Why are they called brass instruments?
Brass instrument
the term "brass instrument" should be defined by the way the sound is made, as above, and not by whether the instrument is actually made of brass
The view of most scholars (see organology) is that the term "brass instrument" should be defined by the way the sound is made, as above, and not by whether the instrument is actually made of brass. Thus one finds brass instruments made of wood, like the alphorn, the cornett, the serpent and the didgeridoo, while some woodwind instruments are made of brass, like the saxophone.