WIND INSTRUMENTS. Under this heading are ineluded all instruments on whip)] the tone is produced by setting a column of air in motion. Aceording to the material from which they are made, they are subdivided into: (A) Wood wind instruments. ( It) brass instruments. Many of the wind class a IT' transposing instruments. i.e. the tones actually produced upon them are >rot the sante as those written for them. Let us take the clarinet family as an example. The compass of the clarinet in C is from e to O. It is possible to obtain notes below and above this range by building clarinets in different keys. Thus the clarinet in A produces the same series of tones a minor third lower, so that the lowest tone is eK and the highest The clarinet in Lb produces the tones a minor third higher, so that its lowest tone is g and its highest Hence the music for any transposing instrument must be written in a key above or below the key of the composition by the same interval as the key of the instrument is or above C. For instance, a piece is written in Ab major and the composer desires to employ the lib clarinet. Since every tone sounds a minor third higher than the written note, it is necessary to write this particular clarinet part in a key lying a minor third below Ab, i.e. in F. See TRANS POSING INSTRUMENTS.
A. The Wood-wind.—The instruments belong ing to this class are generally made of wood, but ivory is also used, and quite recently flutes have been made of silver. The ,instruments of the wood-wind family are: (1) the flute; (2) the piccolo (a small flute with very shrill tones); (3) the oboe; (4) the English horn; (5) the clarinet; (6) the bassoon; (7) the double or contra bassoon: (8) the flageolet. (See the separate articles.) This last instrument was extensively employed by Gluck and .Mozart. but is now obsolete. Of the wood-wind instruments the English horn and the clarinet are trans posing instruments, as was also the flageolet.
All the wood-wind instruments have a rich, mel low tone approaching that of the human voice more closely than any other instruments.
B. The Brass.—The members of this class consist of (1) the horn; (2) the cornet; (3) the trumpet ; (4) the trombone; (5) the tuba; (6) the ophieleide; (7) the serpent. (See the separate articles.) The two last named are ob solete. With the exception of the trombone, all these instruments are transposing instruments. The tones produced by brass instruments are distinguished as natural and harmonic tones. The former are produced upon the open tube by regulating the force of the air-current by means of the lips; the successive tones produced are the harmonics or overtones of the funda mental. (See HARMONICS.) All tones produced by the aid of the valves are called harmonic tones. In the case of the trombone the length of the vibrating air-column is not regulated by valves, but by a slide. Formerly the horns and trumpets had no valves, and these instruments are to-day called natural horns and trumpets. To produce a complete scale on them it was necessary to insert the left hand in the opening. They have now been entirely superseded by the valve-horns and trumpets. The trumpets must have undergone considerable change since the days of Bach and Ilandel, for in the works of these masters we find passages written for trumpets which no one can execute to-day. All the brass instruments are built in many keys, so that it is easily possible to write four-part harmony for only one group of brass instruments. For instance, in the ease of trombones there are four varieties: the alto, tenor. bass, and double-bass trombone. The latest additions to the family of brass instruments are the tubas, which Wagner had constructed especially for his Ring der Nibclungen, See TUBA.