Increase the strain on band's top woodwind (5)
I believe the answer is:
breed
'increase the strain' is the definition.
'breed' can be an answer for 'increase' (thesaurus). I am not sure about the 'the strain' bit.
'on band's top woodwind' is the wordplay.
'on' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'top' suggests taking the first letters.
'woodwind' becomes 'reed' (reed is a kind of woodwind).
The first letter of 'bands' is 'b'.
'b'+'reed' is 'BREED'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for breed that I've seen before include "train" , "Special lineage" , "Special variety within a species" , "Produce offspring, say horses" , "Produce children" .)