Chalumeau

Chalumeau (Fr.) [Lat. *calamellus], name given to several woodwind instrs. and to an organ stop, often confused with *chalemie: 1. chalumeau was formerly a term for any rustic reedpipe. It survives in this sense in Fr.-speaking Switzerland, where it denotes a shepherd's reedpipe, and in a generic sense any primitive musical tube; 2. it was also the (double-reed) chanter of a bagpipe, detached and blown as a separate instr. (cf. chalemie, pibole). Mersenne uses the word in this sense and does…