What are some differences between woodwind and brass instruments?
To clarify some incorrect postings above, woodwinds are NOT always made of wood- most modern flutes and saxophones are made of brass or other metals. The difference is in how the sound is produced: on a woodwind, the sound is made by a vibrating reed (clarinets, saxophones), pair of reeds (oboes, bassoons), or column of air (flutes, recorders.) On all brass instruments, the sound is made by vibrating the lips (buzzing the lips). Furthermore, all woodwinds have multiple holes which are covered either with pads or fingertips to create different notes, while all modern brass instruments use either a set of 3 to 4 valves (trumpets, french horns, tubas) or a slide (trombone) to divert air through pipes of different length to change the pitch. (There are some exceptions to this for very old brass instruments like natural trumpets or cornetti.
