Many web sites offer to buy used woodwinds. The flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and saxophone are members of the woodwinds community of the musical instruments. They are called woodwinds because in the Middle Ages when these instruments were produced people made them from wood. Today such instruments are not produced this way anymore but the timber is still used as an element equally with other stuff. There are two types of woodwinds after the method of blowing: labial & lingual. The method of playing on labials is in injecting the air into the diametrical hole on the top of the woodwind. The air stream is cut on the sharp border of the opening. This is the cause of air resonance inside the pipe where the sound emerges. Along with other instruments flute is referred to this type too. In lingual instruments the air is blown through the reed. Clarinet and saxophone are included to this group of musical instruments. On the top of a lingual woodwind the reed is placed. It creates the vibration of the air in the tube. There are 2 kinds of reeds too: single and double. A single reed is something like a thin cane. The opening in the mouthpiece of the woodwind instrument is closed by it so that only a little aperture is left. Air stream compels the reed to resonate with a big frequency and during this procedure it opens and shuts the tunnel inside the mouthpiece of the instrument. A double reed is a tight connection of two cane blades in the mouthpiece of the instrument. Resonance is created by the air that shuts and opens the gap between the blades. To this type contemporary oboe and bassoon refer. Read the rest of this entry »