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      W

       

      Waltz

      The waltz (= French: valse; German: Walzer), a dance in triple time, became the most popular of all ball-room dances in the 19th century, typified in Vienna by the compositions and performances of the Strauss family. As a purely instrumental form, the waltz provided an apt vehicle for composers from Chopin to Ravel.
       
       

      Whole-tone Scale

      A scale consisting entirely of whole tones.  This scale is completely uniform in that all scale degrees are equidistant from each other and there are no semitones to suggest the V- I harmonic progression.  There are only two different whole-tone arrangements in the chromatic scale (C D E F# G# A#;   C# D# F G A B)
       
       

      Woodwind

      The woodwind section of the modern orchestra includes flutes, oboes, clarinets and bassoons and related instruments, although flutes are generally no longer made of wood. These instruments are all aerophones, blowing instruments, the sound produced by blowing across an aperture in the case of the flute, by the vibration of a single reed in the case of the clarinet and by the vibration of double reeds in the case of the oboe and the bassoon.