Music technology (mechanical) showing their ancient form. (see photo) The flute was commonly used for festal and mourning occasions, according to Whitcomb. "Even the poorest Hebrew was obliged to employ two flute-players to perform at his wife's funeral." The shofar (the horn of a ram) is still used for special liturgical purposes such as the Jewish New Year services in orthodox communities. As such, it is not considered a musical instrument but an instrument of theological symbolism which has been intentionally kept to its primitive character. In ancient times it was used for warning of danger, to announce the new moon or beginning
Stock-and-horn played with a single reed ("oaten reed") unfixed to the instrument but held by the lips. Stock-and-horn The stock-and-horn was a traditional instrument of the Scottish peasantry, very similar to the Welsh pibgorn, consisting of a single-reed reed pipe amplified by a bell made of horn. The original instrument of the Middle Ages had a double chanter with single reeds but was replaced by the single chanter type. The single chanter instrument is described in great detail by Robert Burns in a 1794 letter to a contemporary; Burns describes how he had much difficulty coming by the instrument, and notes