French horn is a truly divine instrument, for man blows into it, but only God knows what comes out of it.

Well, I think a trombone captures the male voice range, tenor and bass, but not truly the female side of the spectrum. I think oboe sounds like a singing soprano.

Have you ever heard an alto trombone? And as I said earlier, I think double reeds sound too much constricted, like someone who speaks from the nose (I'm not sure if I'm expressing myself the right way on this one, english is not my main language).

Oboe? Really? Let's think about that. Think about the sound an oboe makes. Beautiful, in it's own right. A piercing, shrill sound. Now think about the human voice. Even a high pitched female soprano voice. Clear, smooth, pure, capable of wild vibrato and massive glissandi. They really aren't anything at all similar.

It's not just a matter of pitch, like, this instrument can play in this range, and so can this one, so they are similar. It's a matter of the physical nature of the instruments. The trombone most closely resembles a human voice not only in pitch and range, but also in pure sound. They both have very similar overtone series makeups, which are totally different from other instruments. Certain overtones naturally sound louder and come through more on different instruments, and some are similar and some aren't. Trombone and voice are rather close. Oboe and clarinet and waaaaaaay different.

So, the simple physical nature of the sound output of trombone and voice is more similar than any other instrument and voice.

And we haven't even gotten into things like slide vs. vocal vibrato, slide technique and vocal technique being similar and totally different from any instrument with keys, the natural glissando (only possible on non-keyed instruments, like trombone, strings, and voice) and on and on and on...

Ah, now what do you mean by "over tones"? As in going up the octave?

I agree with you there, trombone does sound like the human MALE voice. Maybe even bassoon resemble that a bit? I'm not sure.

I have heard of the alto trombone! They are quite cute.

Here's a quick and dirty lesson into the physical nature of instruments and the sounds they create.

When you play a note, that note is not the only thing present. Let's say, for example, you play a Bb at the bottom of the staff. Inside that single Bb exists the entire overtone series of notes, including the next Bb up, the F above that, the Bb above that, then D, F, Ab, Bb, C, D, Eb, E, F, and on and on well beyond our hearing capability. These notes are SO quiet that you can't hear them at all while playing the note (fundamental), but they do exist, and they are what gives each instrument it's specific tonal color. Each instrument has a different percentage of each overtone present in each note the performer plays, thusly giving each instrument a different tonal color.

Remember, if these overtones did not exist, all instruments would sound exactly the same, like a pure tone that only electronics can create.

Clarinet, for example, is missing I believe (if I can remember the details from my college physics of music, electro-acoustics, sound recording, and woodwind fundamentals classes) the 2rd overtone. Don't quote me, I know it's missing an overtone, I think it's that one. So, when you play a note on a clarinet, any note, that specific notes overtone series makeup is different from any other instrument because of that change, thusly giving it a totally different tonal color.

Double reeds are also rather different from anything else. They have a very specific tonal color, different from any other instrument. (And very different from voice) Seriously, listen to a very good oboe, english horn, or bassoon player. Those instruments don't sound anything like a human voice, no matter how bad and scratchy and rough that human voice is.

Now, back to trombone and voice. The reason they are considered similar is because the overtones series makeup of each note (the percentages of each overtone present in any note you play) are very similar between the two, more similar to any other two instruments.

Again, this has nothing to do with range, it has everything to do with sound production and tonal quality.

Erik is mostly correct.
The clarinet does not sound the 2nd harmonic of the series, or any other even numbered harmonic. The clarinet only sounds the odd numbered harmonics.

There is just a little more to it. The shape of the sound waves are different. The Trombone has a very smooth sinual sound wave, the clarinet is sinual also but more square (a result of the odd numbered harmonics, a violin sound wave is a very jagged looking wave (like at the beach). The "shape" of the envelope contribute to the color or tonal quality of the sound. This is why it seems easier to tune to some insturments better than others. It is easier to tune to someone who has a similar wave form.

If we were to take a sound envelope and cut off the begining and the ending you would be hard pressed to hear the difference from most instruments. With the sound envelope complete we get different tonal characters.

i feel insulted...
no not really. i just felt like saying that:D
who cares which instrument sounds like a human voice really... they all sound different. (meaning both human voices and instruments.)

Yup yup yup! When I was in college, in the sound recording classes, we recorded several instruments playing a single note, the same note, for about 10 seconds. Then we went in the edit room and chopped them up, trading around the attack of one instrument with the sustain of another. Even with only about 1/5 of a second worth of attack going to 9 4/5 seconds of sustain, the entire note sounded like the instrument playing the initial attack. Neat stuff.

Then, in the electro acoustics classes, we worked on using programmable keyboards to create sounds of different instruments changing only the attack characteristics, and also the wave shape, be it smooth, square, sawtooth, etc. etc. etc. Very fun to do, and rather informative to learn about which instruments are similar and which are totally different.

wow, i didn't know how huge of a topic this would be in such a short amount of time. I just thought it was funny.

But also, I learned a lot more about why the trombone sounds like the human voice and history behind it...never expected that.

Yeah, I like this topic, there are some VERY knowledgeable people on this forum =]!

And it's a joke posted BY a TROMBONE player.
Silly Rabbitt.
LMFAO! John, you really know how to make me laugh!
I'll tell ya what though, I know bassoon sounds nothing like a human voice

What does a gong sound most like?

I don't know. A Chevy Tahoe bouncing of a wall of metal? No, that can't be it...hmm.

a farting bedpost?

no jk. i dunno... but i guess it could sound like that if played bad:D