aerophones

Aerophone is an adjective that, according to the dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE), is used to rate the wind instruments. An aerophone, therefore, is a musical instrument whose sound is generated from air vibrations, without the need to use membranes or strings.

Inside, an aerophone instrument houses a certain amount of air which, when excited, produces a sound. This sound depends on the volume of the gas, not on the characteristics of the container that provides containment. What this container (the structure of the instrument) does is set the shape that the gas volume will take and, by extension, determine what it sounds like.

The origin of aerophones is considered to be ancient. So much so that it is established that the first examples of these wind musical instruments would be the horns of animals, shells and even the trunks that had been emptied from the inside.

Later, as history evolved, other somewhat more "sophisticated" ones appeared, such as, for example, the so-called kazoo or the shepherd's flutes.

The wooden aerophones offer a sound soft ringing. The musician must blow through a hole or generate the vibration of a reed. The recorder, the quena and the erke are examples of wooden aerophones.

Regarding the metal aerophones, produce a loud ringing sound. In this case, the musician vibrates his lips on a mouthpiece that generates the acoustic frequency. Among the metal aerophones we can name the trumpet, the tuba and the trombone.

There are other ways to rate aerophones. According to the shape of the tubes, they can be prismatic, cylindrical or conical. Regarding the method of obtaining the scale, there are aerophones with tubes of variable length and aerophones with tubes that have holes.

If we focus on the excitement of the column out of the air, we meet nozzle aerophones (the trumpet), reed aerophones (the harmonica) and embouchure aerophones (the flute).

In addition to all the above, we cannot ignore the fact that in certain countries there are aerophones that are typical and traditional, as well as very characteristic. Thus, for example, we can highlight the following:
-In the Basque Country you can find the famous chistu.
-In the Andalusian province of Huelva, what is known as the Rociera flute takes special relevance. This, as its name suggests, is the typical one that is played when pilgrims make the way from their cities of origin to the village of Rocío, where the Virgin of the same name is found.
-In several autonomous communities of Spain the dulzaina is very characteristic, which has a particularly sharp sound and is identified by being made of wood, yes, in each region with a different one.

In addition to everything indicated, we can point out these other relevant issues:
-The larger the diameter of the tube, the lower the sound will be.
-The longer the tube is, the more serious the aforementioned sound will also be. And this will be more serious also the higher air pressure there is.