Crumhorn
Encyclopedia
Musical instrument
A musical instrument is a device created or adapted for the purpose of making musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. The history of musical instruments dates back to the...
of the woodwind family, most commonly used during the Renaissance
Renaissance music
Renaissance music is European music written during the Renaissance. Defining the beginning of the musical era is difficult, given that its defining characteristics were adopted only gradually; musicologists have placed its beginnings from as early as 1300 to as late as the 1470s.Literally meaning...
period. In modern times, there has been a revival of interest in Early Music
Early music
Early music is generally understood as comprising all music from the earliest times up to the Renaissance. However, today this term has come to include "any music for which a historically appropriate style of performance must be reconstructed on the basis of surviving scores, treatises,...
, and crumhorns are being played again.
The name derives from the German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
Krumhorn (or Krummhorn or Krumporn) meaning bent horn. This relates to the old English
Old English language
Old English or Anglo-Saxon is an early form of the English language that was spoken and written by the Anglo-Saxons and their descendants in parts of what are now England and southeastern Scotland between at least the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century...
crump meaning curve, surviving in modern English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
in 'crumpled' and 'crumpet
Crumpet
A crumpet is a savoury griddle cake made from flour and yeast. It is eaten mainly in the United Kingdom and other nations of the Commonwealth. Crumpets are somewhat similar in appearance, not in flavor, to North American pancakes, where both have pores caused by expanding air bubbles.- Etymology...
' (a curved cake). The similar sounding French term cromorne
Cromorne
Cromorne is a French woodwind reed instrument whose design originates in the early Baroque period in France, with a sound that is similar in sound to an oversize oboe...
when used correctly refers to a woodwind instrument of different design, though the term cromorne
Cromorne
Cromorne is a French woodwind reed instrument whose design originates in the early Baroque period in France, with a sound that is similar in sound to an oversize oboe...
is often used in error synonymously with that of crumhorn.
The crumhorn is a capped reed instrument. Its construction is similar to that of the chanter of a bagpipe
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...
. 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...
is mounted inside a windcap at one end of a long pipe. Blowing into the windcap produces a musical note. The pitch of the note can be varied by opening or closing finger holes along the length of the pipe. One unusual feature of the crumhorn is its shape; the end is bent upwards in a curve resembling the letter 'J'. Some people think this is so that the sound produced from the crumhorn is directed toward the player to improve the intonation in consort playing.
Crumhorns make a strong buzzing sound, but quieter than their conical-bore relatives the 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...
and shawm
Shawm
The shawm was a medieval and Renaissance musical instrument of the woodwind family made in Europe from the 12th century until the 17th century. It was developed from the oriental zurna and is the predecessor of the modern oboe. The body of the shawm was usually turned from a single piece of wood,...
. They have a limited range, usually a major ninth. While it is theoretically possible to get the reed to overblow a twelfth above the fundamental note, this is extremely difficult because the reed is not held in the mouth, and in practice all playing is confined to the fundamental series. Some larger instruments have their range extended downwards by means of additional holes and sliders or by dropping the pressure. Modern instruments have their range extended upwards to an eleventh by two keys. Crumhorns can be chromatically played by using cross-fingerings, except for the minor second above the lowest note.
Because of the limited range, music for crumhorns is usually played by a group of instruments of different sizes and hence at different pitches. Such a group is known as a consort
Consort of instruments
A consort of instruments was a phrase used in England during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to indicate an instrumental ensemble. These could be of the same or a variety of instruments. Consort music enjoyed considerable popularity at court and in households of the wealthy in the...
of crumhorns. Crumhorns are built in imitation of the vocal quartet with soprano, alto, tenor and bass as a family, as was true with most instruments of the Renaissance. There are examples of higher and lower sounding instruments, of which the great bass is the only commonly used one. The instruments are pitched in C and F:
| size | scale range (modern crumhorn in parentheses) |
| Soprano | c1 d1 – d2 (– f2) |
| Alto | f0 g0 – f1 (– b1) |
| Tenor | c0 d0 – d1 (– f1) |
| Bass | F G – f0 (– b0) |
| Great Bass | C D – d0 (– f0) |
Johann Hermann Schein included a padouana à 4 for crumhorns in his collection Banchetto Musicale, 1617. 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...
suggested the use of crumhorns in some of his sacred vocal works as a possible alternative to trombone
Trombone
The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
s, dulcian
Dulcian
The dulcian is a Renaissance bass woodwind instrument, with a double reed and a folded conical bore. Equivalent terms include "curtal" in English, "dulzian" in German, "bajón" in Spanish, "douçaine"' in French, "dulciaan" in Dutch, and "dulciana" in Italian....
s and other instruments.
In popular music, the crumhorn is used by the Rock band Gryphon
Gryphon (band)
Gryphon were a British progressive rock band of the 1970s, best known for their unusual Medieval sound and instrumentation.-Career:Multi-instrumentalist Richard Harvey and his fellow Royal College of Music graduate Brian Gulland, a woodwind player, began the group as an all-acoustic ensemble that...
. The Blibbering Humdingers also used crumhorn in one of their more popular songs, "Dobby Bang Your Head." A crumhorn also features prominently in Carey Blyton
Carey Blyton
Carey Blyton was a British composer and writer best known for his song Bananas In Pyjamas which later became an Australian children's television series, and for his work on Doctor Who....
's 1970 score for the serial Doctor Who and the Silurians
Doctor Who and the Silurians
Doctor Who and the Silurians is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in seven weekly parts from January 31 to March 14, 1970. The story is the first appearance of a recurring family of Earth-dwelling reptiles...
.
External links
Additional information:Media
MP3 Music file:"L'arboscello Ballo Furlano" by Giorgio Mainerio
Giorgio Mainerio
Giorgio Mainerio was an Italian musician and composer.-Biography:Mainerio was born in Parma, Italy between 1530 and 1540. His father is thought to have been Scottish given that Giorgio signed Mayner as his family name. During his education he studied music, but he did not immediately begin a...
hosted by external site MILLA crumhorns by Stefan Beck
Direct link to file is not provided as license grants private but not commercial use.