The wind instrument counterpart to the symphonia, in terms of sound and widespread use, is the bagpipe. Bagpipes are familiar to us from the Scottish tradition, among others, and the medieval bagpipe seems to have been a similar instrument although probably softer as a rule and with fewer drones. The sound is produced by reeds which are set in vibration by the air pressure built up inside an animal skin bag.
Droneless bagpipe. Marginal detail from the Hours of Jeanne d’Évreux (ca.1325), fol. 35. New York, Cloisters Collection.
Single-drone Bagpipe & shawm. 14th-century manuscript illumination (detail) from Boethius, De Arithmetica. Naples, Biblioteca Nazionale, MS V.A.14, fol. 47r.
Bagpipe. Gothic Winds. Les Haulz et les Bas. Ian Harrison, bagpipe. Christophorus CHR 77193 (1996). Trk 7 Estampie (excerpt).
The origin of the bagpipe is obscure but it probably dates back to Classical times. The early medieval bagpipe had no drones but acquired one in the l3th century, and some 2-drone pipes are seen in depictions before the end of the Middle Ages. Bagpipes also differ from one another sometimes in having cylindrical pipes which produce a softer sound, or conical (or flared) pipes which produce a louder, more raucous sound.
Bagpipe. Shepherds in a round dance (detail). French (early 16th century). Cleveland Museum of Art 39.158.
Bagpipes can easily be played by themselves, but a popular combination in the later Middle Ages seems to have been bagpipe and shawm.