Herderstafereel met een schalmeispeler Rijksmuseum SK-A-1494

The shawm () is a

conical bore In music, the bore of a wind instrument (including woodwind and brass) is its interior chamber. This defines a flow path through which air travels, which is set into vibration to produce sounds. The shape of the bore has a strong influence ...

double-reed A double reed is a type of reed used to produce sound in various wind instruments. In contrast with a single reed instrument, where the instrument is played by channeling air against one piece of cane which vibrates against the mouthpiece and c ...

woodwind instrument Woodwind instruments are a family of musical instruments within the greater category of wind instruments. Common examples include flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, and saxophone. There are two main types of woodwind instruments: flutes and ...

made in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

from the 12th century to the present day. It achieved its peak of popularity during the medieval and

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass id ...

periods, after which it was gradually eclipsed by the

oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range. ...

family of descendant instruments in classical music. It is likely to have come to

Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...

from the

Eastern Mediterranean Eastern Mediterranean is a loose definition of the eastern approximate half, or third, of the Mediterranean Sea, often defined as the countries around the Levantine Sea. It typically embraces all of that sea's coastal zones, referring to comm ...

around the time of the

Crusades The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were ...

.The Shawm and Curtal
��from the Diabolus in Musica Guide to Early Instruments Double-reed instruments similar to the shawm were long present in Southern Europe and the East, for instance the

ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

, and later

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantin ...

aulos An ''aulos'' ( grc, αὐλός, plural , ''auloi'') or ''tibia'' (Latin) was an ancient Greek wind instrument, depicted often in art and also attested by archaeology. Though ''aulos'' is often translated as "flute" or " double flute", it was ...

, the Persian

sorna The sornā or sornāy ( fa, سُرنای، سُرنا, also ''surnā'', ''surnāy'' and also ''Zurna'') is an ancient Iranian woodwind instrument. Etymology The word ''sorna'' is a Pahlavi derivative of sūrnāy (literally "strong flute"), w ...

,Anthony C. Baines and Martin Kirnbauer, "Shawm calmuse, shalm, shalmie, schalmuse, ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', second edition, edited by

Stanley Sadie Stanley John Sadie (; 30 October 1930 – 21 March 2005) was an influential and prolific British musicology, musicologist, music critic, and editor. He was editor of the sixth edition of the ''Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' (1980), whi ...

and John Tyrrell (London: Macmillan Publishers, 2001). and the Armenian

duduk The duduk ( ; hy, դուդուկ ) or tsiranapogh ( hy, ծիրանափող, meaning “apricot-made wind instrument”), is an ancient Armenian double reed woodwind instrument made of apricot wood. It is indigenous to Armenia. Variations of ...

. The body of the shawm is usually turned from a single piece of wood, and terminates in a flared bell somewhat like that of a

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standar ...

. Beginning in the 16th century, shawms were made in several sizes, from

sopranino Sopranino indicates a tonal range higher than soprano, and can refer to: Music * Sopranino clarinet or E-flat clarinet * Sopranino recorder * Sopranino saxophone * Sopranino voice, with a range higher than soprano Other * ''Sopranino'', a 1950 ul ...

great bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox additions such as the octobass). Similar i ...

, and four- and five-part music could be played by a consort consisting entirely of shawms. All later shawms (excepting the smallest) have at least one key allowing a downward extension of the compass; the keywork is typically covered by a perforated wooden cover called the ''fontanelle''. The bassoon-like double reed, made from the same ''

arundo donax ''Arundo donax'' is a tall perennial cane. It is one of several so-called reed species. It has several common names including giant cane, elephant grass, carrizo, arundo, Spanish cane, Colorado river reed, wild cane, and giant reed. ''Arundo'' ...

'' cane used for oboes and bassoons, is inserted directly into a socket at the top of the instrument, or in the larger types, on the end of a metal tube called the

bocal A bocal is a curved, tapered tube, which is an integral part of certain woodwind instruments, including double reed instruments such as the bassoon, contrabassoon, English horn, and oboe d'amore, as well as the larger recorders. In the double ...

. The ''

pirouette In dance and gymnastics, a turn is a rotation of the body about the vertical axis. It is usually a complete rotation of the body, although quarter (90°) and half (180°) turns are possible for some types of turns. Multiple, consecutive turns are ...

'', a small wooden attachment with a cavity in the center resembling a thimble, surrounds the lower part of the reed—this provides support for the lips and

embouchure Embouchure () or lipping is the use of the lips, facial muscles, tongue, and teeth in playing a wind instrument. This includes shaping the lips to the mouthpiece of a woodwind instrument or the mouthpiece of a brass instrument. The word is of Fr ...

. Since only a short portion of the reed protrudes past the pirouette, the player has only limited contact with the reed, and therefore limited control of dynamics. The shawm's

and flaring bell, combined with the style of playing dictated by the use of a pirouette, gives the instrument a piercing, trumpet-like sound, well-suited for outdoor performances.

Etymology

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national id ...

the name first appears in the 14th century. There were originally three main variant forms, (1) ( or ), (2) ( or , all plural forms in

Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English ...

), and (3) (or ), each derived from a corresponding variant in

Old French Old French (, , ; Modern French: ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a linkage of Romance dialects, mutually intelligi ...

: , , and (the plural of ), each in turn derived from the Latin ('reed'), or its

Vulgar Latin Vulgar Latin, also known as Popular or Colloquial Latin, is the range of non-formal registers of Latin spoken from the Late Roman Republic onward. Through time, Vulgar Latin would evolve into numerous Romance languages. Its literary counterpa ...

diminutive form, . (The name of a somewhat different reed instrument, the

chalumeau The chalumeau (; ; plural chalumeaux) is a single-reed woodwind instrument of the late baroque and early classical eras. The chalumeau is a folk instrument that is the predecessor to the modern-day clarinet. It has a cylindrical bore with ...

, also shares this etymology.) The early plural forms were often mistaken for a singular, and new plurals were formed from them. The later reduction in the 15th and 16th centuries to a single syllable in forms such as ''schalme'', ''shaume'', ''shawme'', and finally (in the 16th century) ''shawm'', was probably due to this confusion of plural and singular forms. In

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

the shawm is called (or for the larger members of the family —also in English in the 14th century—later corrupted to and finally in the 17th century to ''

Pommer Pommer or bombard (French ''hautbois''; Italian ''bombardo'', ''bombardone'') describes the alto, tenor, bass, and contrabass members of the shawm or Schalmey family, which are similar in function to the modern cor anglais, tenoroon, bassoon, ...

'') This is borne out by the very similar names of many folk shawms used as traditional instruments in various

an nations: in Spain, many traditional shawms with different names can be found, such as the Castilian, Aragonese, and Leonese ''

dulzaina The dulzaina () or dolçaina (/) is a Spanish double reed instrument in the oboe family. It has a conical shape and is the equivalent of the Breton bombarde. It is often replaced by an oboe or a double reeded clarinet as seen in Armenian ...

'' (sometimes called ''

chirimía Chirimía (sometimes chirisuya in Peru) is a Spanish term for a type of woodwind instrument similar to an oboe. The chirimía is a member of the shawm family of double-reed instruments, introduced to North, Central and South America in the sixtee ...

'', a term that derives from the same Old French word as ''shawm''); the Valencian and

Catalan shawm In music, a Catalan shawm is one of two varieties of shawm, an oboe-like woodwind musical instrument played in Catalonia in northeastern Spain. Region, types, and uses The types of shawm commonly used in Catalonia are the tible (, Catalan for ...

s (, , or '' gralla'') or the Navarrese ''gaita''. In

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, In recognized minority languages of Portugal: :* mwl, República Pertuesa is a country located on the Iberian Peninsula, in Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Macaronesian ...

there is an instrument called ; and the name of the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

shawm is (or: , ). However, it is also possible that the name comes from the

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walte ...

(), a traditional oboe from

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Med ...

, as the European shawm seems to have been developed from similar instruments brought to Europe from the Near East during the time of the

. This Arabic name is itself linguistically related to many other Eastern names for the instrument: the Arabic , the Turkish '' zūrnā'', the Persian '' surnāy'', the Chinese ''

suona ''Suona'' (IPA: /swoʊˈnɑː/, ), also called ''dida'' (from Cantonese / '' īdá'), ''laba'' or ''haidi'', is a traditional Chinese music instrument with double-reed horn. The suona's basic design originated in ancient Iran, then called "Su ...

'', the Javanese , and the Hindu or ''

sanayi The ''shehnai'' is a musical instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent. It is made of wood, with a double reed at one end and a metal or wooden flared bell at the other end.

Use

Instruments resembling the medieval shawm can still be heard in many countries today, played by street musicians or

military band A military band is a group of personnel that performs musical duties for military functions, usually for the armed forces. A typical military band consists mostly of wind and percussion instruments. The conductor of a band commonly bears the ti ...

s. The latter use would have been familiar to crusaders, who often had to face massed bands of

Saracen upright 1.5, Late 15th-century German woodcut depicting Saracens Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek and Latin writings, to refer to the people who lived in and near what was designated by the Romans as Arabia P ...

shawms and nakers, used as a psychological weapon. It must have had a profound effect, for the shawm was quickly adopted by Europeans, to accompany dance as well as for military purposes. The standard outdoor dance band in the fifteenth century consisted of a

slide trumpet The slide trumpet is an early type of trumpet fitted with a movable section of telescopic tubing, similar to the slide of a trombone. Eventually, the slide trumpet evolved into the sackbut, which evolved into the modern-day trombone. The key dif ...

playing popular melodies, while two shawms improvised

countermelodies In music, (German for ''primary voice'') or is the main voice, chief part; i.e., the contrapuntal or melodic line of primary importance, in opposition to . (German for ''secondary voice'') or is the secondary part; i.e., a secondary contrap ...

over it. In many

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an ...

n countries, shawm technique includes

circular breathing Circular breathing is a technique used by players of some wind instruments to produce a continuous tone without interruption. It is accomplished by breathing through the nose while simultaneously pushing air through the mouth using air stor ...

allowing continuous playing without pauses for air. By the early 16th century the shawm had undergone considerable development. The harsh tonality of the medieval shawm had been modulated somewhat by a narrowing of the bore and a reduction in the size of the fingerholes. This also extended the range, enabling the performer to play the notes in the second

octave In music, an octave ( la, octavus: eighth) or perfect octave (sometimes called the diapason) is the interval between one musical pitch and another with double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been refer ...

. Larger sizes of shawm were built, down to the great bass in B, two octaves and a major third below the soprano in D. However, the larger sizes were unwieldy, which made them somewhat rare. The smaller sizes of shawm, chiefly the soprano, alto and sometimes the tenor, were more often coupled with the

trombone, or

sackbut The term sackbut refers to the early forms of the trombone commonly used during the Renaissance and Baroque eras. A sackbut has the characteristic telescopic slide of a trombone, used to vary the length of the tube to change pitch, but is di ...

, and the majestic sound of this ensemble was much in demand by civic authorities. The shawm became standard equipment for town bands, or

waits WAITS was a heavily modified variant of Digital Equipment Corporation's Monitor operating system (later renamed to, and better known as, "TOPS-10") for the PDP-6 and PDP-10 mainframe computers, used at the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Labora ...

, who were required to herald the start of municipal functions and signal the major times of day. The shawm became so closely associated with the town waits ( in German and in Italian) that it was also known as the wait-pipe. Before the discovery of a still shawm aboard the shipwreck of the ''

Mary Rose The ''Mary Rose'' (launched 1511) is a carrack-type warship of the English Tudor navy of King Henry VIII. She served for 33 years in several wars against France, Scotland, and Brittany. After being substantially rebuilt in 1536, she saw her ...

'', instrument historians had been puzzled by references to "still shawms", or "soft" shawms, that were said to have a sound that was less shrill than earlier shawms. The still shawm disappeared from the musical scene in the 16th century; the instrument found on the ''Mary Rose'' is the only surviving example. A reproduction has been made and played. Combined with a pipe and

tabor Tabor may refer to: Places Czech Republic * Tábor, a town in the South Bohemian Region ** Tábor District, the surrounding district * Tábor, a village and part of Velké Heraltice in the Moravian-Silesian Region Israel * Mount Tabor, Galil ...

, it provides a "very effective bass part" that would have produced "rich and full sound, which would have provided excellent music for dancing on board ship". The shawm was reserved almost exclusively for outdoor performance—for softer, indoor music, other instruments such as the

crumhorn The crumhorn is a double reed instrument of the woodwind family, most commonly used during the Renaissance period. In modern times, particularly since the 1960s, there has been a revival of interest in early music, and crumhorns are being pl ...

and

cornamuse The cornamuse is a double reed instrument dating from the Renaissance period. It is similar to the crumhorn in having a windcap over the reed and cylindrical bore. The only evidence for the cornamuse comes from a description and a few comments ...

were preferred. These were double reed instruments fitted with a capsule that completely enclosed the reed, which softened the sound but still did not allow for any variation in dynamics. Known by the Spanish term ''

chirimia Chirimía (sometimes chirisuya in Peru) is a Spanish term for a type of woodwind instrument similar to an oboe. The chirimía is a member of the shawm family of double-reed instruments, introduced to North, Central and South America in the sixtee ...

'', the shawm remains an important ritual instrument among

Maya people The Maya peoples () are an ethnolinguistic group of indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica. The ancient Maya civilization was formed by members of this group, and today's Maya are generally descended from people who lived within that historical reg ...

s of Highland Guatemala. Accompanied by a drum, the chirimia is frequently used in processions and in certain ritual dances, such as the Dance of the Conquest (Baile de la Conquista), and this is still played today.

Progeny of the shawm

A tenor shawm in C with a single key ithout the customary lower extension to G with a range of a perfect twelfth, was described as a ''nicolo'' according to

Michael Praetorius Michael Praetorius (probably 28 September 1571 – 15 February 1621) was a German composer, organist, and music theorist. He was one of the most versatile composers of his age, being particularly significant in the development of musical forms b ...

in his ''

Syntagma Musicum ''Syntagma Musicum (1614-1620)'' is a musical treatise in three volumes by the German composer, organist, and music theorist Michael Praetorius. It was published in Wittenberg and Wolfenbüttel. It is one of the most commonly used research source ...

'' II (1619), pages 23 and 36, but was not illustrated. Praetorius does, however, illustrate in Plate 13 in the supplementary volume of illustrations, the (1620), along with crumhorns, a ''bassett:nicolo'' which has the outward appearance of a capped shawm with four keys, but in fact conceals a mostly cylindrical bore. (The range of the bassett: nicolo descended to the A below great C and was just over four feet in length; a shawm of this range, i.e., with a conical bore, would require more than 9 feet of bore length.)

Oboe

The shawm inspired the later 17th-century ''hautbois'', an invention of the French musician Martin Hotteterre (d. 1712). He is credited with devising essentially a brand-new instrument, one which borrowed several features from the shawm, chiefly its double reed and conical bore, but departed from it significantly in other respects, the most important departure being the fact the player places his lips directly on the reed with no intervening pirouette. Around 1670, the new French began replacing the shawm in military bands, concert music and opera; by 1700, the shawm had all but disappeared from concert life, although as late as 1830 shawms could still be heard in German town bands performing their municipal functions. Curiously, the Germans and

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

continued to manufacture an ornate version of the shawm, called , well after the introduction of the French . Several examples of this instrument survive in European collections, although its exact musical use is unclear.

Dulcian/bassoon

The 16th-century proclivity for building instruments in a full range of sizes was naturally extended to the shawm, but the extreme length of pipe of the bass instruments meant that few were built and played, due to their cumbersome size. A solution was devised whereby the bore was in effect "folded back" upon itself, creating a much more manageable instrument. The new instrument is often referred to as the

dulcian The dulcian is a Renaissance woodwind instrument, with a double reed and a folded conical bore. Equivalent terms include en, curtal, german: Dulzian, french: douçaine, nl, dulciaan, it, dulciana, es, bajón, and pt, baixão. The predeces ...

, and was called ''curtal'' in England, or in Germany and Italy, and in Spain. The dulcian, like the first oboes, employed direct lip-to-reed contact, which allowed for much greater control over the sound than was offered by shawms. This led to the dulcian becoming very popular, serving as a bass both to the other shawms and even to indoor ensembles that did not feature shawms, afforded by its ability to play quietly. The dulcian was the forerunner to the bassoon, which like the oboe was a Baroque invention.

Charumera

The , or , is a double-reed instrument in traditional

Japanese music In Japan, music includes a wide array of distinct genres, both traditional and modern. The word for "music" in Japanese is 音楽 (''ongaku''), combining the kanji 音 ''on'' (sound) with the kanji 楽 ''gaku'' (music, comfort). Japan is the wo ...

descended either from shawms brought to Japan by Portuguese

Christian missionaries A Christian mission is an organized effort for the propagation of the Christian faith. Missions involve sending individuals and groups across boundaries, most commonly geographical boundaries, to carry on evangelism or other activities, such a ...

, or possibly Iberian traders in the 16th century. It is sometimes used in

kabuki is a classical form of Japanese dance-drama. Kabuki theatre is known for its heavily-stylised performances, the often-glamorous costumes worn by performers, and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers. Kabuki is thought ...

theatre performances. It is also strongly associated in popular culture with street vendors of

ramen is a Japanese noodle dish. It consists of served in a broth; common flavors are soy sauce and miso, with typical toppings including , nori (dried seaweed), menma (bamboo shoots), and scallions. Ramen has its roots in Chinese noodle dis ...

, who played a distinctive melody on it to attract customers.

Modern performances

* Instruments of the Middle Ages and Renaissance—

David Munrow David John Munrow (12 August 194215 May 1976) was a British musician and early music historian. Early life and education Munrow was born in Birmingham where both his parents taught at the University of Birmingham. His mother, Hilda Ivy (né ...

and The Early Music Consort of London * City of Lincoln Waites ''(The Mayor of Lincoln's own Band of Musick)'' * Many recordings by Piffaro, The Renaissance Band feature shawms

References

Bibliography

* Baines, Anthony. 1967. ''Woodwind Instruments and Their History'', third edition, reprinted with corrections 1977, with a foreword by Sir Adrian Boult. London: Faber & Faber . Unaltered reprinted, New York:

Dover Publications Dover Publications, also known as Dover Books, is an American book publisher founded in 1941 by Hayward and Blanche Cirker. It primarily reissues books that are out of print from their original publishers. These are often, but not always, books ...

, 1991. *

External links

*
Video of a band in Germany in Lubeck 2017 playing "shawms"; the Germans call this instrument a "Schalmei". Definitely will bring a smile to your face!

Dolçaina valenciana

The Dulcian
* {{Authority control Early musical instruments Single oboes with conical bore Swiss musical instruments Double-reed instruments Articles containing video clips