The Recorder Woodwind Instrument

--How is it played? What does the person have to do to produce sound?

Most woodwind instruments are tubes. The sound comes from a vibrating column of air inside the tube. The player makes this column of air vibrate in one of several ways:

By blowing across an edge, as in the flute, recorder, whistle, and root beer bottle

By blowing between a reed and a fixed surface, as in the clarinet and saxophone

By blowing between two reeds, as in the oboe, bassoon, sarusaphone and bagpipes

--How do you change a note? (you might have to watch very carefully to see this) 

Woodwind pitch depends on the volume of air that is vibrating. A larger volume vibrates more slowly, for lower pitch; a smaller volume vibrates more quickly, for a higher pitch. For most woodwinds, the player changes pitch by opening and closing holes along the instrument's length. Without keys, there can only be as many holes as the player has fingers to cover them with. Adding keys allows the number and complexity of holes to be increased. Increasing the blowing pressure past a certain critical point (called the "break") causes the air column to resonate at a higher harmonic (see the harmonics section, below) and raises the pitch of many woodwinds by a large interval. In most cases this interval is an octave (e.g. middle C to high C), but in the clarinet it is a 12th (e.g. middle C to the G above high C). With minor variations this is the way woodwinds achieve large ranges.

--How is it shaped?

At one time, most woodwinds were made of wood; hence the name. The easiest way to characterize them now is as wind instruments (that is, you blow into them) which aren't played by buzzing your lips together.

--What does this make you think about how you can create and change sound?

i think that if you put your fingers on different holes it will kinda make it fun trying to play different notes because it is so easy to play the recorder. 

--What connections (if any) do you think you can draw between what you are observing and you might already know about waves?

its like a vibrating sound that really makes the music from your fingers to your mouth with you blowing the air into the instrument.