Wind Instruments

Have you ever blown a whistle or have blown across the top of an open bottle to make sounds?

In wind instruments, such as the trumpet or flute, air is blown through small openings into a tube or pipe. The stream of air (air colum) in the instrument vibrates. In some wind instruments a reed is used. The reed vibrates back and forth across the air column.

The pitch that is produced depends upon the length of the air column and how fast it is vibrating. A long air column produces low-pitched sounds. A short column produces high-pitched sounds.

In the human voice, speaking and singing sounds are produced by air columns made to vibrate by the vibrating vocal cords.

Sound	Music