Performance music, possibly the most diverse, and etude or instructional music are the two main types of woodwind music. Woodwind music is further divided into groups for performance players and composers based on instrumentation. Flute, oboe, clarinet, horn — which is technically a labrophone or lip vibrated instrument — and bassoon, for example, are the most commonly used instrumentation for a woodwind quintet. In woodwind music, instruments are sometimes grouped together in families, such as in a work that calls for an oboe, English horn, and bassoon. It’s worth noting that woodwind music is still classified as woodwind music even if the supporting instruments aren’t woodwinds, with the focus on the featured instrument. A string quartet, for example, could accompany an oboe solo.
Woodwind music, like that for brass, percussion, and stringed instruments, can be classified the number of players rather than instrumentation. Solos, duets, trios, quartets, quintets, sextets, septets, and octets are examples of woodwind music. The primary woodwind players, not the supporting players, are used to classify the ensemble. A work for clarinet and orchestra, for example, is still a clarinet solo. A woodwind group may be featured in a concerto grosso, an instrumentation in which an orchestra supports and contrasts with a small group of soloists in concerto form.
For performances, woodwind music is classified as either secular or religious, depending on the intended performance venue. Woodwind music has a much longer history in secular settings, with evidence dating back thousands of years. China, for example, played very simple versions of flutes almost a thousand years before Christ, while the Greeks used aulos, which were extremely early predecessors of instruments like the oboe and featured two pipes or tubes with a single mouthpiece. Many sects did not believe instruments had a place in worship and that the voice was more appropriate, so music for woodwinds intended for the church did not begin to take hold seriously until the Renaissance and Baroque periods. However, the distinction between secular and religious music was not always clear, with some instrumental church music based on popular secular or folk themes.
For the most part, etudes or instructional music for woodwinds are not performed. Its sole purpose is to help the player improve his or her technique or control. Some woodwind etude music focuses on items such as particular articulations or tone, while others force the woodwind player to work through difficult fingering combinations or improve facility. Etude music also acquaints players with basic concepts like scales and arpeggios. Players often confuse instructional music with performance music, despite the fact that the two are distinct, because instructional music improves the skills required to play performance music well.