flutes-msg

This document is also available in: text or RTF formats.

flutes-msg - 12/1/18

Period flutes and whistles. Woodwind instruments. Shawns. Kazoos.

************************************************************************

NOTICE -

This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that I have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday.

This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium. These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org

I have done a limited amount of editing. Messages having to do with separate topics were sometimes split into different files and sometimes extraneous information was removed. For instance, the message IDs were removed to save space and remove clutter.

The comments made in these messages are not necessarily my viewpoints. I make no claims as to the accuracy of the information given by the individual authors.

Please respect the time and efforts of those who have written these messages. The copyright status of these messages is unclear at this time. If information is published from these messages, please give credit to the originator(s).

Thank you,

Mark S. Harris AKA: THLord Stefan li Rous

Stefan at florilegium.org

************************************************************************

From: djheydt at uclink.berkeley.edu (Dorothy J Heydt)

Newsgroups: rec.org.sca

Subject: Re: Viking instruments and such...

Date: 20 Apr 1994 19:06:35 GMT

Organization: University of California, Berkeley

WILLIAM D. JONES <wjones at du.edu> wrote:

> The first question: Does anyone out there have any information about

> viking period ( say 850-1100 CE) woodwind instruments...

They found a wooden panpipe in the Coppergate dig in York. I

have a replica of it that I bought in the gift shop there. I

can't get much sound out of it, but I'm not an expert. It has

four holes and presumably makes at least four notes. (I don't

know whether a panpipe is one of those instruments you can get

overtones out of.)

Dorothea of Caer-Myrddin Dorothy J. Heydt

Mists/Mists/West UC Berkeley

Argent, a cross forme'e sable djheydt at uclink.berkeley.edu

From: jab2 at stl.stc.co.uk (Jennifer Ann Bray)

Newsgroups: rec.org.sca

Subject: Re: Viking instruments and such...

Date: 21 Apr 94 15:48:03

Organization: STC Technology Ltd., London Road, Harlow, UK.

> The first question: Does anyone out there have any information about

> viking period ( say 850-1100 CE) woodwind instruments...

J.V.S. Megaw wrote a series of papers on bone "penny whistles" As I

recall they were made from the leg bones of deer, and he managed to

ascertain the range of notes which one could play. If you are

interested send me an email & I can dig up the refernces of the papers

for you.

Apparently similar bone whistles were played by mediterranean shepherds

until fairly recently.

+They found a wooden panpipe in the Coppergate dig in York. I

+have a replica of it that I bought in the gift shop there. I

+can't get much sound out of it, but I'm not an expert.

The Coppergate pan pipes are almost identical to some Roman pan pipes

found in London. I too went to teh Jorvik centre and got a set. I can

get a slightly breathy set of notes out of them, my sister plays the

flute and did much better getting quite a musical noise out.

Jennifer/Rannveik

Vanaheim Vikings

Newsgroups: rec.org.sca

From: sommerfeld at apollo.hp.com (Bill Sommerfeld)

Subject: Re: Viking instruments and such...

Date: Thu, 28 Apr 1994 21:36:25 GMT

Organization: Hewlett Packard, Chelmsford Site

Dorothy J Heydt <djheydt at uclink.berkeley.edu> wrote:

>In article <2pm08f$c5m at hebron.connected.com>,

>Ralph Lindberg <dragonsl at hebron.connected.com> wrote:

>>But just don't ask me what a shawn or a rebec is.

>A shawm is an oboe forerunner, and comes in sizes from soprano

>(maybe 2 feet long) to great bass (7 feet long, not counting the

>tube that curves back down to where the musician's mouth can

>reach it).

small rooms with as many as half a dozen of them going full blast...

The closest modern relative is probably the truck air horn :-). (at

least thats what it feels like when someone lets a soprano or alto

shawm loose right behind me without warning me first..).

Unlike the oboe (which today is mostly a chamber and orchestra

instrument), the shawm is primarily a "loud" outdoor instrument; while

the double-reed technology of the shawm evolved into the oboe, brass

instruments (and single-reed instruments like the clarinet and

saxophone) eventually took over its "ecological niche" of being a loud

instrument played outdoors..

One important difference between the shawms and modern double reeds is

that (many) shawms have a conical "pirouette" surrounding the reed;

the lips can rest against the pirouette for support. Seen from a

distance, this resembles a brass mouthpiece.

- Bill

From: mwolfe at epas.utoronto.ca (Menya Wolfe)

Newsgroups: rec.org.sca

Subject: Re: Viking instruments and such...

Date: 22 Apr 1994 04:57:27 GMT

Organization: EPAS Computing Facility, University of Toronto

In article <CoKDqr.GGt at du.edu>, WILLIAM D. JONES <wjones at du.edu> wrote:

> The first question: Does anyone out there have any information about

> viking period ( say 850-1100 CE) woodwind instruments...

Wow. My pet subject, instruments before 1000 (one of them, at least).

If you just want Viking age wind instruments, there are basically

three types. Surviving flutes, mostly of the fipple (recorder) type

have been found made of bone or wood. There is a real possibility of

side blown flutes too, but some fragments are hard to identify since

they are just drilled bone.

The real musical prize at Coppergate was a set of boxwood panpipes.

They are considered to be broken, and had at least five holes,

possibly as many as eight. The pipes were found in playable

condition, and were played and recorded by Richard Hall before

conservation. I have a copy of that tape, as well as a replica which

I plan to modify to fit the intervals on the tape, which seem to be

roughly whole tones. The pipes are now on display at the Jorvik

Viking Centre, along with other instrument bits.

The person who has done the most work on Viking music is Graeme Lawson

at Cambridge. He is responsible for the Music of the Viking Age tape

(as well as the others in the series), on which he records music

played on very accurate replicas of archaeological instruments. He is

not the most approachable person in the world. Make sure you are

asking intelligent questions if you are going to contact him.

Rhiannon

Newsgroups: rec.org.sca

From: mjc+ at cs.cmu.edu (Monica Cellio)

Subject: Re: Viking instruments and such...

Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon

Date: Mon, 25 Apr 1994 17:16:23 GMT

[ Dofinn-Hallr Morrisson asked me to post this for him because his NNTP

server is on the fritz. He can be reached at priestdo at cs.vassar.edu. ]

> The first question: Does anyone out there have any information about

> viking period ( say 850-1100 CE) woodwind instruments...

Dorothy> They found a wooden panpipe in the Coppergate dig in York.

There is a nice illustration of those pipes in "The Excavations at

York, THE VIKING DIG" by Richard Hall on page 116. They had at least

five holes (the wood is broken at that point but sugests no more

holes) sounding "from top A to top E"(Hall pg 116). This gives the

pattern tone semi-tone tone tone, the first five notes of a dorian

scale or a minor scale. This is also the top 5 of 6 notes on the

anglo-saxon 6 string lyre (tunning from Hucbald's "De Harmonica

Institutione." 880ce in "New Oxford history of music: v. 2 The Early

Middle Ages to 1300 pgs 457-458").

David Swan (Henry MacQueen) built a set a few years ago. I have built

several sets and they work out real nice if ya get the top of the holes

cut just right. The original appears to have been drilled out to the

specific depths with a spoon bit. (Twist, twist, toot! Twist, twist,

tooot! Go slow.) If you are using a power drill it is easyer to drill

the holes a bit deep and then fill and tune them with drops of beeswax

pushed down with the head of a nail.

Greg (Dov)

From: mwolfe at epas.utoronto.ca (Menya Wolfe)

Newsgroups: rec.org.sca

Subject: Re: Viking instruments and such...

Date: 26 Apr 1994 15:22:03 GMT

Organization: EPAS Computing Facility, University of Toronto

Monica Cellio <mjc+ at cs.cmu.edu> wrote:

>[ Dofinn-Hallr Morrisson asked me to post this for him because his NNTP

> server is on the fritz. He can be reached at priestdo at cs.vassar.edu. ]

>There is a nice illustration of those pipes in "The Excavations at

>York, THE VIKING DIG" by Richard Hall on page 116. They had at least

>five holes (the wood is broken at that point but sugests no more

>holes) sounding "from top A to top E"(Hall pg 116). This gives the

>pattern tone semi-tone tone tone, the first five notes of a dorian

>scale or a minor scale. This is also the top 5 of 6 notes on the

>anglo-saxon 6 string lyre (tunning from Hucbald's "De Harmonica

>Institutione." 880ce in "New Oxford history of music: v. 2 The Early

>Middle Ages to 1300 pgs 457-458").

I'm not sure this is true. As I said, I have a tape of the actual

pipes, and I'm trying to get someone to analyze it for exact pitches.

You can tell by looking at the illustration in the Hall book that the

bores increase in length at a steady rate, which to me says that the

scale is *not* the one we are familiar with, but possibly one of even

intervals. The instrument probably had more holes, since it is a very

narrow range, it appears to change in shape at the point where it is

broken, and it would be extremely unlikely to break through the middle

of the last hole where there could be no leverage.

I know Richard Hall a little, and he is not a musician. The

instrument has not been properly written up yet, and I would take the

notes described in the book as an approximation only.

Rhiannon

Newsgroups: rec.org.sca

From: rzex60 at email.sps.mot.com (Jay Brandt)

Subject: Re: Music & Pan Pipes

Organization: the Polyhedron Group

Date: Tue, 1 Nov 1994 22:41:44 GMT

UDSD073 at DSIBM.OKLADOT.STATE.OK.US (Mike Andrews) wrote:

> jk17669 at academia.swt.edu (Give me Theatre or give me Death!) writes:

> > rogerc at dante.exide.com (Roger Chen) writes:

> >> Also, while on the topic... how period are pan pipes anyway? Am I going

> >> to get lynched by the Robyyan Authenticity Police if I show up at an

> >> event with them?

> >

> > Well, they were usin 'em in Ancient Greece!

> > I would assume that even during the Middle Ages, they were still being made

> >in the Mediterranean regions, and some artwork from the Italian Renaissance

> >features "pan pipes" (they have another name, but damn if I can't remember it),

> >so it would appear they were at least known about...

> The Greeks called them something like "Syrinx", I think.

Yes, 'Srynx' (or something very close to that in spelling) is one name for

what we call 'Pan Pipes'. It is a very period instrument, and appears in

various forms and nations over the entire range of the SCA's period, as far

as I can tell. The two sets of Pan Pipes that I own are both tuned to the

'Pentatonic' scale, used as I recall in early Greece. -If- they ever were

made tuned to the chromatic scale (the one used in most modern

instruments), I -think- it would be a later period development. The one's

I've seen in use by 'traditional' performers were all tuned to the

pentatonic scale. The instrument appears as a charge in period heraldry,

though rarely. It can also be seen in many illustrations from the period

(illuminations, paintings, etc.).

Caveat: I'm working from memory here, with no reference materials at hand.

Do not take my word as gospel here, but rather as a starting point for

serious research. I recommend starting by looking up 'Srynx' in a good

encyclopedia, and looking it up as a charge in Fox-Davies or other heraldic

reference works.

Regards, Jay Brandt --- Austin, Texas, USA --- <rzex60 at email.sps.mot.com>

In the SCA, HLS Jason of Rosaria, JdL, GdS, AoA --------- (Member # 3016)

Owner / Designer / Craftsman ------------------------- Bear Paw Woodworks

Newsgroups: rec.org.sca,rec.music.early

From: sbloch at adl15.adelphi.edu (Stephen Bloch)

Subject: Re: Music & Pan Pipes

Organization: Adelphi University, Garden City, NY

Date: Tue, 8 Nov 1994 04:39:23 GMT

rogerc at dante.exide.com (Roger Chen) writes:

>> Also, while on the topic... how period are pan pipes anyway? Am I going

>> to get lynched by the Robyyan Authenticity Police if I show up at an

>> event with them?

Give me Theatre or give me Death! <jk17669 at academia.swt.edu> replied:

> Well, they were usin 'em in Ancient Greece!

> I would assume that even during the Middle Ages, they were still being made

>in the Mediterranean regions, and some artwork from the Italian Renaissance

>features "pan pipes" (they have another name, but damn if I can't remember it),

>so it would appear they were at least known about...

There are a number of pictures and sculptures from the Middle Ages in

which angels play pan-pipes. However, depictions of real human beings

playing them seem much rarer, which lends credence to the following

quote from _Performing Medieval and Renaissance Music_, by Elizabeth V.

Phillips and John-Paul Christopher Jackson:

The familiar panpipes of classical times seem to have existed

in medieval Europe as a practical instrument from the eleventh

through the thirteenth centuries. Thereafter, depiction of

panpipes in art is probably purely allegorical. In Europe,

panpipes were made from cane, stone, metal, clay, or wood in the

form of a set of tuned tubes joined together in a raft. The

lower end of each tube was stopped, and sound was produced by

blowing across the top, open end.

Stephen Bloch

sbloch at boethius.adelphi.edu

Math/CS Dept, Adelphi University

From: bubba at zark.ludd.luth.se (U.J|rgen \hman)

Newsgroups: rec.org.sca,rec.music.early

Subject: Re: Music & Pan Pipes

Date: 9 Nov 1994 20:43:03 +0100

Organization: Lulea University Computer Society - Ludd

>rogerc at dante.exide.com (Roger Chen) writes:

>>> Also, while on the topic... how period are pan pipes anyway? Am I going

>>> to get lynched by the Robyyan Authenticity Police if I show up at an

>>> event with them?

Stuff deleted......

In the excavations of Jorvik (York) they've found pan pipes from the viking

age. It was truly a _VERY_ rare thing and not expected at all.

They were made from a single hardwood box, it had five holes drilled/bored

side-by-side into it. The tunes ranging from top A to top E.

The "tune-holes" weren't drilled/bored through the piece, but there was

one hole going straight through the piece and it was probably made as a

hole for a strap or something like that..

_ _ _ _ _ _

| | | | | | | | | | | | || ||

| |_| | | | | | | | | | || ||

| |_| | | | | | | | ||_||

| |_| | | | | | | |

| _ |_| | | | |___|

| |_| |_| | ___

| | | |

|_____________________| |___|

_____________________

|__O___O___O___O___O__|

So it's period, but perhaps not very common.....

/Ulf

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Ulf Mj|dtunga(Mjoedtunga, Meadtongue) *Canton of Frostheim

Vert, per pale a crescent inverted *Barony of Nordmark

and a Thor's hammer argent. *Kingdom of Drachenwald

bubba at ludd.luth.se -=- U.J|rgen \hman -=- U.Joergen Oehman(NHL-Spelling)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

From: mjc+ at cs.cmu.edu (Monica Cellio)

Newsgroups: rec.org.sca

Subject: Re: Searching for a wooden flute

Date: 5 Jan 95 17:58:46 GMT

Organization: Carnegie-Mellon University, School of Computer Science

>I am looking for a merchant who sells wooden musical

>instruments.

One dealer you might call is Courtly Music (1-800-2-Richie). One of

our local members has bought several recorders from there and has been

very pleased. (I think that's where he got his crumhorn kit, too.)

This shop focuses on woodwinds, so there's a good chance they do flutes.

I don't know for sure; I'm more a strings person than a woodwind person

myself.

Selecting an instrument in person is much better than doing it through

the mail, if you have the option. Even if you have to drive a few hours,

I recommend it. There are always going to be subtle differences between

apparently like instruments, and nothing can substitute for the opportunity

to try them all out and pick the one that feels right to you. If you have

to order through the mail, make sure there's a reasonable return/exchange

policy.

>I would prefer a flute or something similar. Would a flute be in period?

Transverse flutes came to Europe via Byzantium in the 12th century.

The modern wooden six-hole flutes (fingered like a pennywhistle) seem

to be fairly close, though exact materials may have differed. I have

seen no evidence for keyed flutes in period. For more information, you

may want to consult:

Gaines, Anthony, ed. (for the Galpin Society); Musical Instruments

Through the Ages, New York: Walker and Co., 1966 (orig. pub. by

Penguin Books, London, 1961).

Munrow, David, Instruments of the Middle Ages and Renaissance,

New York: Oxford University Press, 1976

Praetorius, Michael, The Syntagma Musicum, Volume Two, De Organographia,

First and Second Parts, Plus All Forty-Two Original Woodcut Illustrations

from Theatrum Instrumentorum, tr. Harold Blumenfeld, New York: Da Capo

Press, 1980.

Ellisif

file://grand.central.org/afs/transarc.com/public/mjc/html/ellisif.html

Newsgroups: rec.org.sca

From: jarnott at sallie.wellesley.edu (Jennifer Arnott)

Subject: RE: Searching for a wooden flute

Organization: WELLESLEY COLLEGE

Date: Fri, 6 Jan 1995 19:55:58 GMT

I've seen a few illustrations of transvers flutes (as opposed to recorders

.) Most of these are in my Music History book, and as such don't give

extremely useful reference points. However, there is a woodcut of the Holy

Roman Emperor Maximilian I (reigned 1486 - 1519) which contains flutes (

also a lot of other instruments) The wood cut is by Hans Burgkmair (1473 -

1531) and lives in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (NYC)

As far as finding instruments, I have a cheap $20 bamboo flute which is

adequate, but if anyone has a source for well tuned instruments, PLEASE,

I'd love to know!

By the way, the musical instruments collection at the Metropolitan Museum

is well worth the visit! (along with the Arms and Armour...)

(if only to criticise things....)

Jennifer Arnott SCA Cecilia Peters jarnott at wellesley.edu

From: svartorm at netaxs.com (Emil Stecher)

Newsgroups: rec.org.sca

Subject: Re: Searching for a wooden flute

Date: 8 Jan 1995 07:44:59 GMT

Jennifer Arnott (jarnott at sallie.wellesley.edu) wrote:

: As far as finding instruments, I have a cheap $20 bamboo flute which is

: adequate, but if anyone has a source for well tuned instruments, PLEASE,

: I'd love to know!

: Jennifer Arnott

: Jennifer Arnott SCA Cecilia Peters jarnott at wellesley.edu

I would suggest that you look in the Boston phone book for the Von

Huene Workshop, which I believe is also listed as the early Music Shop of

New England. It is on Beacon St, but unfortunately I cannot find the

catalog for the exact address. They sell all manner of Renaissance and

Baroque instruments. When I wrote to ask them if they had an inexpensive

Renaissance soprano, they sent me one ON APPROVAL, NO CASH UPFRONT a week

later, talk about gentilesse. Oh yes, it was inexpensive because it was

used, I understand that it was reconditioned before they sent it out,

but even so, they only charged me half price compared to a new one.

You can probably tell by the tone of this note that i am one happy

customer.

Barak Raz

c/o Emil M Stecher

svartorm at netaxs.com

From: svartorm at netaxs.com (Emil Stecher)

Newsgroups: rec.org.sca

Subject: Re: Searching for a wooden flute

Date: 8 Jan 1995 19:30:39 GMT

Kelischek Workshop for historical Instruments

Rt1, Box 26

Brasstown, NC 28902

tel (704) 837-5833

Lark in the Morning

PO Box 1176

Mendocino, Ca 95460

tel (707) 964-5569

fax (707) 964-1979

House of Musical Tradition

Silver Springs, Md

Lowest available price for a wooden flute seems to be

from Lark in the Morning, which offers "Renaissance Flute, made in 2

sections, pitched in D...made of maple" for 195.00

The Kelischek Catalog (which is from 1992, and therefore

not entirely trustworthy for a price quote or availability)lists

"Susato Renaissance Flute, Made of brown or ivory colored ABS,in-d'"

for 39.50

From: UDSD073 at DSIBM.OKLADOT.STATE.OK.US (Mike Andrews)

Newsgroups: rec.org.sca

Subject: Re: Searching for a wooden flute

Date: Mon, 09 Jan 1995 14:39

Organization: The University of Oklahoma (USA)

svartorm at netaxs.com (Emil Stecher) writes:

>Jennifer Arnott (jarnott at sallie.wellesley.edu) wrote:

>: As far as finding instruments, I have a cheap $20 bamboo flute which is

>: adequate, but if anyone has a source for well tuned instruments, PLEASE,

>: I'd love to know!

> I would suggest that you look in the Boston phone book for the Von

>Huene Workshop, which I believe is also listed as the early Music Shop of

>New England. It is on Beacon St, but unfortunately I cannot find the

>catalog for the exact address. ...

{deletia}

Also try the Boulder Early Music Shop; phone is (800) 499-1301,

IMSC. I don't remember the address, except that it is in

Boulder, CO. _VERY_ nice people to deal with. Tell 'em I sent

you.

udsd007 at ibm.okladot.state.ok.us (192.149.244.136)

Michael Fenwick of Fotheringhay, O.L. (Mike Andrews) Namron, Ansteorra

Newsgroups: rec.org.sca

From: <lucinda_lundin at cl_63smtp.gw.chinalake.navy.mil>

Subject: Re: Searching for a wooden flute

Organization: NAWS, China Lake, CA

Date: Wed, 11 Jan 1995 17:32:02 GMT

wpeloqui at medar.COM (Willie Peloquin) wrote:

> I am looking for a merchant who sells wooden musical

> instruments. I would prefer a flute or something

> similar. Would a flute be in period? I know I can

> purchase a wooden recorder locally, it must be

> special ordered.

> Willie

I have purchased three recorders from von Huene Workshop, Inc.

and have been very happy with their service. They also sell other

woodwinds, period and modern. If you have a credit

card, they will send you several instruments and will charge you

when you make your choice. Two of my instruments came from their

extensive consigment selection. They also sell period music and have

a small catalog/brochure.

Their address is:

von Huene Workshop, Inc

65 Boylston St.

Brookline, MA 02146

617/277-8690

vonhuene at world.std.com

Lucinda

From: corliss at hal.physics.wayne.EDU (David J. Corliss)

Newsgroups: rec.org.sca

Subject: Wooden Flutes

Date: 6 Jan 1995 16:47:23 -0500

I must say that I have rarely seen one available, in many years of bewing

interested in such things: I ultimately resolved the difficulty by making

my own.

Boxwood is a very good choice. That not being available, pear and maple

have also been used.

Turn a length of maple on a lathe to the appropriate size. The length

should be ten to fifteen times the diameter: a longer, more slender flute

will have a brighter tone, sounding more like a fife.

Use the lathe to bore the diameter. The wall of the flute should be about

1/4 inch thich. If a lathe is not available for this purpose, it is

possible to make a jig and use a drill press, but this tends to produce

highly variable results: I have done this, going through several tries

until getting a satisfactory result.

Close one end of the flute with a plug made of the same wood as the rest of

the instrument.

Drill a whole for the voicing (where one blows in the air). The remainder

of the work in this area is performed with a file. File transversely with

a bastard file until a proper edge is formed. Perform the final

adjustment of the shape with a smooth file, testing the voicing to see it

is just right. Blow a little, and file a little, and so on until you are

pleased with the performance.

Drill the thumb hole. Do not carelessly forget to put it on the back side

(relative to the voicing), ruining your work. 3/16 inches is good for

most cases.

Drill and tune the other holes, one at a time. Measure where you think

the hole needs to be to obtain the desired note, beginning with the

highest. Dril a small (1/16) hole a little farther away from the voicing

than where the measured amout. In effect, deliberately drill the note a

little too low. Test the pitch. Since it is a little too low, take a rat

tail needle file and file at the edge of the hole closest to the voicing,

raising the pitch. It is the location of the _upper_ side of the hole

that determines the pitch. Continue until the note ri

is right. Then drill

out a proper sized hole (usually about 3/16 inches is good), leaving the

upper edge of the hole unaffected.

Continue in this manner for all the other holes. The lowest note. with

all the holes closed, will be tuned by filing the end of the flute.

Beorthwine of Grafham Wood

From: UDSD007 at DSIBM.OKLADOT.STATE.OK.US (Mike.Andrews)

Newsgroups: rec.org.sca,soc.history.medieval

Subject: Re: Origins of the kazoo

Date: Fri, 08 Mar 1996 16:56

Organization: The University of Oklahoma (USA)

bj at alpha1.csd.uwm.edu (Barbara Jean Kuehl) writes:

>Anyone know anything about the origins of the kazoo? Was it

>around during medieval times?

Ah, yes! The marvelous instrument the French called the

"mirliton". They certainly were around pre-1600, although

I haven't found anything that indicates pre-1500 or pre-1400.

Yet.

Still digging ...

udsd007 at dsibm.okladot.state.ok.us

Michael Fenwick of Fotheringhay, O.L. (Mike Andrews) Namron, Ansteorra

From: Gartner Michael <ges95kll at studserv.uni-leipzig.de>

Newsgroups: rec.org.sca,soc.history.medieval

Subject: Re: Origins of the kazoo

Date: Tue, 12 Mar 1996 16:44:29 +0100

Organization: Uni Leipzig

On 8 Mar 1996, Barbara Jean Kuehl wrote:

> Anyone know anything about the origins of the kazoo? Was it

> around during medieval times?

> BJ

According to my source (New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed.

S. Sadie, London 1980) the kazoo is "probably of Afro-American origin and

first manufactured in the USA around 1850, it has been produced since the

1890s in many coutries..."

I took the additional step of looking through the Sachs organology

section, but found little that matched up to the kazoos configurations.

An period instrument that may be similar to the sound that you are

interested in, is the Jews Harp (also known as the Jaws trump; Fr.

guimbarde; Ger. Maultrommel;in north Eng. gewgaw, etc.) It is usually

constructed of a metal ring with a metal tongue extending to the side

(imagine the shape of a bottle as the outline with an extra piece of

metal extending up through, but not exceeding the neck of the bottle).

It is placed near the mouth; the mouth acts as the resonating chamber.

The tongue is then plucked and results in an interesting set of overtones

whioch the player can manipulate. Again, the New Grove comments that

"several bronze specimens in the Museum of Antiquities at Rouen suggest

that the instrument has been known to western Europe at least since

Gallo-Roman times." I have also seen it portrayed in medieval

manuscripts along with the usual assortmant of noise makers- ratchets,

rattles, tabors, nakers and horns.

Duncan Brock, O.L.

Michael H. Gartner

Universitaet Leipzig, Deutschland

Subject: BG - Music last night

Date: Wed, 28 Jan 98 12:17:33 MST

From: Steve Hendricks <steve at aimetering.com>

To: "Bryn Gwlad mailing List (E-mail)" <bryn-gwlad at Ansteorra.ORG>

I thought some of you might be interested in learning what those loud

instruments were last night at fighter practice.

They were shawms, the Renaissance version of the oboe. In fact, in

Shakespeare, when Royalty entered or exited, often the words "Hautboys

sound" were specified. That indicated shawms were to play to usher the

nobility in or out of noble gatherings. "Hautbois" means "high wood,"

since the sound is created by two vibrating blades of bamboo. "Oboe" is

an English phonetic spelling (somewhat corrupted) of the French

"Hautbois."

In Renaissance and Medieval music, there were typically 2 sets of

instruments, the loud instruments and the soft instruments. The loud

instruments were mostly used outdoors and in large halls. They

consisted of shawms, trombones and drums. The soft instruments were

used in small, intimate affairs such as dinners and smaller courts.

They consisted of recorders, viols, lutes, and pretty much everything

else.

Shawms are some of the most difficult instruments of the period to play

well. While most other instruments were played by amateur musicians,

shawms were only played by professional musicians.

City Waits ("Wait" is a period term for a professional musician), the

official musical groups of such cities as London and York, would play

upon the city walls as part of the evening watch to let townspeople know

that all was well. They would also play for official functions such as

the arrival of the Queen or King in the city for festivities. Shawms

were used almost exclusively for these outdoor events. Another function

of the Waits was to wake townspeople up in the morning. If you needed

an alarm clock, you could pay the Waits to come to your house early and

play music for you to help start your day.

Samuel Piper

Date: Tue, 25 Aug 1998 19:44:14 -0500

From: Gunnora Hallakarva <gunnora at bga.com>

To: sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu

Subject: Re: Wind instrument making

The original question was:

><< Does anybody know how were fipple flutes and whistles made (i.e. shaped,

> bored -- I can't imagine doing it without some kind of lathe and drill)

> during Middle Ages? >>

The easily-hollowed branches of the elder tree have been providing simple

whistles for children and musicians alike in every land in which the tree

grows since antiquity. Elder has a soft pith in the center of its

branches, so it's very easy to ream out the central soft core, leaving the

harder wood outer layers intact.

However, certainly some musical instruments were bored out - for instance

the boxwood pan-pipes found at the Jorvik excavations. There is a nice

illustration of these pipes in "The Excavations at York, The Viking Dig" by

Richard Hall on page 116. There are also two excellent photos of the flute

available on The World of the Vikings CDROM. This panpipe had at least

five holes (the wood is broken at that point but sugests no more holes)

sounding "from top A to top E"(Hall pg 116). This gives the pattern tone

semi-tone tone tone, the first five notes of a dorian scale or a minor

scale. The original appears to have been drilled out to the specific depths

with a spoon bit -- a process that would require drilling to an approximate

depth, then testing the tone, drilling further, etc.=20

Another bored wood instrument is suggested by the intriguing finds of

wooden trumpet mouthpieces found in Rus-Viking contexts (theres an

excellent illustration of several of these on the World of the Vikings

CDROM). I don't know if any conclusive work has been done examining what

the remainder of the instrument looked like - whther it was a cow horn or

an actual brass instrument made of metal, or even perhaps the body may have

also been made of wood. I would certainly be interested in finding out

more about this particular archaeological find.=20

Nancy (Ingvild) suggested:

>Lots of them were made from the large hollow bones of large birds such as

>goose and swan. A fipple of wood would have been fitted in at one end and

>holes cut along the shank of the bone.

They also used the long bones of larger animals, especially sheep bones.

This is true for Anglo-Saxon England and for Scandinavia, at least. Bone

whistles and recorders have been recovered, most commonly crafted from the

legbone of a cow, deer, or from large birds (the Romans had a similar

tradition at one point, for the Latin term for a flute is "tibia"). Bone

wind instruments produce a remarkably plangent sound. The ones which have

been recovered are all end-blown, with the sound being produced by an inset

bone or more often wood fipple. The normal number of finger holes is

three, although examples with up to seven holes has been found. (For a

photo of such instruments, see

http://www.ftech.net/~regia/images/music01.jpg, or see The World of the

Vikings CDROM) Modern musical instriments that play the same way (though

the tonality is a bit different) include the tabor pipe or the flageolette.

For more detail on bone or horn instruments, see Arthur MacGregor, "Bone,

Antler, Ivory & Horn: the Technology of Skeletal Materials Since the Roman

Period" Totowa: Barnes & Noble. 1985.

Gunnora Hallakarva

Herskerinde

Date: Sun, 21 Feb 1999 15:13:11 -0700

From: Sandi Augsburger <sandilee at cyberhighway.net>

To: sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu

Subject: Re: Ottoman-era wind instruments

"J. Kriss White" wrote:

> A group of mid-eastern performers I practice with is starting a long-term

> project to work up a performance set in (presumably late-)Ottoman-period

> costume, music, and dance. Since we have percussionists in abundance, and

> one or two people working on period stringed instruments, and I've played

> the bagpipe and recorder in the past, I've been thinking it might be nice

> for me to find and learn a wind instrument - learn it enough to get a

> couple of tunes out of it in satisfactory form in the next year and a half

> at any rate.

> Any suggestions for a suitable instrument AND a source for same?

> Lord Daveed of Granada, mka J. Kriss White,

Yes! Get yourself a shawm. It has been important in that part of the world for

thousands of years, and still is today. If you can't afford a shawm, you could

use the chanter of your bagpipes to get a similar sound. Or, you could use

an oboe.

The following sites should give you some information on this instrument:

http://www.eyeneer.com/World/index.html

http://www.gmm.co.uk/ai/shawms.htm

http://www.gmm.co.uk/ai/bshawm.htm

http://www.windworld.com/gallery/loraine/tapes.htm

http://www.warner-classics.com/erato/fa/biogs/cohen2.htm

http://www.mhs.mendocino.k12.ca.us/MenComNet/Business/Retail/Larknet/ArtMizmarandZurna

http://www.larkinam.com/MenComNet/Business/Retail/Larknet/ArtOrientalOboes

http://www.hike.te.chiba-u.ac.jp/cons1/shawm.html

http://www.eyeneer.com/World/index.html

http://www.by-the-sword.com/music.html

These should get you started. How exciting!!

Sandi in Idaho

Date: Mon, 22 Feb 1999 17:47:57 EST

From: <LrdRas at aol.com>

To: sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu

Subject: Re: Ottoman-era wind instruments

Anna.Troy at bibks.uu.se writes:

<< Aren't shawms kind of hard to play?

Anna de Byxe >>

Yes. They take a lot of breath control and the end result, if you manage to

perfect it, sounds like a person blowing thier nose harmonically. ....:-)

Actually , a rachet sounds more like my description than a shawm. An oboe

with the flu is closer. :-)

My recorder consort (The Merry Masons) purchased a shawm and I was left with

the unfortunate task of learning to play it for a Christmas concert we did for

Bucknell University. Given the lead time that I had, I didn't do bad but I

relegated the instrument to another member ASAP after that and went back to my

tenor recorder and absolutely refused to play it for Romeo and Juliet at

Lycoming College. :-)

Ras

Date: Mon, 30 Mar 2015 16:08:12 -0400

From: Garth Groff via Atlantia <atlantia at seahorse.atlantia.sca.org>

To: Merry Rose <atlantia at seahorse.atlantia.sca.org>

Subject: [MR] BBC: A Bone Flute and a Saxon Medical Book

Today the BBC featured two brief stories of interest to us.

During the excavations at Lincoln Castle for the new Magna Carta vault, a Norman-era bone flute was discovered, sadly in pieces. It was made from the wing bone of a goose. Now a local re-enactment musician has made a duplicates of the flute, one to display in the museum next to the smashed original, and one to actually play:

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-32090030 .

It looks like this might be a fairly easy project, though getting the holes in the right spots so it would be in tune seems daunting.

<snip. See the p-medicine-msg file -Stefan>

What cool stuff our ancestors made!

Lord Mungo Napier, That Crazy Scot