Page 57 - ESSENTIAL LISTENING TO MUSIC

The smaller cousin of the flute is the piccolo. (Piccolo comes from the Italian flauto piccolo, meaning “little flute.”) It can produce higher notes than any other orchestral instru- ment. And though the piccolo is very small, its sound is so piercing that it can always be heard, even when the full orchestra is playing loudly.
The clarinet produces sound when the player blows air under a single reed fitted to the mouth- piece. The tone of the clarinet is an open, hollow sound. It can be mel- low in its low notes but shrill in its high ones. It also has the capacity to slide or glide smoothly between pitches, which allows for a highly expressive style of playing. A lower, larger version of the clarinet is the bass clarinet.
The oboe is equipped with a double reed—two reeds tied together with an air space in between. When the player blows air between them and into the in- strument, the resulting vibrations create a nasal, slightly exotic sound. It is in- variably the oboe that gives the pitch at the beginning of a symphony concert. Not only was the oboe the first nonstring instrument to be added to the orches- tra, it is also a difficult instrument to tune (regulate the pitch). Thus, it’s better to have the other instruments tune to it than to try to have it adjust to them.
Related to the oboe is the English horn. Unfortunately, it is wrongly named, for the English horn is neither English nor a horn. It is simply a larger (hence lower-sounding) version of the oboe that originated on the continent of Europe.
The bassoon functions among the woodwinds much as the cello does among the strings: it adds weight to the lowest sound or acts as a soloist. When playing moderately fast or rapid passages as a solo instrument, it has a dry, al- most comic tone. There is also a double bassoon, called the contrabassoon, which can play notes lower than any other orchestral instrument.
Listening Cue
Instruments of the Orchestra: Woodwinds
what to listen for: The distinctive timbres of the woodwinds watch . . . an Active Listening Guide of the woodwinds online.
Figure 3.4
A flute, two clarinets, an oboe, and a bassoon. The flute, clarinet, and oboe are about
the same length, and they play approximately the same range of pitches. The bassoon is nearly twice their size, and its pitches are much lower.
listen to . . . the piccolo streaming online.
listen to . . . the clarinet streaming online. listento...theoboe streaming online.
listen to . . . the bassoon streaming online.
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