Ancient Music = small groups

I had my first exposure to small groups in the third grade when a small chamber group came to our school and talked and played for groups of 5-6 students at a time.  They had an oboe, bassoon, french horn and clarinet.  It was fascinating listening to each of them talk about their instruments and what it took to play them.  I particularly remember the oboe player who explained that you have to puff up your cheeks with air and force it through the tiny reed with such pressure that you thought your head might explode.  His whole face went red and with his puffed out cheeks he looked a bit like a beet.

Fast forward about 40 years and I heard a group on National Public Radio playing what they called "ancient" music.  It was music of the medieval period, generally used for dances.  The period instruments they played had strange names: sackbut (precursor to our trombone), shawm (a double reeded wind instrument that has morphed into the oboe), dulcian (double reeded wind instrument that became the bassoon), and crumhorns, lutes, and bagpipes.

The group is called Piffaro and is based in Philadelphia.

This is one of my favorite songs of theirs ... Anonimo Suite

Piffaro - Anonimo suite

Its sound takes you into a medieval English town, perhaps in the time of Shakespeare ...