Originally Posted by BillyD

Ok, but let me put my question another way. Is it that air just occupies space in the tubes at atmospheric pressure, and that for each note the musician wants to create he needs to move all that stagnant air up to a certain speed? Or is it that the air in the tubes is held under pressure until the musician pushes it just a small amount to make a note? It just doesn’t seem possible that the human lungs can push all that stagnant air against the inherent drag of all those narrow tubes for each note he wants to play. But if so, that’s incredible.