Piffero

The piffero (Italian: [ˈpiffero]) or piffaro[citation needed] is a double-reed musical instrument of the oboe family with a conical bore (Sachs-Hornbostel category 422.112).

The piffero has eight tone holes, one of which, on the back of the instrument, is usually covered by the left-hand thumb, and ends with a bell, where a cock tail feather (used to clean the reed) typically rests during execution.

However, towards the end of the twentieth century the bagpipes made a comeback, and today the piffero is commonly accompanied by either of these instruments, or by both.

[citation needed] Related to the piffero is a larger Sicilian instrument known as the bifora, or pifara.

Piffero is sometimes used as the name of an organ stop which emulates the sound of members of the shawm family;[1][2] while Piffaro (or: Fiffaro)[3] is the name of an organ stop, also known as Voce Umana, whose sound resembles a vibrato transverse flute.