link for more information. ). The brass winds include the bugle bugle, brass wind musical instrument consisting of a conical tube coiled once upon itself, capable of producing five or six harmonics. It is usually in G or B flat.
..... Click the link for more information. , cornet cornet, brass wind musical instrument, created in France about 1830 by adding valves to the post horn. It is usually in B flat and is the same size as the B flat trumpet, but has a more conical bore.
..... Click the link for more information. , ophicleide ophicleide (ŏf`ĭklīd) [Gr.
..... Click the link for more information. , trombone trombone [Ital.,=large trumpet], brass wind musical instrument of cylindrical bore, twice bent on itself, having a sliding section that lengthens or shortens it and thus regulates the pitch. The descendant of the sackbut , it was developed in the 15th cent.
..... Click the link for more information. , trumpet trumpet, brass wind musical instrument of part cylindrical, part conical bore, in the shape of a flattened loop and having three piston valves to regulate the pitch.
..... Click the link for more information. , and tuba tuba (t

`bə) [Lat.
..... Click the link for more information. , all having cup-shaped mouthpieces, and the French horn French horn, brass wind musical instrument. Fundamentally a metal tube of narrow conical bore, it is curved into circles because of its great length. The horn ends in a wide flare. It is a development (c.1650) of the small hunting horn.
..... Click the link for more information. , having a funnel-shaped mouthpiece. In the brasses the lips of the player perform the function of reeds. The wind passage of a wind instrument is called the bore and may be conical or cylindrical; its flared edge is called the bell. Woodwind and brass instruments are now best distinguished according to their mouthpieces, since metal flutes and saxophones remain woodwinds regardless of the material used to make them.

Bibliography

See A. Baines, Woodwind Instruments and Their History (rev. ed. 1963); A. Carse, Musical Wind Instruments (2d ed. 1965); R. Donington, Instruments of Music (3d ed. 1970).