Wind instrument
A musical instrument that produces sound when a player sets a column of air vibrating inside it or across an opening.
Air-column resonance: The resonant vibration of air inside a tube or cavity, with frequencies determined by its shape and boundary conditions. It is the shared acoustic basis of instruments that make sound by vibrating air.
Pitch (music): The perceived highness or lowness of a musical sound, closely related to its fundamental frequency. Changing the resonant length or fingering changes the pitches a wind instrument produces.
String instrument: A musical instrument whose sound originates in the vibration of one or more strings. Its primary vibrating element is a string rather than a column of air.
Wind band: An ensemble composed primarily of woodwind, brass, and percussion instruments. It organizes many wind-instrument families into a large concert ensemble.
Embouchure: The shaping and use of the lips and facial muscles to control airflow into a wind instrument. Players use it to initiate and adjust sound in many brass and woodwind instruments.
Timbre: The quality that distinguishes sounds with the same pitch and loudness, shaped by their spectral and temporal features. Different bore shapes and excitation methods give wind instruments distinctive tone colors.
Percussion instrument: A musical instrument sounded by striking, shaking, scraping, or another impulsive action. It is typically excited by impact or motion rather than a sustained airstream.
Orchestra: A large ensemble combining strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion under a conductor. Its woodwind and brass sections show how wind instruments interact with other families.
Reed (music): A thin strip of cane or synthetic material that vibrates in an instrument's airstream to produce sound. A vibrating reed supplies the airflow pulse in reed instruments.
Woodwind instrument: A wind instrument whose sound is produced by an edge, a reed, or a double reed, regardless of its material. This major family includes both reed instruments and edge-blown flutes.