Intruments of the Orchestra The woodwind Family

The woodwind Family
Not all of the woodwind instruments are made of wood, in fact they all have metal keys but when the orchestra started in the eighteenth Century they were all wood.
Flute: The Flute is made of Metal not wood, but it has been made of wood glass and precious jewells. The flute unlike the other winds is not blown through a reed but through a hole in the side that produces the melody.
Piccolo : Is higher than the flute but basically the same shape. It has a shrill piercing sound and for this reason some musicians prefer to have theirs made out of wood so not to drown out the flute this one is a hybrid of wood and metal.
Oboe: The oboe is a double reed instrument which means it has two small pieces of wood that you blow on together. It is often used in moves to emulate pity and horror. It can produce a merry and bright sound too. In fact it is the instrument that the orchestra uses to tune up
English Horn: It is French not English and a low oboe not a horn so why the name? The horn part comes from the fact the people said it sounds like a distant hunting horn. The English part was all a misunderstanding. They meant to call it angled horn (cor Angle) because of it's distinctive curve but it sounded too much like the french word for English (cor Anglais)and the name stuck.
Clarinet: The Clarinet is single reeded which mens there is only one reed that can be tightened and loosened while playing. It i s a very beautiful and very versatile instrument that is very important in jazz as well as in classical. There are very few people in fact who do not like the sound of the clarinet the bass clarinet however is another matter entirely.
Actually until Mozart used it regularly in Symphonic Pieces it wasn't even in the Orchestra.
Bass Clarinet The Bass clarinet is a lower version of a Clarinet it sounds very sinister at the bottom of its range and is often used for suspense in horror moves. Though it can be used simply to sound dreamy and mellow.
Bassoon: The bassoon ,or Fagotto in German, which means a bundle of sticks, is an apt description of this instrument. which is awkward to play. It is often used to play comedy parts because of it's comical playful sound; like in the sorcerers apprentice. if you've seen Disney's fantasia you'll reconise that sound as the broom starts to come alive. But in it's high range when played slowly it has an eerie sound If you know fantasia you'll also have seen the Rite of spring with dinosaurs and heard that eerie instrument that opens the cartoon it is a bassoon .
contra bassoon this is the deepest double reed going even lower than the bassoon or bass clarinet it is usually used only for the bas line and usually only in orchestras with at least two bassoons.
Saxophone: Though usually not considered part of the orchesta, the saxaphone is an important instrument too. It is often used in Jazz Blues and rock. It is as loud as the brass, as versatile as the strings, and as Bright as the woodwinds. That was exactly what Adolph Sax the inventor wanted. It is comes in Soprano(the highest), Alto, Tenor, Baritone and Bass the lowest). However the Baritone can get very low and the alto can get very high, so the soprano is pretty rare, and the Bass is extremely rare( it isn't even shown here).
To hear the woodwind instruments play together in an orchestra here is the first half of Ravel's bolero


Actually the second half is way cooler