Bells & Motley Instrumentarium, page 3 Return to "Instrumentarium, page 2" Go to "Instrumentarium, page 4"
		THREE JAWHARPS. This instrument can be found throughout Europe and Asia. We have enjoyed seeing Medieval jawharp iconography show up on the Uffizi Palance ceiling, and in the hands of a Medieval French shepherd.					ROMMELPOT & CLACKER. These instruments are not often heard - probably just as well. They appear in festivities by one of our favorite artists, 16th c. Flemish painter Peter Bruegel. While best known for his paintings of bagpipers for peasant festivals, and dancing, in the "Battle of Carnival & Lent" we witness the allowable instruments for the Lenten period. Our rommelpot was a collaborative effort: John's leftover parchment-making experiments, and Sondra's ceramic bowl, testiment to her early days as an art teacher. We only bring these two instruments out when absolutely necessary.
		FRENCH BAGPIPES: We have settled into the playing of various French pipes, which are well suited to both our Medieval and our Traditional French repertoire. From top: Gascon Bouhe, Breton Veuze, Breton Biniou.
							BOUHE BAGPIPE. (also called Bohu) The distinctive feature of this bagpipe is the chanter and drone stock laying side by side in two parallel bores, which enables a person to accompany their melody with a variable note. This soft, bleating bagpipe is traditonal to the Gascony region of France, but a very close relative can be seen in the 14th c. Spanish Cantigas de Santa. Maria. Sondra's bouhe was made for her by Bernard Desblancs of the Conservatoire Occitan in Toulouse.
		BECHONET FRENCH BAGPIPE: This is one of the many French bagpipes, common in the center of France, that uses a bellows to keep the bag tense with air. There, the name is used to indicate a specific length of the chanter, a cornemuse of a certain number of thumbs in length. Made by Joachim Von Ussler, Hamburg.
							BRETON WINDS: Traditional Breton instruments, the biniou and veuze are usually accompanied by a bombard.The matched set of biniou and bombard were Sondra and John's 10th anniversary gifts to eachother. Veuze is your basic medieval bagpipes, with chanter, single drone, and a place to blow in. Notice a distinct similarity to the pipes seen in the Medieval paintings from Flanders, Italy, and throughout Europe. B flat bombard, G bombard, B flat veuze, and G biniou are by Hervieux and Glet, Redon Brittany. C bombard is by Camac.
		FRENCH BELLOWS PIPES: Also from Central France, specifically Auvergne, comes the cabrette, or "little goat." Like the bechonet, drone and chanter are parallel, and both take their air from a common stock. This cabrette was made by Claude Romero of Toulouse, 1991.
							BAGPIPE PARTS: Two reed-making technologies: Double reeds in the chanter, Single Reeds in the drone pipe. This is usually, but not always the case. (Our bouhe has a single reed in the chanter, which accounts for its softer, sweeter sound.) If you look closely at the drone pipe, you might see that there is a piece of hair tucked underneath the vibrating piece, to keep it free to move.