Woodwind Instruments

Woodwind instruments commonly refer to instruments made of wood, further categorized according to the way sound is produced with them. Flutes are instruments that generate sound as the wind blown by the musician hits a sharp edge in the sound tube. A single reed instrument generates sound when the musician blows into a separate mouthpiece. In the clarinet – as well as the saxophone – the sound is produced by the vibration of a reed attached to the mouthpiece. The oboe and the bassoon are so-called double reed instruments that produce sound through the vibrations of air and pressure between two reeds – which the musician often makes themselves.

Woodwind instrument staples are the flute, the oboe, the clarinet, and the bassoon.