schalmei

plural schalmeis · alternative schalmey

1. entertainmentA shawm or chalumeau.

   In 1689 it was ordered in Chemnitz that schalmeis were to be played only by town musicians.

   1980, Journal, International Double Reed Society, page 4

   2 more examples

   Viols, bassoons, schalmeis (ancestors of the clarinet), horns, trumpets, kettle-drums, and other instruments afterward used in the orchestra were known in the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries, but there were no organizations of them.

   1908, The Literary Digest, page 415

   This instrument, also called the pommer, is a forerunner of the oboe. it has a narrow, conical bore and a double reed that is held between the lips of the player, as in older schalmeis that had no wind-cap.

   2003, Bert Oling, Heinz Wallisch, The Complete Encyclopedia of Musical Instruments, Chartwell Books, →ISBN, page 97