Oboe

Oboe

History, Facts and interesting information about Medieval music, specifically, Oboe

Definition and Description of the Oboe
Definition and description of the Oboe: The Oboe can be described as a slender double-reed instrument; a woodwind with a conical bore and a double-reed mouthpiece also referred to as an hautbois or hautboy. One of the higher wind instruments in the modern orchestra, yet of great antiquity, having a penetrating pastoral quality of tone, somewhat like the clarinet in form, but more slender, and sounded by means of a double reed. A woodwind instrument formerly much in use it had evolved from the Shawm into the hautboy and then the oboe.

Family of Instruments: The Oboe belongs to the family of Woodwind instruments.

An Oboe

Medieval Musical Instruments - Oboe
Medieval Musical instruments, including the Oboe, would be used by the musicians of the period including the Waits, Minstrels or Troubadours. There were three categories of musical instruments in the Middle Ages - wind, string and percussion. Terms of description were Bas instruments and Haut instruments. Bas referred to soft instruments (literally, "low," but referring to volume, not pitch) which were suitable for the chamber which included the vielle, rebec and other bowed strings, the lute and other plucked strings. Haut referred to loud instruments (literally "high" but referring to volume, not to pitch) which were suitable for outdoors which included the shawm, sackbut, pipe and tabor. Read the above history, facts and information about the Oboe.

The Waits

Medieval Music - Oboe
The Medieval Times website provides interesting facts, history and information about the musicians and styles of music which scatter the history books including Oboe. The Medieval Life and Times Sitemap provides full details of all of the information and facts about the fascinating subject of the lives of the people who lived during the historical period of the Middle Ages. The content of this article on Oboe provides free educational details, facts and information for reference and research for schools, colleges and homework for history courses and history coursework.