Five Serpents: A Serpent Documentary & Demonstration

NOTE: A much shorter version of this video can be found on my YouTube channel, featuring only the musical examples, without any talk or information.

This video is an informal documentary on the musical wind instrument called the 'serpent'.

I highlight five serpents from my collection, play briefly on each of them, and discuss their history, construction, playing characteristics, etc. For contrast, I also briefly touch on the related early brass instruments, the 'cornett' or 'cornetto' (zink), and the 'lyzarden' (tenor zink).

I have experience playing the French church serpent, but the other serpent related instruments in the video are ones I seldom play, and hence I am not doing them full justice here; some of them can be seen on YouTube being played much more proficiently by professional players. And I don't really have any experience playing the cornett/cornetto and lyzarden, so my brief attempts to demonstrate them here should be taken with several grains of salt; in theory I know how to play them, but I have very little skill doing it.

Three of the instruments shown are ones that I made in my own workshop, as part of a series to demonstrate how playable serpent-type instruments can be made using plywood and wood glue and only a few basic woodworking tools. These are demonstrated to show the sound of their respective types, since I don't own examples of the normal versions (bass horn, soprano serpent, contrabass serpent).

Plans for the plywood instruments can be downloaded from www.serpentwebsite.com