Historical sources refer to a quiet double reed instrument often described as the “still shawm,” but no examples were known until 1982, when King Henry VIII’s flagship the Mary Rose was raised from the English Channel. Among the many recovered artifacts was a bass douçaine, whose recovery answered centuries-old questions about what the instrument was, and made it possible for replicas to be built. The douçaine’s soft, buzzy sound comes from a cylindrical bore, rather than the conical bore of the shawm, and a large, thick double reed.
Douçaine
