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Aulos

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15y ago
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The orchestra employs a limited subset of a few wood wind instruments. Members of those families which are not normally used in the Orchestra include:

  • Alto and Bass flute. (The flute in the orchestra is the Tenor flute, and the piccolo is really a sopranino size.
  • Alto and Bass Clarinet (which are very rarely added for effect) and the even lower-pitched size, the contrabass. Also, the very highest pitched clarinets are avoided.
  • Bariton/bass oboe (very very rarely used in the orchestra.)

Many earlier versions, for instance the Oboe da Caccia (only used, that I know of, with Baroque orchestras, which are quite different from the modern symphony orchestra) are not used. For instance:

  • Dulcian/curtal. This is a renaissance precursor of the Bassoon which came in a family of sizes.
  • Shawms, precursor of the Oboe. Also came in sizes. The lower instruments were called "Pommer" in Germany.
  • Krumhorns, cornamuses, rauchpfeife, many other varieties. These are "wind cap" instruments, where a double reed (much like on the oboe bassoon) is enclosed in a cap with a hole to blow in, so the player's lips do not touch the reed. Along with the chanter of Bagpipes, these are all, by definition, woodwinds. Which leads to:
  • Bagpipes. Yes, they're still woodwinds.
  • Recorders, the end-blown flute family.
  • Fog horns, very loosely defined to be woodwinds.
  • Penny whistles, which have only, to my knowledge appeared in very recent times as soloists (James Galway)
  • The strangest woodwind of all: the Racket. This instrument was actually fairly popular from the Renaissance period (where they were used in a family of sizes) through the Baroque (where the baroque racket was considered a valid replacement for the bassoon.) The racket has a bore (wind tube) that is bent 8 or 9 times, in parallel channels around a cylindrical block of wood, with U-shaped channels to connect the ends. Through a couple of acoustic tricks, the Racket sounded over 18 times its physical length (longer pitch equating to lower pitch.)
  • The Organ. Although there are organs built into many symphony halls, the organ itself is rarely included with the orchestra, and then takes the position of soloist.
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12y ago
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In a typical classical orchestra, not a wind orchestra, you would not see any saxophones, baritone, tenor, alto or soprano.

Today almost all orchestras use saxophones. Composers began including them in the early 20th century. The only woodwinds that are not part of a standard orchestra are ancient ones, like the serpent, the Oboe d'amore, the shawm, etc.

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12y ago
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aulos. Also, a more modern instrument usually discluded from standard orchestras would be the Saxophone.

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13y ago
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In a full orchestra, various band instruments are added to the string ensemble. The least common woodwind instrument in a full orchestra is the saxophone.

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12y ago
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The saxophone.

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12y ago
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Saxophones.

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13y ago
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Q: What woodwind instruments are not in a orchestra?
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