Medieval Musical Instruments

Medieval Musical Instruments:How They've Changed Music is a very important part in many peoples lives. It is used in religious services, for peoples own satisfaction, for entertainment, and even for someones livelihood. Musical instruments were fully accepted into Western society around the year 900. Although musical styles have greatly changed throughout the ages, the instruments are still a very important part of peoples lives because music is beneficial to them. Music in the middle ages helped alleviate the drudgery of many peoples lives. People would get together and play in small instrumental ensembles. Or they would get their own instrument out at the end of a long day and relax with the latest dance tune. There are several different types of musical instruments. Many of these were invented or perfected in the middle ages. Some wind instruments are: the shawm, cornetto, gemshorn, serpent, early trumpet, and the sackbut. Their modern counterparts are: oboe, recorder, flute, tuba, modern trumpet, and the trombone. There were also many string instruments in the Middle Ages including the psaltery, dulcimer, and the lute. Some of these instruments are still around today in different forms such as the harpsichord, newer dulcimer, and the modern guitar. Man discovered in the early days that he could produce a sound by blowing across the end of a tube. As the pipe got longer, the pitch got lower (Remnant 113). This discovery led to the woodwind instruments invented in the Middle Ages. The shawm was the early oboe. It was a long, straight wooden instrument with a bell, played with a double reed. It had keys covering the holes that the player could use to make different tones. The cornetto was similar to the modern recorder. It was made out of wood. In the early fourteenth century, it had with seven finger holes (Baker 1). A third woodwind instrument was the gemshorn. This instrument ...