# Woodwind families and the double reeds **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 13, 2011, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woodwind-families-and-the-double-reeds/567498 "2011-01-13T18:59:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![oboelady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8491ac/32.png) [@oboelady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oboelady)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woodwind-families-and-the-double-reeds/567498/21 "2011-01-14T03:30:06Z")
Q: What is the difference between an oboe and a bassoon? A: The bassoon burns longer. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woodwind-families-and-the-double-reeds/567498/22 "2011-01-14T09:03:52Z")
> [@Powers](#): > > The curves of the instrument have very little to do with how it sounds – you can find soprano saxes that are shaped much like an alto, for instance. And the reason for the curves to begin with is to make the instruments easier to handle. It would be impossible to play them had they been straight. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woodwind-families-and-the-double-reeds/567498/23 "2011-01-14T09:11:46Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > … I can pick up any sax and read/play music. I wouldn’t be able to play a clarinet. The difference in fingering is negligible but the difference in blow technique isn’t. A clarinet is much harder to play than a saxophone. ---
**Author:** ![Pitchmeister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pitchmeister/32/3459_2.png) [@Pitchmeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pitchmeister)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woodwind-families-and-the-double-reeds/567498/24 "2011-01-14T10:40:03Z")
Maybe few people will appreciate this, but anyway: Q: What does an oboe sound like playing forte? A: MERRRRRRRP! Q: What does an oboe sound like playing piano? A: pffffffff…MERRRRRRRRP! ---
**Author:** ![Powers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Powers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Powers)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woodwind-families-and-the-double-reeds/567498/25 "2011-01-14T16:02:48Z")
> [@oboelady](#): > > The bassoon, on the other hand, comes from a different mind-set altogether! It is a member of the double-reed family, but it is not a member of the oboe family. You have to be a little crazy to play the oboe, but you have to be REALLY nuts to play the bassoon!! Thank you, for your input. I have learned a lot about the oboe’s family, but it still puzzles me that the bassoon crowded out the lower oboes when it comes to common usage. Powers &8^] ---
**Author:** ![Powers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Powers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Powers)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woodwind-families-and-the-double-reeds/567498/26 "2011-01-14T16:06:51Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > There’s more than one [harmonic series](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmonic_series_(music))? Explain, please! Scroll down in your link to the “Timbre of musical instruments” section. Different instruments express the harmonics in different proportions. I think that’s what was meant. Powers &8^] ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woodwind-families-and-the-double-reeds/567498/27 "2011-01-14T19:37:01Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > French horns use a rotary valve instead of a piston. No reason why they have to, but they do. If you designed a french horn as a larger, lower part of the trumpet family, you would probably use a piston. [Mellophone](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mellophone). > [@oboelady](#): > > The bassoon, on the other hand, comes from a different mind-set altogether! It is a member of the double-reed family, but it is not a member of the oboe family. You have to be a little crazy to play the oboe, but you have to be REALLY nuts to play the bassoon!! I started with the clarinet, then took up the alto saxophone after 7th grade at the request of my junior high school band teacher — all of his current alto players were moving on to high school and there were no alto players in the 7th grade to move up and replace them in the Stage Band. So in 8th grade I played clarinet in the Concert Band and 1st (only) alto sax in the Stage Band. And then toward the end of 8th grade, I was poking around in the school-owned instruments cases and in one of these I found a bizarre jumble of wood and metal. I called the band teacher over and asked, “What is _that_?” and he said, “That’s a bassoon.” I had never even heard of a bassoon, but I said, “Oh. Can I learn to play that over the summer?” At which point his eyes lit up, he leaped into the air and clicked his heels, performed a few ecstatic backflips, and launched some fireworks. Then he said, “Sure!” And that was the end of my clarinet-playing days. I continued with the sax in jazz and marching band situations, and played the bassoon in concert band/orchestra. I did stop playing the bassoon for a time in high school, though, because the director seemed unable to find pieces with interesting/challenging bassoon parts and I was getting tired of constantly playing I-V-I-V-I-V like a Nashville bass player, or else playing whole notes all the time. > [@Floater](#): > > The difference in fingering is negligible but the difference in blow technique isn’t. A clarinet is much harder to play than a saxophone. Clarinet and flute players frequently pick up the saxophone, but you don’t see as much movement the other direction. You’re right; after playing the clarinet for three years, I took home a sax for the summer and taught myself how to play it in about three days, as a 13-year-old. I think going the other direction would have been more difficult. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woodwind-families-and-the-double-reeds/567498/28 "2011-01-14T21:01:01Z")
> [@Floater](#): > > And the reason for the curves to begin with is to make the instruments easier to handle. It would be impossible to play them had they been straight. Oh, I dunno…I know a few straight sax players, and at least [one with great curves.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1seAn987sw&feature=related) ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woodwind-families-and-the-double-reeds/567498/29 "2011-01-14T21:59:14Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > [Mellophone](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mellophone). [Mellophant?](http://www.redshirt.org/remember/mymedia/elephant%20sax%20150.gif) 😃 Fascinating story of how you came to take up the bassoon, though. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woodwind-families-and-the-double-reeds/567498/30 "2011-01-15T08:30:18Z")
> [@Floater](#): > > The difference in fingering is negligible but the difference in blow technique isn’t. A clarinet is much harder to play than a saxophone. As a clarinetist, I disagree. Vibrato isn’t a big concern on the clarinet, as, when it is used, it is quite shallow. For saxophones, vibrato is a much bigger deal. I don’t think I’ve heard any saxophonist not use it, although I’ve been told it’s not supposed to be used in a concert band situation. So, I had a sax given to me, and I still sound horrible on it. Squawk, squawk, squawk. My tone on the clarinet still needs some work in the upper registers, but it sounds better than my sax. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woodwind-families-and-the-double-reeds/567498/31 "2011-01-15T16:38:40Z")
> [@Powers](#): > > Scroll down in your link to the “Timbre of musical instruments” section. Different instruments express the harmonics in different proportions. I think that’s what was meant. > Powers &8^] Exactly. It is very hard to hit the pedal of a harmonic series on the valve trumpet or bugle, but easy to hit the next one up. So you don’t hit the bottom C but the C above that, the G above that, then C-E-G-(Bb)-C… at this point it’s getting difficult. And on the natural trumpet you don’t hit the second harmonic either - you start from the G, then the C-E-G-(Bb)-C-D-E-(F)-G. ETA: And the horn, by design, can play far higher up its harmonic series than can any kind of trumpet (in other than really expert hands). Brilliance is traded off for range. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woodwind-families-and-the-double-reeds/567498/32 "2011-01-15T18:22:43Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > Exactly. It is very hard to hit the pedal of a harmonic series on the valve trumpet or bugle, but easy to hit the next one up. So you don’t hit the bottom C but the C above that, the G above that, then C-E-G-(Bb)-C… at this point it’s getting difficult. And on the natural trumpet you don’t hit the second harmonic either - you start from the G, then the C-E-G-(Bb)-C-D-E-(F)-G. > > ETA: And the horn, by design, can play far higher up its harmonic series than can any kind of trumpet (in other than really expert hands). Brilliance is traded off for range. You may think this is a nitpick, but the fact that some overtones (or even the principal) are difficult to hit or don’t sound as loud as others doesn’t change the harmonic series. It’s the same series and represents the mathematical relationship between harmonic frequencies given the same root, like 2X, 3X, 4X, etc. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woodwind-families-and-the-double-reeds/567498.md?page=1)