Chalemie

Chalemie [Lat. *calamus], 1. OFr.: shawm. In this sense the word was in use from the 14th c. to the 17th, though the word hautbois was in general use after 1500. By the mid-17th c. it denoted 2 different instrs.: the shawm, or “dessus de hautbois,” and also: 2. the cornemuse of shepherds. According to Trichet (ca. 1640), this was a musette chanter separated from the musette, its double reed protected by a little box, i.e., a reed cap, pierced with 2 holes. Mersenne confuses the issue by…