Anciant Instruments You Should Know About

                                                Cornett

The cornett it is also known as cornetto or zink it was very old instrument that its origin is unknown but Germans claims that it was invented by the them.The three basic types of cornett are curved, straight, and mute.A late 16th-century curved cornett from Ambras has a mouthpiece generally accepted as original. This mouthpiece is turned from horn, and is 14 mm wide. It is similar to a sm -you-should-know all trumpet mouthpiece in the deep curvature of the cup, but the rim is very sharp, resembling an acorn cup. Many pictures of cornett players show just such a small mouthpiece, and these depictions, together with instructions in several treatises, suggest that the small cup mouthpiece was usually placed in the corner of the mouth, with the centre position occasionally employed as an alternative.The cornett's tone quality was often described as being close to the human voice, particularly that of a boy soprano. Mersenne eloquently described it as 'like a ray of sunshine piercing the shadows, when heard with the choir voices in the cathedrals or chapels'. By modern standards the instrument is not loud, its forte being less strong than a clarinet's. The mute cornett has a uniquely soft and velvety quality. Roger North (1695) said 'Nothing comes so near or rather imitates so much an excellent voice as a cornett pipe; but the labour of the lips is too great and it is seldom well sounded'