His Ain Draucht Trumpets
- John Kenny - alto & tenor sackbut & trombones
- John Milne, Alan Pash, - tenor sackbut & trombone
- Lorna McDonald - bass sackbut & bass trombone
Draucht Trumpet was the old Scots name for the Sackbut, or renaissance trombone, and although the Scottish Early Music Consort - until its disbanding in 1998 - frequently employed wind musicians in its programs, and the sackbut was often been prominent in its ranks, this is the first time an ensemble of the highest professional calibre has been established in Scotland to explore the repertoire for this most venerable of instruments.
In terms of western European instrumental development, the trombone reached a form still clearly recognisable in the contemporary instrument at a very early stage; Konrad of Mengenberg, writing in the mid-14th century describes the loud music of shawms and trombones, which "generally banish the sober fiddles from the feasts, and the young girls dance eagerly to the music". In 1463 Margaret of Bavaria, bride of Federico 1st of Mantua, made her entrance into the city accompanied by 107 trumpets, shawms and trombones. Henry VIII of England had his own grand compliment of cornets and sackbuts, and here in Scotland our own greatest Renaissance prince, James IV, was not to be outdone - indeed, he imported the latest and most sophisticated trumpeters from Mantua, and kept them in his permanent employ, at Falkland and Edinburgh. Some of these played the drawn, or draucht, trumpet - and no doubt the instrument was used both in celebratory and sacred music, as it was in Germany and Italy at this time.
The trombone's great popularity with 15th and 16th century composers was partly due to its ability to play both loud and soft, over a very wide compass - and its affinity with the human voice, enabling it most effectively to reinforce choral textures adding depth and majesty to the already ostentatious state religious displays. There were several composers of undisputed, but little known genius at work in Scotland during the reigns of James IV and V, and His Ain Draucht Trumpets are dedicated to trying to recreate this music as it might have sounded in that golden age.
The group’s programs exploit the affinity of the sackbut with the human voice, as well as allowing comparison with the modern instrument, and tracing the development of the greater family of lip reed instruments throughout human history.