Sax Addict

One question a lot of people might have is why is a saxophone considered a woodwind instrument. It’s not made of wood so why would it be a woodwind? Isn’t the sax made of brass?

Well, the reason behind the classification for the saxophone being a woodwind has less to do with what it is made out of and more to do with how it produces sound. There are four main classifications for musical insturments: percussion, strings, brass, and woodwind. Pretty much all instruments fall into one of those categories.

Percussion insturments make sound through striking an object, usually some kind of thin canvas material such a as a drum to create sound. Brass insturments use a buzzing of your lips amplified through a series of brass tubes and valves to create sound. Strings use the vibration of strings to create sound and woodwinds use the vibration of a wooden reed to create sound.

The name woodwind is a compound word of wood and wind. Wood refers to the fact that reeds are made of wood and wind refers to the fact that you blow on the reed to create vibration and sound. Woodwind insturments can actually be made of many different materials. Clarinets are often made of plastic, resin, or woods, but some older models were actually made of metal. Flutes at one time were actually made of wood, but now are usually metal of some kind. Saxophones are usually made of brass, but some instruments are made of more exotic metals.

Now you know how a saxophone can be called a woodwind even though it is made of brass. Mystery solved.

Here’s another fascinating fact about saxophones: alto saxophones are the most popular kind of sax, but there are at least five different types of saxophone.