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shawm
(redirected from shawms)

   Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.15 sec.
shawm (shôm), double-reed woodwind instrument used in Europe from the 13th through the 17th cent. The term denotes a family of instruments of different sizes. The shape and tone of the soprano shawm are comparable to those of the oboe oboe (ō`bō, ō`boi) [Ital., from Fr.
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, of which it is a precursor. The shawm was constructed from a single piece of wood that was conically bored. Shawm-type instruments exist in many parts of the world, some of them with cognate names, such as the Turkish zurna.

shawm

Double-reed Renaissance woodwind instrument, ancestor of the oboe. Its conical bore and bell are wider than the oboe's. A disk called a pirouette usually supports the player's lips. Shawms were constructed in many sizes, from treble to great bass. They were in use in the Middle East perhaps 2,000 years ago, and they were introduced into Europe during the Crusades. With their powerful tone, shawms were classed with the “loud” or “outdoor” instruments and were used in dance and ceremonial music.



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Gerson-Kiwi (1430) not only enthusiastically accepts Werner's observations (published already in the 1954 edition of Werner 1980) but claims that shawms (including clarinets and oboes) are indigenous to the region.
With regard to ensembles, the standard was, not surprisingly, the alta band of shawms and trombones or slide trumpets, resident in most cities and courts of late medieval Germany, and about which Polk has written previously.
 
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