Our instruments - not just recorders!
Our instruments - not just recorders!
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We don't just play recorders!
Find out more about our instruments below.
There were 3 categories of musical instruments in the Middle Ages – wind, string and percussion –known collectively as Bas (soft) or Haut (loud) instruments. Bas instruments were suitable for the chamber and included the vielle, rebec, the lute and harps. Haut instruments were more suitable for outdoors and included the shawm, sackbut pipe and tabor.
There will be plenty of singing in our performances and as well as drums and other percussion instruments . Below is some information about our string and woodwind instruments.
Woodwind
Recorders
We play the full range of recorder, from the tiny garklein to the Contra Bass in F. They are many different types, in the group, made from a variety of woods and some good quality plastic ones too. Many of them are available from the Early Music Shop .
The Recorder family is an octave (8 notes) above standard notation – thus “middle C” on a piano keyboard is the lowest note on a Tenor Recorder.
From 'Syntagma Musicum' by Michael Praetorius (1659) showing Crumhorns and Cornamusen.
Crumhorns and Cornamusen
These are early reed instruments. They are called "windcaps" as the reeds are hidden inside a windcap. They have a small range of just over an octave. The crumhorns (derived from a German word meaning bent horn) have a curl at the end, while the cornamusen, which are quieter instruments, are straight. The are often heard in renaissance music.
Gemshorns
Gemshorna were originally made from the choimois or goat. Ours are made from the horns of various suitable animals.
Shawms
An early double reed instrument which originated in the 13th century. These are loud instruments, usually associated with outdoor music.
Smallpipes
These are part of the well-known bagpipe family.
For more information: https://goodbagpipes.com
Plucked strings
Harps
4 harps in constant use – all with modern string spacing for ease of playing – are:
George Stevens Romanesque Harp Teifi lever harps EOS and Siff-Saff (website under development)
Early Music Shop Lute Harp
Gittern
A pear-shaped instrument, dating from the 13th Century and usually played with a quill plectrum. It is one of the predecessors of the guitar.
Bowed Strings
Rebec
One of the first bowed instruments, originating in the Middle East around the 9th Century and introduced to Europe during the crusades in the 11 th Century. Authentically it should be carved from a solid block of wood. It has a long pear-shaped body, 3 strings, no sound post or frets, and played either tucked into the armpit or vertically on the lap.
In its early history it was seen as a court instrument and thrived through the 14th C until the development of fretted instruments where the musician did not have to be as accurate with finger placement for tuning. It briefly re-emerged in the 16 th Century as a dance instrument – in 1526 Henry VIII had 3 rebecs in his “state band”. Its fate was sealed by the mid-16 th century appearance of the violin, which slowly supplanted all other bowed stringed instruments.
Vielle (medieval fiddle)
Vielle – a Medieval Fiddle
The Vielle is a predecessor to the modern Violin and would have been used by the musicians of the period including Waits, Minstrels and Troubadours. There was very little standardization of size, shape, number of strings, or tuning.
Matthew Farley, Krakow, Poland
Ox Gut Strings : Toro family in Salle, Italy Toro strings
Modern instruments
We also include flute, clarinet, violins, oboe, bassoon in the consort from time to time.
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