Alta cappella

In 1571, London ordered its waits to play "upon their instruments upon the turret at the Royal Exchange every Sunday and holiday toward the evening" (with winter break, between September and late March, excepted).

[3] In addition, in the same Catalonia, specially in Tarragona area, the use of a shorten shawm called "gralla" is used for the human tower "castells" and "cercavila [ca]", an event that takes place in the streets, always festive parade, which involved a variety of elements and Town Hall representatives, including musical (grallers), audio (fireworks) and visual type (giants, dwarfs, costumes, representations of animals or mythological beings or invented, etc.).

It sets the popular basse danse tenor La Spagna in long notes with a contratenor in more or less note-against-note motion and a highly decorated fast-moving upper part.

Examples include pieces found in MS Trent 87,5 such as Auxce bon youre, Tandernaken, and the setting of the basse danse melody, Je suy povere de leesse.

[7] During the sixteenth century, cantus firmus settings gave way to other kind of dances, sometimes improvised and sometimes composed.

Early 17th-century Flemish alta cappella, drawing by Denis van Alsloot . Instruments are (from left to right): a bass dulcian , an alto shawm , a treble cornett , a soprano shawm, a second alto shawm and a tenor sackbut .
A re-created wait in York
Modern reconstruction of a fifteenth-century slide trumpet
Two shawms of the fifteenth-century type