skills/instrument-ranges-and-idioms/references/winds.md

# Woodwinds and saxophones (sounding pitch)

| Instrument | Comfortable | Extremes to avoid | Character and idiom |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| flute | G4 to G6 | below D4 (weak, soft), above B6 (shrill) | agile, fast scales and trills, bright above C5; the low register carries no dynamics |
| piccolo | G5 to G7 | below E5, above B7 | piercing; use for doublings and climaxes, short phrases |
| clarinet | G3 to G5 | below E3, above C6 | warm low "chalumeau" register (E3 to F4); avoid fast passages that cross the break between sounding Ab4 and A4 repeatedly; expressive and agile |
| oboe | D4 to D6 | below C4 (loud, hard), above F6 | plaintive; slow melodies, few fast wide leaps; stepwise lines |
| bassoon | F2 to G4 | below C2, above C5 | tenor register (C3 to G4) is lyrical; low register is a bass line or a joke; agile staccato lines |
| recorder | D5 to D6 (soprano) | below C5, above F6 | small range, stepwise diatonic melodies, folk tunes, no chromatic runs |
| pan-flute | G4 to G6 | below E4, above C7 | melodies with breath between notes, ornaments; wide fast leaps are awkward |
| soprano-sax | C4 to C6 | below Ab3, above Eb6 | bright, close to oboe territory; lyrical lines |
| alto-sax | F3 to F5 | below Db3, above Ab5 | the all-round lead horn; bebop and pop lines, comfortable leaps |
| tenor-sax | C3 to C5 | below Ab2, above Eb5 | warm, blues-friendly; lines sit an octave below alto |
| baritone-sax | F2 to F4 | below Db2, above Ab4 | bass-line and riff instrument; slower moving |

## Phrasing

- One breath per 2 bars at moderate tempo; a fast run of sixteenths lasts at
  most a bar before a rest.
- Saxophones can play eighths at 200 BPM, but wide leaps at that speed become
  uneven; keep fast lines mostly stepwise.
- Trills and fast repeated notes are idiomatic for flute and clarinet, not
  for oboe or bassoon at speed.
- Double-reed instruments (oboe, bassoon) tire faster: shorter phrases.