The term woodwind is applied to those musical instruments whose sound is produced by blowing air into a tube, which was traditionally made of wood. The column of air in the tube vibrates, and produces sound. A long tube has a long column of vibrating air and produces a relatively low pitch. By shortening the vibrating column of air, the pitch becomes higher.
There are generally two different ways to produce a sound with woodwinds. The first way is to blow across a hole, just like producing sounds by blowing across the top of an empty bottle, or across the small hole of a key. This method for producing sounds is used by players of the Flute family. The second method is achieved by blowing through a cane of reed, just like the sounds produced by blowing through a blade of grass, a leaf, or a thin sheet of paper held between the thumbs of the two hands (which are held tightly together).
The Clarinet family uses one reed while the Oboe and Bassoon family uses two reeds.
All the woodwind instruments are based on a series of holes bored along the length of a tube. The length of the tube is sometimes so long, that the holes cannot be reached by the player's fingers. Thus, a system was developed in which the arrangement of keys and levers made it possible to reach every hole in a very convenient way.
The four most important woodwind instruments are the Flute, the Oboe, the Clarinet and the Bassoon. These are usually paralleled to the four voices of the choir: soprano, alto, tenor, and bass, respectively.
However, each one of these instruments has an entire family of its own (with about four members each), which also parallel the voices of the choir. The Flute family, for instance, consists of four instruments, which vary by their length. However, in most symphonic orchestras only two of these are used: the Piccolo and the concert Flute. There is an alto and a bass flute.
In the same manner, there are pairs of instruments such as the Oboe and the English Horn, the Clarinet and the Bass Clarinet, the Bassoon and the Contrabassoon, and all are members of the symphonic orchestra.
On a score, the woodwind instruments are arranged on the top of the page, from the highest to the lowest, in the following order: Piccolo, Flute, Oboe, French Horn, Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Bassoon, and Contrabassoon.
