Woodwinds are played into or through a tube. There are two chief types. They are (1) wood wind instruments and (2) brass instruments. All woodwinds except saxophone were made of wood at one time or another. Now they are made of metal plastic or some other material.
 
The first type of woodwind instruments is a type in which you blow through a mouthpiece into the instruments. This method of playing an instrument is used by the recorders. A recorder is a type of flute that has a whistle mouthpiece. The instrument consists of a wooden or plastic tube with a row of seven finger holes and thumbhole. A recorder is held almost vertically and the holes are covered or uncovered to play different noted. The instrument has a soft, mellow tone. The most popular sizes of recorders are, from smallest to largest, soprano, alto, tenor, and bass. The recorder was invented during the Middle Ages and has remained basically unchanged. It became popular during the 1500 ís and 1600 ís and was an important part of music of the Renaissance. By the mid 1700 ís the modern flute had largely replaced the recorder. Since about 1920, however, a revival of interest has developed in the recorder and in recorder music of the Renaissance and baroque periods of music history.

In some other woodwinds, such as flutes and piccolos, the player blows across a hole in the instruments. The piccolo is the smallest of the woodwind instruments and the highest in pitch. It measures about 12 inches long. The piccolo is a member of the flute family. It is about half the length of the common concert flute and is played in the same way. The piccolo sounds and octave higher than the concert producing a bright, penetrating tone. The instrument is used in concert and military bands, and in orchestras. It was developed in the late 1700 ís and early 1800 is in Europe.
 
The flute is a woodwind instrument that serves as a soprano voice in many bands, orchestras, and woodwind groups. Most flues are made of metal. They consist chiefly of a tube with a mouthpiece near one end and the mouthpiece has an oval hole. A musician holds the flute in a horizontal position and blows across the hole. At the same time, the player presses levers called keys that are positioned along the tube. The keys open and close tone holes to produce different noted.

Wooden flutes were played in such countries as ancient Egypt, China, and Greece. They became widely used in Europe during the mid 1700 ís. In the mid 1800 is Theobald Boehm, a German musician, developed the first cylindrical metal flute. Boehm also developed the system of keys and tone holes used in today's flutes.

Still other woodwinds, called reed instruments have one or two reeds attached to the mouthpiece. The reeds vibrate when the musician blows on them. The clarinet and saxophone are the chief single reed instruments.
 
The saxophone is a woodwind musical instrument made of brass. It consists of a tube, a mouthpiece at one end, and a bell shaped opening at the other. The saxophone has holes covered by pads operated by small levers called keys. To play, the musician blows on a flat cane reed attached to the mouthpiece and fingers the keys to open and close the holes. The most popular saxophones are soprano, alto, tenor, and baritone. Adolphe Sax invented the saxophone in Paris about 1840. The instrument is popular in concert bands, dance bands, and jazz groups and it is occasionally played in orchestras.

The clarinet is a woodwind instrument. Most clarinets are made of wood. The instrument consists of a tube with a mouthpiece at one end and a bell shaped opening at the other end. A clarinet has open holes and holes covered by small metal levers called keys. The musician places his or her fingers on the holes and keys then blows on a flat cane reed attached to the mouthpiece. The reed vibrates, producing a full rich tone. The musician plays different notes by covering or uncovering various holes. Clarinets are manufactured in five pitches. The B-flat soprano clarinet is the most popular. Johann Christoph Denner, a German instrument maker invented the clarinet about 1700. It has been an important instrument in bands and orchestras since the mid 1700 ís.

Double reed instruments include the bassoon, English horn. and oboe. The Bassoon is an instrument that serves as the bass voice of the woodwind section of many orchestras and bands. The bassoon has a double reed attached to the en of a curved metal pipe called a crook. The other end of the crook is inserted in a wooden tube. The tube consists of four sections that would measure about eight feet long if placed end to end. A musician blows through the double reed and presses keys on the tube. The keys open and close tone holes to produce different notes and tones. The contra bassoon is twice as long as the bassoon and its pitch is one octave lower. The early history of the bassoon is obscure but the instrument dates back to the 1300 ís. The bassoon as well known today was developed in Paris during the 1600 ís.

The English horn is a woodwind instrument. It is actually an alto oboe not a horn. An English horn consists of a wooden tube 30 inches long with a pear-shaped bell at one end. A short metal tube with a double reed is attached to the other end. The player blows on the reed through the short metal tube and play different notes by pressing keys that open and close holes along the length of the instrument.

The oboe is the smallest and highest pitched of the double reed woodwinds. The name comes from two French words: haut, meaning high, and bois, meaning wood. The oboe is about 21 inches long. It was developed in the 1600 ís, by two French musicians, Jean Hotterre and Andre Philidor. The range of the oboe is almost three octaves. The tone is produced by means of a small double reed. Predecessors of the oboe, called shawns, had a rallcous, penetrating sound. Today the oboe is known for its smooth and beautiful tone.
 
The oboe is important in symphony orchestras, concert bands, and small ensembles. Composers who wrote works for the oboe include Ludwig Van Beethoven, George Frideric Handel, and Wofgang Amadeus Mozart. The English horn is an oboe, a fifth lower in pitch than the oboe.

Stringed instruments produce tones when a player makes one or more strings vibrate. There are two types of stringed instruments. Bowed string, which are played by drawing a bow back and forth across the strings. Plucked stringed instruments are instruments played by plucking or strumming the strings with a players fingers. There are many types of bowed string instruments. They are the violin, viola, and the cello.
 
The violin is a stringed instrument that is played with a bow. It is the best known and widely used of all orchestra instruments. Some other instruments similar to the violin in construction are the cello and the viola.

The viola resembles a large violin. It serves as a toner voice in the violin family. The viola has a range of more than three octaves. The last of the bow strunged instruments is the cello.

The cello is another bowed stringed instrument. It is four feet long and one and a half feet across it s widest part. The cello originated in northern Italy in the 1530ís. The other types of string instruments are the plucked string instrument. It has a narrow, fretted (ridged) neck attached to a pear-shaped body that resembles the body a lute. Most mandolins have four pairs of strings. Others have five pairs. In the 1700ís, the mandolin gained some use in classical music. An instrument that gained a lot of use is a guitar.

The guitar is a vary popular instrument among the plucked stringed instruments. The player can play chords by strumming the strings or one note at a time by plucking one of the strings. In the 1930ís, electric guitars began to be produced commercially. The electric guitar has an electromagnetic device that picks up the string vibrations and translates them into electric impulse. After that loudspeakers change the impulses back into sound . The electric guitars produced a greater range of sound that an acoustical guitar. Most guitars are made out of light wood. They have curved sides and a flat arched top and back. The strings are made out of bronze, nylon, or steel. Most guitars have six strings are fastened to the bridge which is a small piece of wood on top of the instrument. The strings extend along the finger board below the strings. Each one marks the position of a specific tone. Guitars press the strings behind the frets with the fingers of one hand. They strum of pluck the string with the other hand. The last of the plucked stringed instruments is the harp.
 
The harp is the oldest known stringed instrument. The large concert harp is the chief instrument in the harp family. Smaller harps are often used in folk music. The modern concert harp is large triangle wooden instrument. It is about 70 inches tall. The wood is often gilded and decoratively crabbed. The harp rests on a base called the pillar that reuses from the front of the pedestal. The hollow sound box, which amplifies the sound, projects at an angle from the rear of the pedestal. The pillar and the sound box are joined at the top by a gracefully curved neck. The harp has 47 strings of different lengths and thickness are stretched between the neck and sound box. Tuning pins in the neck set the strings to the notes of a scale over a range of six and a half octaves. The harp has seven foot pedals that extend from the pedestal. When a pedal is depressed, it raised the pitch. A performer sits with the harp between the knees and tilting it so it rests against the shoulder. The performer plucks the strings with the thumb and first three fingers. In Europe, the first harps appeared in the 700ís in Ireland, where it is a national symbol today.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

World Book Ecyclopedia, 1996 edition, World Book, Inc.