Reedless wind instrument

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Reedless wind instruments are wind instruments that do not have moving parts in (woodwind), or associated with (brass), their mouthpieces.

Wind instruments are often characterized by their number of reeds, which is typically zero, one, or two. Reedless wind instruments are instruments typically have no moving parts other than the wind (air) itself. Examples include the flute, ocarina, recorder, tin whistle, and calliope (steam whistles).

Categorization by number of reeds

0 reeds: Instruments such as the flute, or whistles, that have zero reeds typically have a fipple mechanism, or some similar sharp edge against which air is blown;
1 reeds: Instruments such as the clarinet that have one reed;
2 reeds: Instruments such as the oboe, or brass instruments, that have two reeds (or lips of the player) that beat against each other, rather than a single reed that beats against a mouthpiece.

Relationship to brass instruments

Brass instruments are considered to be double reed instruments, in the sense that the two lips of the player take on the role of reeds, to produce the moving parts that induce periodic interruption of air flow. Thus even though brass instruments don't have moving parts in the mouthpiece itself when it is not being played, they are not considered to be reedless wind instruments because, when played, the lips take on the role of reeds. Brass instruments have no fipple mechanism or other sharp edge characterisitic of reedless wind instruments.

Purest form of wind instrument

Under the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, reedless wind instruments are aerophones in the most pure sense that there are no moving parts other than the air itself, and thus the attribution of the sound source is wholly the air. Whereas a clarinet functions mostly as a wind instrument (aerophone), some percentage of the sound production may be attributed to the beating of the reed, which, although not considered an idiophone, does contribute, to a slight degree, non-aerophonic components to the initial sound production.

In reedless wind instruments the solid matter from which the instrument's body is made takes on the role only of containing the fluid (air) that makes the sound.

Reedless water instrument

Whereas wind instruments use compressible fluid (air), a new category of instruments, called hydraulophones, use less-compressible fluid (water). Hydraulophones in their most pure form, are reedless. These are called waterflutes. Other hydraulophones have one or more reeds, which vibrate in a stream of water.

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