The cornamuse is a double reed

Double reed

A double reed is a type of reed used to produce sound in various wind instruments. The term double reed comes from the fact that there are two pieces of cane vibrating against each other. A single reed consists of one piece of cane which vibrates against a mouthpiece made of metal, hardened...

 instrument dating from the Renaissance

Renaissance

The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...

 period. It is similar in many ways to the crumhorn

Crumhorn

The crumhorn is a musical instrument of the woodwind family, most commonly used during the Renaissance period. In modern times, there has been a revival of interest in Early Music, and crumhorns are being played again....

 and rauschpfeife

Rauschpfeife

The rauschpfeife is a musical instrument of the woodwind family, originally popular in Europe in the mid-16th Century. In common with the crumhorn and cornamuse, it is a wooden double-reed instrument with the reed enclosed in a windcap...

, although unlike those instruments, the bell of the cornamuse is closed, resulting in a much quieter sound. In Syntagnum Musicum, Michael Praetorius

Michael Praetorius

Michael Praetorius was a German composer, organist, and music theorist. He was one of the most versatile composers of his age, being particularly significant in the development of musical forms based on Protestant hymns, many of which reflect an effort to make better the relationship between...

 described their sound as "quite similar to crumhorns, but quieter, lovelier, and very soft." However, there are no extant cornamusen from the period, and so all modern reproductions are based on paintings and the description in Praetorius.

The name is not to be confused with cornemuse, which is the French word for bagpipes

Bagpipes

Bagpipes are a class of musical instrument, aerophones, using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. Though the Scottish Great Highland Bagpipe and Irish uilleann pipes have the greatest international visibility, bagpipes of many different types come from...

.

External links

• Musica Antiqua Cornamuse Page
• Building a Cornamuse in F (Alto)(archive)
• A loud, low cost cornemuse you can build from CPVC in 1.5 hours from the Musical Instrument Makers Forum