Reedpipe Arcana: Gallery and Sound Clips of Unusual Woodwinds

Everything but the kitchen sink...

The long and short of it...

Jay plays soprano crumhorn.
"When I was told that the crumhorn was a J-shaped instrument, naturally I thought, 'Wow! I've got to get me one of those!" Imagine my disappointment when I found one, and it didn't look a thing like me."

What's the difference between reedcap, free-reed,
and idioglottal-reed instruments?
(with sound clips)

Such is the expressive and emotive power of these instruments that it has been said: "The oboe- reed it and weep."

Oboe and bassoon mouthpieces!?!

The Mey or Duduk:
A great big reed on a lovely little instrument.
(with sound clip)

Jay on Baroque bass rackett--A rackett is essentially
a bassoon stuffed into a coffee can.

Despite their size difference, the rackett and the bassoon
have exactly the same low range! The contrabassoon is a different matter...

Soprano and tenor dulcians (or curtals)
(with sound clip)

Some baroque oddities-
a rackett, a tenor crumhorn, and a cornetto.

v
Prof. Dr. Werner Schulze and his low Ab contrabassoon-
It's the lowest one ever made. But the Subcontrabass sax has it matched...
(with sound clip)

That's a Renaissance-style tenor recorder, with a bass schawm, a tenor dulcian and more...

Ever seen a rothphone? A heckelphone?
A sarrusophone? A loophonium?
Click the picture...

That's a lot of soprano saxophones!

Different styles and sizes of Irish whistles.
(with sound clips)

Four recorders, each an octave lower than the last.
(with sound clip)

A flock of flutes.

A bevy of ethnic endblown flutes.
(with sound clips)

A comparison of Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque recorders.
(with sound clip)

Click the lady with the big recorder to see
a page full of contrabass flutes...

What?!? Those aren't woodwinds! Look out- Jay will play anything he can get his hands on if it makes low notes...

Jay would like to thank Dr. Lewis Peterman for the loan of the great-bass recorder, baroque oboe/flute/rackett, bass schawm, and dulcians; and also for being such a great and inspiring guy. Thanks Pete!

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All material © Jay Easton 2001-2006 unless otherwise noted