Wind Instruments

One of the big differences between a string instrument and a wind instrument is that with a wind instrument you don't have as much control over the wave velocity. The wave is moving through a column of air, so the speed is the speed of sound in air, which is temperature dependent.

As with strings, resonance plays an important role for wind instruments. The wavelengths at which resonance occurs are proportional to the length of the instrument, so you can play different notes by changing the length. This is done most often by pressing a key to open a particular hole in the instrument, for instance, but can also be accomplished by changing the length of the instrument itself, as is done in a trombone.

In general the larger the instrument the longer the wavelength of the fundamental and the lower the frequency range of the instrument.