Crumhorn! Hurdy-Gurdy! Zink!

whither the basso profundo bullroarer?!

so few people to play duets with these days...

That stuff's great. When I was in my very early teens I discovered the Harvard Dictionary of Music, with its myriad entries for obscure instruments -- buisines, crwths, sarrusophones, jouhikanteles -- and was entranced. I decided that I would write a piece for every one of them, and began dutifully copying out a list of every single instrument named in the book. I don't remember how far I got -- I think I still have the list, somewhere. Later on my HS music department acquired a CDROM that had sound samples of tons of off-the-beaten-path instruments. And at college, the music dept. had a large white hardcover book called something like "An Orchestrator's Handbook" (it was very heavy, very pretty, and very expensive), which had a lot of information on "ethnic" and Renaissance instruments; I still remember the great quote it had about how the rackett (a very buzzy reed instrument from that era) "looks like some sort of elaborate bong".

There are a few of those instruments that are very unjustly neglected. A big favorite of mine is the cornett or cornetto, which has an absolutely beautiful tone. Some recordings of Renaissance music use it; it's something like a trumpet, but has a very velvety tone without any brassiness at all -- rather like a cross between a trumpet and a wood flute.

It is entrancing! Two exciting things in one week - both sprouting from schoolwork. This is strange and wonderful.

i have now become obsessed . Thank you il*

See politco folk rockers barnstormer for excellent use of crumhorns.

Great! Another opportunity to plug Richard (& Linda) Thompson :) See "I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight" for crumhorn, etc. action.

i think thompson uses a hurdy gurdy on one of his albums too

my friend at work actually DID HER DEGREE in viol-playing! this is a kind of semi-cello semi violin thing i think, only when you ahem, bow it it looks like you are doing something else. something that allegedly give you hairs on your palms. she is also v. knowledgable about rebecs, citterns etc although not as knowledgable as i am about the BOUZOUKI!

Major difference between viols and violins is their shape. Violins have shoulders coming out at right angles to the neck while viols shoulders slope. Viols normally have frets as well, but IIRC the fretless double bass is officially a viol, so I don't think they're compulsory.

i didn't think the viol family had frets, but a major difference is the tuning - the viol family are strung in 4th, the violin family in 5ths. the head of the instrument is different too, and the 'f' holes should be 'c' holes (double basses now have f holes to fit in visually with the others)