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What is the name of the metal part of some woodwinds that extends to the player's mouth?
Question
#71979. Asked by skysmom65. (Nov 03 06 8:17 AM)
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BungeeAZ
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The mouthpiece. Although a flute is made of metal, it is considered a woodwind (most likely because it does not have valves as a brass instrument does). Most other mouthpieces in the woodwind family have a small piece of wood attached to the mouthpiece called a reed. Reeds are broken down into two families. Single reed instruments include the saxaphone and clarinet. Double reed instruments include the oboe, bassoon and contra bassoon. The aforementioned flute does not have a reed. In addition, you don't insert a flute into your mouth, you blow across the top to make your sound.
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skysmom65
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But what is the name of the metal part that extends to the player's mouth? The mouthpiece has a name...what is it?
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Baloo55th
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When playing the bass recorder, I used to call it the extension. The main distinction between 'woodwind' and 'brass' is that in woodwind the vibration is caused by the instrument, and in brass it is caused by the player. Reed instruments have one or two shaped pieces of bamboo or suchlike that vibrate when air is blown over them, flute family instruments work by the impact of the blown air striking an edge - in the transverse flute this is the edge of the hole, in the recorders, whistles and fluiers it is a sharp edge inside - which causes the vibration. You can blow a brass instrument all day and not get a sound out of it unless you position your lips to cause a vibration when the air passes them. Oh, and flutes can be metal, wooden or bamboo or even plastic, while recorders (apart from those played by people like Piers Adams) are most commonly plastic; they are still 'woodwind'.
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