EWI

The Electronic Wind Instrument (EWI)

Sometimes called an EWI or Wind Controller, this instrument was introduced in the 1970′s as keyboard instruments were being developed.  It is like a keyboard synthesizer capable of hundreds of different sounds but the keys are arranged like a wind instrument such as a sax or flute.  The player blows air through a mouthpiece and the resulting sound is very expressive, where a traditional keyboard responds mainly to soft or loud.

A number of companies manufacture wind controllers.  My kids gave me this instrument, a Yamaha WX5 wind controller, which controls sounds produced by an external sound synthesizer module. This means that I can sound like almost any instrument, real or imaginary, when I play it even though it responds like a saxophone. I can use all the normal expressive controls a wind player has – breath, articulation, vibrato, and so on – and choose the actual sound with a few key clicks.

I can play clarinet on a swing song, then the steel drum on a Jimmy Buffett tune, then harmonica or sax on a blues number, then trumpet or fiddle.  There’s almost no limit to the sounds available.   Here’s a list of most of the sounds I normally use:

• Accordion
• Grand Piano
• Electric Piano
• Harmonica
• Marimba and Xylophone
• Steel Drums
• Cello
• Violin (or fiddle)
• String Orchestra
• Guitar
• Bass
• Sax
• Flute
• Oboe
• Clarinet
• Trumpet
• Trombone
• Flugelhorn
• Bagpipes
• Various “electronic” sounds