Talk:Woodwind instrument

Record Sustained Note?

This either needs to be qualified or removed, if the longest sustained note relates to one produced on a single breath, then that needs to be explicitely states as being a requirement, not as an aside on that attempt like it is now, if not there are instruments like the great highland bagpipe (which is a woodwind instrument) where you can sustain a note almost indefinately due to having the bag to use... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 118.210.48.177 (talk) 00:43, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

Quite apart from the bagpipe, you can sustain a note almost indefinitely on any breath-related instrument with circular breathing. This section is pretty stupid imho, but at the very least the "produced on a single breath" does indeed need to be stated as a requirement. Stevekeiretsu (talk) 01:22, 16 August 2010 (UTC)

Removed it. Seems trivial and not-that-well documented. - Special-T (talk) 16:16, 16 August 2010 (UTC)

Woodwind are harder to record?

Strongly feel this whole paragraph should be removed or only included in a much more detailed discussion. "Harder to record" is very objective and though this generalization about directionality is somewhat accurate, it could be argued. For instance the compact nature of the alto sax makes its sound relatively directional & relatively easy to record. The french horn however can be recorded from the front, even though its bell points to the back, and is sometimes recorded from front and back at the same time. A contemporary player like David Sandborn can get as much volume out of the alto sax and "project to the stands" as many brass players. I would remove this paragraph, but feel that someone else who takes the time to expand the article might use part of the existing paragraph. --Greenfield1 (talk) 15:53, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

Woodwind are harder to record?

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.

Is that correct. I would of thought woodwind would be easier to record. Could someone care to explain? --Bazarnz 04:07, 9 August 2007 (UTC)

"by opening or closing holes in the body of the instrument using a mouthpiece."

sounds wrong. The holes are closed with the fingers. not sure what is meant, so I'll leave it to someone else to edit. -- Tarquin 14:21 28 May 2003 (UTC)

Free reeds

I feel like the free reeds (harmonica, accordian, etc.) belong here, but it's not my domain so I'll wait on it.

I agree that we need to include the free reeds, but I'm no expert either. Christoffel

Are free reeds actually considered woodwinds? Certainly they should be included in any article on reed instruments. Using reeds doesn't necessarily make an instrument a woodwind any more than being a woodwind means that an instrument uses reeds, as with flutes. As mentioned in the article the "wood" in "woodwind" doesn't refer to the reed.--LoboSooner 01:14, 21 August 2006 (UTC)

In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, the aerophones include free aerophones (which includes free-reed instruments), and separately non-free aerophones (wind instruments proper) (which includes woodwinds and brasses. Though not by those names; instead there are "flutes", "reed instruments", and "trumpets".) So in that system the free reeds are in a separate category from the wind instruments.

"As mentioned in the article the "wood" in "woodwind" doesn't refer to the reed." -- not that this is particularly relevant, since the reeds in free reed instruments are usually metal anyway. -- Rsholmes 02:47, 21 August 2006 (UTC)

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I think we need a separate list of woodwind instruments.Lebob 06:59, 31 Dec 2004 (UTC)

I think now we need a separate page for this list. Karol 13:48, 26 October 2005 (UTC)

Silver and gold flutes?

Are modern flutes really made from silver and gold? I would think that they'd be made of a less expensive metal, and possible be plated with silver or gold.

Have you seen the prices for some musical instruments? A quick search finds a new solid silver flute available for £3000, and references to gold and even platinum flutes! 87.194.79.213 18:57, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

When did woodwinds start being made of metal? Someone please answer this. Sean —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.67.65.83 (talk) 11:09, 25 December 2008 (UTC)

Only mouthpieces and edges?

The first sentence says that the sound in woodwinds is produced when air is blown through a mouthpiece or against an edge. Does this overlook double-reed instruments or are the two bound reeds considered to be a mouthpiece?--LoboSooner 01:14, 21 August 2006 (UTC)

Well, no, it says

sound is produced by blowing through a mouthpiece against an edge or by a vibrating reed

which I parse as meaning (through a mouthpiece against an edge) OR (by a vibrating reed). But I don't think this is satisfactory in several respects. On a transverse flute air is blown across, not through, a mouthpiece. The singular noun in "a vibrating reed" might seem to rule out double reeds. And, here and later:

When air is forced between the reed and the mouthpiece, the reed vibrates, creating the sound.

the statement that the vibrating reed produces sound is wrong. If, say, you had some mechanical transducer that shook the reed back and forth, it wouldn't create much of a sound. What's really happening is that the vibrating reed produces periodic variations in the energy being supplied (as moving air) to drive the vibrations of the air column inside the instrument. It's the vibration of the air column, caused by variations in the incoming air stream, caused by the reed vibration, that produces sound. -- Rsholmes 02:28, 21 August 2006 (UTC)

we have to do a stupid music project about them and i can't find 10 facts about them... how borring —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.212.154.231 (talk) 00:59, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

Presidents

I deleted the entire section on presidents. This was a list of presidents with woodwind instruments, lacking any explanation or sources. The section was added by User:68.2.156.53, who has made numerous disruptive edits in the past. This user has declined to engage in discussion, even after repeated requests. WeisheitSuchen (talk) 15:50, 30 January 2008 (UTC)

rm "comparison to brass"

I've removed the following section:

"== Comparison to brass instruments ==

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. 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"

It's trivia, unsourced, and not very accurate. - Special-T (talk) 13:25, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

Gounod

I've added Gounod's Little Symphony for Nine Woodwinds (though, despite the name, it's actually 7 woodwinds and two horns). Still, it does an excellent job introducing the woodwinds. =) Shoemaker's Holiday (talk) 03:08, 26 August 2008 (UTC)

External link

Would it be possible to add http://www.classicalmusichomepage.com/reference/woodwind-reference to the external links section. This page lists all the best oline reference materials for woodwind instruments. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ndifrancesco (talk • contribs) 13:02, 22 May 2009 (UTC)

Need to identify a specific wind instrument

I've been trying for more than a decade to figure out the wind instrument responsible for a very distinct and evocative sound. It was played in the opening titles to the film Jurassic Park, after the thuds and vocalic echoing sounds and right as the words "Jurassic Park" show up on screen till the transition to the opening scene. What I think was the same instrument was used later in a sharper pitch as Nedry was fleeing to the East Dock. I've heard it in several songs where either a "tribal"/extremely antiquated or uniquely melodic sound was desired. If I were to describe the sound it would be as a faintly tinnient howling of wind. It was used heavily in a song I heard during my Christian years as an early teen in a Christian pop-music song entitled simply "God", the artist of which I think was Amy Grant though it's been so many years I can't rely on my memory, but it was the final track on the popular annual Christian compilation album "WoW 1998" (or maybe just WoW 98), which had a green album cover (may have possibly been 97 or an early release of 99 but the year 98 is when I became an apostate of the Christian faith and stopped listening to Christian pop-music). I realize a lot of this peripheral information is probably unhelpful but they are the only "leads" I've been able to come up with to discover the name of the instrument. I even tried looking up the composition "Opening Titles" from the Jurassic Park soundtrack to see if I could find out what instruments were used in it, but to no avail.

I realize this has nought to do with the page itself but this is a final, desperate attempt to find the name of an instrument I very much love the sound of to the extent I'd call it my favorite wind instrument, if only I knew what it was called.

A certain user has been repeatedly deleting this question saying it doesn't belong on the talk page. Wikipedia's purpose is to provide information. If people can't ask questions on the talk page which they can't find answers for in the article, there's no way to know what the article's shortcomings are and it undermines the very reason for Wikipedia's existence to suppress such questions as these. If anyone has the answer to this question I believe it would greatly improve the page to mention the instrument to further demonstrate the range and diversity of this group of instruments. I appologize to referring to the earlier deletion of this question as vandalism but to me it seemed an intentional attempt to undermine Wikipedia's goals and purposes, which is how Wikipedia defines vandalism. I see now that this has merely been a misunderstanding of relevance. While me question may not have anything to do with the article, an answer to my question would, for it would allow the article to be improved upon by including in it information that cannot be found anywhere else on the world wide web -- or at least nowhere that can be found using known search engines. Being that this information is currently unavailable anywhere on the internet it's inclusion in the article would be invaluable, and on this basis I will construe any future deletions of this question to be intentional acts of vandalism.

I sincerely hope someone can help and anyone who can has my sincerest thanks, --Þorstejnn (talk) 10:32, 19 October 2010 (UTC)