Shawm - Definition and Overview

Woman playing a bass shawm, (Tobias Stimmer ca. 1500)

The shawm was a Renaissance musical instrument of the woodwind family, made in Europe from the late 13th century until the 17th century. It was ancestral to the modern oboe.

It had a long bore which started straight but widened into a conical end, and had a double reed. It produced a loud shrill tone, and was used by military bands during the Crusades, as well as in ordinary life for dancing.

The oboe developed from the shawm in the mid-17th century when the French musicians Jean Hotteterre and Michel Danican Philidor modified it, producing an instrument with a narrower bore and a reed which is held by the player's lips near the end.

External links

• The Renaissance Shawm (http://www.s-hamilton.k12.ia.us/antiqua/renshawm.htm)
• The Shawm and Curtal (http://www.diabolus.org/guide/shawm.htm) - from the Diabolus in Musica Guide to Early Instruments