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WIND INSTRUMENTS (Fr. instruments a v...

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Originally appearing in Volume V28, Page 710 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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WIND See also:INSTRUMENTS (Fr. instruments a vent, Ger. Blasinstrumente, Ital. strumenli da fiato) , a numerous and powerful See also:section of the See also:orchestra, classified according to the acoustic properties of the instruments and to certain important structural features. The first See also:great natural subdivision is that of (A) mouth blown, and (B) mechanically blown, instruments. Section A falls into the classes of (I) See also:wood wind, (2) See also:brass wind, with their numerous subdivisions. i. (a) Wood Wind.—Pipes without embouchure or See also:mouthpiece, such as the See also:ancient See also:Egyptian See also:nay, a See also:long See also:flute with narrow See also:bore held obliquely, and the See also:syrinx or See also:pan-pipes, both of which are blown by directing the breath not into the See also:pipe but across the open end, so that it impinges against the See also:sharp edge of the rim. (b) Pipes with embouchure but no mouthpiece, such as the transverse flute, See also:piccolo and See also:fife; see FLUTE and MOUTHPIECE. (c) Pipes with See also:whistle mouthpieces, an ancient contrivance, extensively used by See also:primitive races of all ages, which finds application at the See also:present See also:day in the See also:flageolet, the whistle, and in See also:organ pipes known as the flue-See also:work. A large class of See also:medieval instruments, widely diffused but now obsolete, were known as recorders, See also:beak or fipple-flutes, fl2tes a See also:bee, Elates douces, Hiles anglaises (Fr.), See also:Plock or Blockfloten, Schnabelflolen709 (Ger.). (d) See also:Reed instruments, by which are to be understood not reed pipes but instruments with reed mouthpieces, which subdivide again into two families owing to the very different acoustic conditions produced by the See also:combination of a reed mouthpiece with (I) a cylindrical pipe and(2) a conical pipe. These combinations See also:influence not only the timbre, but principally the harmonics obtained by overblowing and used to supplement the fundamental See also:scale given out as the lateral holes are uncovered one by one; the See also:practical difference to the performer may be summed up as one of fingering. (di) comprises pipes with cylindrical bore with either single or See also:double reed mouth-piece, such as the See also:clarinet See also:family, the obsolete See also:batyphone (q.v.) and the family of cromornes (q.v.).

To these we may add the autos and See also:

tibia of ancient See also:Greece and See also:Rome, which at different times had single and double reed mouthpieces. These pipes all overblow a twelfth. (d2) Pipes with conical bore and either single or double reed mouth-piece. This class comprises the important members of the See also:oboe family (with double reed) derived from the Schalmey and See also:Pommer of the See also:middle ages, the Schryari, an See also:instrument which had an ephemeral existence at the end of the 16th See also:century and consisted of an inverted See also:cone with a double reed placed within a pirouette or See also:capsule, which had the result of restricting the See also:compass of the instrument to the fundamental scale, for harmonics can only he produced when the reed is controlled by the lips (see REED INSTRUMENTS). The See also:modern family of saxophones with single reed mouthpiece, intended to replace the clarinets in military bands, may be classed with the wood wind, although actually made of brass for durability. The same may be said of the sarrusophones, a family of brass oboes with double reed, invented by M. Sarrus to replace the oboe in military bands. To these we may add the See also:Cheng (q.v.) or See also:Chinese organ, consisting of a set of pipes arranged in a hollow See also:gourd and sounded by means of See also:free-reeds, the See also:air being fed to the pipes in the See also:reservoir by the mouth through a pipe shaped like the spout of a See also:tea-pot. The Cheng is important, as embodying the principle of the See also:harmonium. (e) Wooden tubes of conical bore having lateral holes and sometimes from one to three keys, played by means of a See also:cup or See also:funnel mouth-piece, such as the obsolete See also:cornet (q.v.) or Zinke, which enjoyed such widespread popularity during the 16th and 17th centuries, and their See also:bass the See also:serpent. The bagpipe and its drones and chaunter are indirectly mouthblown, with the exception of the See also:Union or Irish and of the Border bagpipes, and of the See also:French bagpipe known as musette, in which the bag is fed with air by means of See also:bellows, instead of through an insufflation pipe. 2.

The Brass Wind consists of the following classes: (g) Tubes of fixed length, such as the natural See also:

trumpet and French See also:horn, all medieval horns and trumpets, including the busine, the See also:tuba, the See also:oliphant, the See also:hunting horn and the See also:bugle, the classical See also:buccina, See also:cornu, See also:lituus and tuba. The compass of all these was restricted to the few notes of the See also:harmonic See also:series obtained by overblowing. (b) Tubes of which the length is varied by a slide, such as the See also:sackbut family, the slide See also:trombone and slide trumpet. When the slide is See also:drawn out the See also:column of air is lengthened and the See also:pitch proportion-ally lowered. Each position or shift of the slide enables the per-former to overblow the harmonic series a semitone See also:lower. (c) Tubes of which the length is varied by lateral holes and keys. To this class belong the keyed bugle and its bass the See also:ophicleide, the obsolete keyed trumpet and the bass horns and See also:Russian See also:bassoon, which immediately preceded the invention of valves. The saxophones and sarrusophones might also be classed with these (see above, i d2). (d) Tubes of which the length is varied by valves or pistons. This class is the most modern of all, dating from the invention of valves in 1815, which revolutionized the technique and scoring for brass instruments. A rational subdivision of See also:valve instruments is made in See also:Germany into whole and See also:half instruments (see See also:BOMBARDON and VALVES), according as to whether the whole length of tubing comes into practical use or only half, or from the performer's point of view whether the fundamental See also:note of the harmonic series can be produced, or whether the series begins with the second member, an See also:octave above the first, in which See also:case it is obvious that half the tubing is of no practical value. The See also:principal See also:piston instruments are: the whole instruments—contrabass and bass tubas, bombardons or helicons; the See also:euphonium or See also:tenor tuba; the half instruments—saxhorns, Flugelhorns, tenor horns, cornets, the valve trombone, valve trumpet and valve horn (French horn), and the See also:Wagner tubas, which are really the basses of the French horn and are played with funnel-shaped mouthpieces.

The brass wind is further divided according to the shape of the mouthpiece used. (a) With funnel-shaped mouthpiece, such as the French horn, tenor horn and Wagner tubas; and (b) with cup-shaped mouthpiece, comprising all the other brass wind instruments except the bugle, of which the mouth-piece is a hybrid, neither true funnel nor true cup. Section B: Mechanically Blown Instruments.—This section consists mainly of instruments having the air See also:

supply fed by means of bellows; it comprises the two classes: (1) with See also:keyboard, (2) without keyboard. 1. This includes all kinds of See also:organs: the ancient See also:hydraulic organ or hydraulus, differing from the pneumatic only in that See also:water pressure was used to compress the air supply instead of the bellows being weighted by means of the See also:foot and See also:body of the performer at first and later by means of weights; the reed organ, consisting of pipes furnished with beating reeds, known also as the reed work when incorporated with the large See also:church organ; the medieval portative and See also:positive organs; the large modern church organ. To this class also belong the See also:accordion and See also:concertina and the numerous instruments of the harmonium type which have free instead of beating reeds, a difference which confers upon them the See also:power of dynamic expression denied to all organs fitted with flue pipes or pipes having beating reeds. The complex instruments known as organized pianos also come within this See also:category. 2. This comprises the bagpipes known as musette, and the Union or Irish and the Border bagpipes having a wind supply fed by bellows instead of by the insufflation pipe proper to the bagpipe; the See also:barrel organ having instead of a keyboard a barrel studded with nails, which lift the valves admitting air to the flue pipes generally hidden within the case. (K.

End of Article: WIND INSTRUMENTS (Fr. instruments a vent, Ger. Blasinstrumente, Ital. strumenli da fiato)

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