My friend was thinking of buying this instrument off the net...
she said it had like a a recorders body with a c key at the bottom and used a double reed. It only costs £18 but you can buy £70 / £700 models. What is it? and is it any good?
(i was going to buy it halfs with her sister for her birthday!)

If its on the net, do you have a link so we can see it?

could it be a really old oboe? (sounds daft I know)

What like those old instruments like a crumhorn and stuff? I thought about that.... but then if they were it would cost a lot more than £18 because its so rare and antique.

Yeah that's a point, I hadn't thought about that!

Unless the sellers didn't know what it was either! lol

I'm thinking along the lines of a crumhorn. But that isn't a reed instrument I don't think. It could just be a really old oboe that no-one knows the real value of.

thanx guys.
i'll try and get the link off my friends sis...

I doubt it is what you have in mind, but do you know the xaphoon with a single reed and recorder-like plastic body. It looks like it would be fun for those inclined to reeds. www.xaphoon.com

Most likely what you are describing is something which falls generally under the heading of 'ethnic' a shanai, souna, bombard or equivalent from some other region. These are similar to the early music instrument the shawm, but more likely to be found at lower prices (and quality). Noisy things. Very noisy- I know someone who has one- tuning, and accidentals are very much a matter of lipping up and down on hers.

I could be a bassraquet (sp??) like an oboe but pitch 1 octave below a bassoon,

Sounds like a bombarde to me - look here Bombarde for a picture (there's a picture of a xaphoon there as well).

My husband has one somewhere - they make a seriously loud, piercing sound. They're very common in Brittany, often played en masse with the Breton bagpipes (called biniou). That's an amazing sound, especially if you go to a folk festival there (look out for adverts for a fete folklorique)and see a parade with lots of bombarde/biniou bands gong past in succession, often including Highland pipes as well! Prepare to have your eardrums blasted!

A very common traditional pairing is with a church organ. You'll often see posters, particularly in Brittany, advertising concerts of "bombarde et orgue ". Well worth going to if you get the chance, and again, very loud.

It is indeed a kind of shawm - look here Shawms for pictures of those.

Whatever it is, I'm sure your friend will enjoy it, and it'll probably be loud!

Jane

I remember listening to shawms in music lessons.

How did such a loud and raucous instrument turn into the refined and gentle oboe??!

Wow! Thas the one.... is it any good????

Ah yes! This belongs to the same group as the Japanese "charumera" (charamela is the Portuguese word for a reed, in Japanese "charumera" refers to the instrument itself) which has been prized by peddlars for exactly that piercing quality for some 4 centuries. These days, the sound is associated with ramen sellers, who play a taped version of the charumera over a loudspeaker as they drive their trucks around the streets in winter, selling hot noodles!

have u got 1?

is it any good?

I've considered buying one, but the ones I saw were just cheap junk. I take care not too look very hard if I'm anywhere that might be selling a good one, in case I'm tempted!

Not to mention, where would I practice one here in Japan? People go to the river embankments to practice their brass instruments, because even freestanding houses are close enough that you can hear people running their taps!

I don't know if that's the same make as his, as he's had it for many years (his dad used to run a folk music shop before retiring - great for getting instruments at cost price!). It seems to be the make that's most widely available in this country.

What I do know about bombardes from listening to them, is that they're very loud and piercing - you either love them or hate them!

What I know about them from watching my husband is that you need a lot of puff and a good set of lungs.

Quote from http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Bombarde

"The bombarde is a French folk instrument from Brittany. A cross between an oboe and a conical-bored pipe chanter, it is blown in the mouth, with the reed between the lips. Typically pitched in B flat, it plays a diatonic scale over two octaves.

Producing a very strident and powerful tone, it is most commonly heard today in bagads, the Breton version of the pipe band. Traditionally it was used in a duet with the biniou for Breton folk dancing.

The bombarde requires so much breath that a bombard player (talabarder) can rarely play for long periods. This suits Breton music, where there is often a solo line which is then echoed by a chorus: the bombarde plays the solo line and then the player recovers while the other instruments play the echo."

Have a listen to the sound clip of the tune Trouz e Kerdiez on this link to hear this last comment in action!:Bleizi Ruz (Breton folk group) - we heard them quite a few years ago.


If you really want to know what a bombarde is like, go to Brittany and go to a folk festival - they're hard to avoid in the summer months and usually include a street procession with the sort of bands I described in my earlier post (and groups of dancers). We made some wonderful field recordings whilst on our honeymoon. If you haven't heard traditional Breton music it's amazing stuff, with some weird & wonderful time signatures - sometimes alternating bars of 5/4 and 4/4 or movning from 15/8 to 12/8 to 18/8 in the space of 5 bars.
One of the most amazing sights was a traditional group of accordion players wearing hairy goat skin leggings, dancing down the street....on stilts!

But I digress.
I guess that with bombardes, as with bagpipes and most folk instruments, as I said before, you either love them or hate them. Personally I love them!

Regards,

Jane

thanx