Shawm

Instrument

Shawm being played(the renaissance shawm)

"At great feasts they are to play upon shagbut, cornetts, 
shawms and other instruments going with wind."
-Richard Brathwaite, 1621

click image for alto shawm sound (134kb wav) 
or here for same in mp3

canario - dance tune by Fabritio Caroso 
(second verse by alto shawm)

ein feste burg - three settings by Walther 
(first setting includes tenor shawm, alto zink and crumhorn)

Unlike the medieval shawm, the late Middle Ages and Renaissance shawm uses a broad cane reed controlled by the player's lips. With the smaller size shawms, the reed could be placed inside a pirouette, a funnel shaped protector against which the player places his lips. This pirouette not only protects the reed, but also helps avoid lip fatigue.

tenor schawm The shawm band enlivened the palace courtyard and market square of the sixteenth century and added to the general din and confusion associated with them.

"Clown: Why, masters, have your instruments been at Naples, that they speak i' th' nose thus?

Musician: How, sir, how?

Clown: Are these, I pray, call'd wind instruments?

Musician: Ay, marry, are they, sir.

Clown: O. therey hangs a tail.

Musician: Whereby hangs a tale, sir?

Clown: Marry, sir, by many a wind instrument that i know. But, masters, here's money for you; and the General so likes your music, that he desires you, of all loves, to make no more noise with it."
-Shakespeare, Othello 

End piece of shawm All shawms have several vent holes between the hole for the lowest note and the end of the bell. This section of the instrument is very long and contributes to the tone and carrying power of the instrument. A large fontanelle protects the key mechanism of the lowest note(s), and the crenellated metal band often found wrapped around the bell not only helps protect the instrument but also helps make the shawm a sturdy weapon for settling disputes among town musicians.

Musica Antiqua's shawms include a soprano in c1 by Hermann Moeck, two altos in f by Moeck, a tenor in c by Moeck, a soprano in c1 by John Hanchet, and an alto in f by Collier.

Additional Resources:

  • S. Virdung: Musica getutscht (Basle, 1511/r1970)
  • M. Agricola: Musica instrumentalis deudsch (Wittenberg, 1529/r1969)
  • O. de La Marche: Memoires (Lyons, 1562)
  • T. Arbeau: Orchesographie (Langres, 1588)
  • C. de la Ruelle: Decem insignes tabulae, complexae icones justorum ac honorum supremorum, corpori serenissimi principis(Nancy, 1611)
  • M. Praetorius: Syntagma musicum ii, iii (Wolfenbuttel, 1618/r1958)
  • M. Mersenne: Harmonie universelle (Paris, 1636/r1963)
  • J. Talbot: Musica (MS, GB-Och Mus.1187, c1697)
  • E. vander Straeten: La musique aux Pays-Bas avant le XIX siecle, iv (Brussels, 1878/r1969)
  • A. Sandberger: Introduction to H. L. Hassler: Werke II, DTB, viii, v/1 (1904)
  • H. C. de Lafontaine: The King's Musick (London, 1909/r1973)
  • F. W. Galpin: Old English Instruments of Music (London, 1910)
  • K. Weinmann: Johannes Tinctoris, 1445-1511, und sein unbekannier Traktat 'De inventione et usu musicae' historische-kritische Untersuchung (Regensburg, 1917)
  • C. Sachs: Sammlung alter Musikinstrumente bei der Staatlichen Hochschule fur Musik zu Berlin (Berlin, 1922)
  • G. Kinsky: 'Doppelrohrblatt-Instrumente mit Windkapsel', AMw, vii (1925), 253-96
  • A. Schering: Musikgeschichte Leipzigs, ii (Leipzig, 1926)
  • P. Bromse: Floten, Schalmein und Sackpfeifen der Sudslawen (Brno, 1937)
  • A. Baines: 'James Talbot's Manuscript: I: Wind Instruments', GSJ, i (1948), 9
  • W. L. Woodfill: Musicians in English Society from Elizabeth to Charles I (Princeton, 1953/r1969)
  • P. Bate: 'Shawm and Oboe Embouchure', GSJ, viii (1955), 60
  • A. Baines: Woodwind Instruments and their History (London, 1957)

Schawm at the madrigal dinner