* To the Color - a bugle call to render honors to the United States. It is used when no band is available to render honors, or in ceremonies requiring honors more than once. It commands all the same courtesies as the National Anthem.
When the word oboe is used alone, it is generally taken to mean the treble oboe rather than other instruments of the family, such as the bass oboe, the cor anglais (English horn), or oboe d'amore.
* conical bore strapped with a double reed
* treble oboe is often given prominent melodies
(L) Mozart - Oboe Concerto - Mvt. 3
(R) Mozart - Oboe Quartet
* cor anglais (or English horn) is a type of oboe;
its tenor voice is popular as a solo instrument:
William Tell - Overture
* oboe d'amore is the mezzo-soprano of the oboe family,
between the oboe (soprano) and the cor anglais (alto):
2 to 4 flutes - (one doubling piccolo) 2 to 4 oboes - (one doubling English horn) 2 to 4 clarinets - (one doubling bass clarinet) 2 to 4 bassoons - (one doubling contrabassoon)
* the size of the woodwinds section can be expressed as 1-1-1-1 (chamber), 2-2-2-2 (Brahms), 3-3-3-3 and 4-4-4-4 (with doubling)
* the standard woodwind section of the modern orchestra comprises of 2 flutes, piccolo, 2 oboes, cor anglais, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, and contrabassoon * continued to be called woodwinds though no longer made of wood * bore: conical or cylindrical
* transverse (side-blown) woodwind instruments made of metal or wood
* usually providing the top woodwind voice, the flute also has a mellow low register
* the air in a flute is set in motion by blowing across the edge of the embouchure hole
Flute Player
-Dirck de Quade van Ravesteyn (fl.1589–1619, Southern Netherlandish)
- oil on canvas (111 × 127.5 cm) c.1600
- Kunsthistorisches Museum (Vienna)
Baroqueflute
(L) Bach - Badinerie (R) Handel - 8 flute sonatas
(R) Portrait of William Wollaston (1730-1797, British MP)
- Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788, English)
- oil on canvas (128 x 100 cm) c.1759
- Colchester & Ipswich Museums (Essex)
Western concert flute
(R) The long tube of the bass flute or the alto flute is bent
so that the valves are comfortably within reach.
piccolo
The smaller piccolo can cut through the entire orchestral texture to great effect.
“The piccolo, a small flute, is the smallest woodwind instrument and thus produces the highest pitch of all the woodwinds. Its range is nearly 3 octaves and can reach higher pitches than the female voice.”
“It often doubles lower instruments to provide brilliance and penetration in orchestral music.”
fife
The Fife Player (fifer)
- Édouard Manet (1832–1883, French)
- oil on canvas (160.5 x 97 cm) 1866
- Musée d'Orsay (Paris)
Please note the finger skills playing this well-known piece on pipa, whilst visualizing early spring’s sunshine on white snow.
(R) 《十面埋伏》Ambush from All Sides
The pipa concerto is from the perspective of the Prince of Han, finishing off his strong rival Prince of Chu once and for all. Han's chief commander, Han Xin, divided 300,000 into ten armies to form ten coupled ambushes.
《霸王卸甲》The Overlord Unarms pipa concerto
2200 yeas ago in China, overlord Prince of Chu (楚王项羽) and rival Prince of Han (汉王刘邦) signed a truce treaty. As the Chu army withdrew, the Han army launched a surprise and fatal raid. This pipa concerto is about the Prince of Chu losing his last battle.
* In section 11 of 16, he sadly bid Concubine Yu farewell, who was both a beauty and a warrior, accompanying him from battles to battles. She killed herself after her sword dance performance.
* In the last section, peace was restored; the Han army was going home (with the head of the Prince of Chu who also killed himself, and with the Chu troops dead all over the battlefield).
“A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin..... The fiddle is part of many traditional (folk) styles, which are typically aural traditions—taught 'by ear' rather than via written music.” （通過口耳相傳）
“... is a bowed stringed instrument of the Medieval era and the early Renaissance. In its most common form, it has a narrow boat-shaped body and 1-5 strings.”
