Instruments and genres

During Medieval times, music had mostly just had one melody without any accompaniment, or a basic accompaniment. In the Renaissance music became polyphonic, that is, it had several different parts played at once. This meant that, rather than one person playing one instrument, groups of instruments were now played together, known as consorts. But, as having just any old instruments playing together wouldn’t work, during the Renaissance families of the same instrument, but made in different sizes, were developed.

The consort arrangement worked very well for playing a main type of non-religious music being written at the time, which was vocal music. The overwhelming majority of notated music was for voices. Most professional musicians at the time could not read music, and instead played a variety of memorised dance music and songs. As the century developed, amateur players who could read music were welcomed to a vast collection of vocal music that they could play in consorts.

Consorts

Consort is a group of musicians, the term was commonly used in the Renaissance period, when a family of instruments would play together.

There are two types of consorts:
a) whole consort, which consists of instruments all from the same family
b) broken consort, which has instruments from more than one family.

Musical ensembles

 During the Renaissance, musical ensembles were divided into two groups: one was called ‘haut’ (meaning ‘loud’ in French) and was made up of all the loud instruments and was mostly used for playing outside, and the other was ‘bas’ (‘soft’), which was quieter and used for playing indoors during quieter occasions.


The basic loud instrument was the shawm , and the group also included dulcians, sackbuts, tabor pipes, and trumpets. Loud instruments were seldom played indoors except in large halls. Soft instruments, such as recorders, crumhorns, and racketts, were ordinarily played indoors. Cornett, sackbut, tabor and tambourine could play with either loud or soft ensembles.

Musical instruments

Cornett

Made of wood and was played like the recorder but blown like a trumpet. Its sound is said to blend well with the human voice. It was commonly made in several sizes, the largest was called the serpent.

Sackbut
A different name for the trombone, which replaced the slide trumpet by the end of the 15th century. Sackbuts were used almost exclusively in church music and faced behind the player. Sackbut is a musical instrument in the brass family.

Tambourine 

In the early ages the tambourine was originally a frame drum without the jingles attached to the side. This instrument soon evolved and took on the name of the timbrel during the medieval crusades, at which time it acquired the jingles. The tambourine was often found with a single skin, as it made it easy for a dancer to play.

Lute

Lute is a string instrument with a neck and a deep round back. Lutes are made almost entirely of wood. It was the most important instrument for secular music in the Renaissance. It is also an accompanying instrument, especially in vocal works.

Harpsichord

The harpsichord was widely used in Renaissance and Baroque music. It is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed.
"Harpsichord" designates the whole family of similar plucked keyboard instruments, including the smaller virginals, muselar, and spinet.

Viol (viola da gamba)

This instrument, developed in the 15th century, commonly has six strings. It was usually played with a bow. It has structural qualities similar to the Spanish vihuela; its main separating trait is its larger size.This is the predecessor of the modern-day violin, viola, and violoncello (cello). Viols are different in several respects from instruments of the violin family, most obviously in the instruments' flat rather than shaped backs.

Shawm

The shawm was a medieval and Renaissance musical instrument of the woodwind family made in Europe from the 12th century (at the latest) until the 17th century. It was developed from the oriental zurna and is the predecessor of the modern oboe. The body of the shawm was usually turned from a single piece of wood, and terminated in a flared bell somewhat like that of a trumpet. 

Recorder

The recorder is a common instrument still used today. Rather than a reed it uses a whistler mouth piece, which is a beak shaped mouth piece, as its main source of sound production. It is usually made with seven finger holes and a thumb hole.