The Lesser-Known Musical Instruments

We all have a good idea what a violin, guitar, and a piano look like, but did you ever wonder what a sackbutt was? Have you ever heard of a crumhorn? What about a Dulcimer or a psaltery?

The sackbut was the early version of today’s trombone, built more delicately than its modern descendant, and its tone is described as more mellow. The earliest written record we have of the sackbut was dated 1468, when it was played at the wedding of Charles the Bold and Mary of York. It was popular during medieval and renaissance times, and Henry the VIII of England had an ensemble of sackbutt players at court. Today it is still used by trombone players who want to play medieval and renaissance music with an authentic sound. Modern sackbutt players include the English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble, the London Sackbutt and Cornett Ensemble, and the Washington Sackbutt and Cornett Ensemble.

In medieval times a curved wooden instrument with a double reed was invented and dubbed the crumhorn, “crum” meaning curved. The instrument can sound much like a bee when played softly, or with a deep resonance when played loudly. In renaissance times crumhorns were popular for dances, madrigals, church music, and weddings. Many historic works of art from the 15th through 17th centuries portray the crumhorn.

A dulcimer is a stringed instrument whose strings are stretched over a four- sided sounding board. Dulcimers come in different sizes with different numbers of strings. The strings may be played with a hammer or plucked. The instrument is thought to have been invented in Persian around two thousand years ago. The instrument is played in Asia, Europe, Great Britain and the United States, where it is part of a Folk Music tradition popular in the Appalachians and southern states.

A psaltery is an ancient harp with a soundboard, and is plucked with one hand while being held in the other The Book of Psalms is also called the Psaltery because hymns were sung with the little harp. It is believed that modern musical notation began with psaltery players who made marks under the instrument’s strings, to remember which strings to play. The psaltery was popular in Spain and southern Europe until around 1500, and is thought to have evolved into other stringed instruments. Chaucer’s Beowulf has a reference to the psaltery in the Miller’s Tale. The Jorvik Ensemble is known for playing modern music with the psaltery.

This only begins to look at some interesting, unusual, and historical instruments. Why not look up the zither, lizard, lute, serpent, shawn, zink, recorder, hirtenshalmei, and shofar, and amaze your friends who don’t know musical history?