It achieved its peak of popularity during the medieval and Renaissance periods, after which it was gradually eclipsed by the oboe family of descendant instruments in classical music.

[1] Double-reed instruments similar to the shawm were long present in Southern Europe and the East, for instance the ancient Greek, and later Byzantine aulos,[2][3] the closely related sorna and zurna,[4] and the Armenian duduk.

[citation needed] The bassoon-like double reed, made from the same arundo donax cane used for oboes and bassoons, is inserted directly into a socket at the top of the instrument, or in the larger types, on the end of a metal tube called the bocal.

The pirouette, a small wooden attachment with a cavity in the center resembling a thimble, surrounds the lower part of the reed—this provides support for the lips and embouchure.

The shawm's conical bore and flaring bell, combined with the style of playing dictated by the use of a pirouette, gives the instrument a piercing, trumpet-like sound, well-suited for outdoor performances.

[8] However, it is also possible that the name comes from the Arabic salamiya (سلامية‎), a traditional oboe from Egypt, as the European shawm seems to have been developed from similar instruments brought to Europe from the Near East during the time of the Crusades.

The smaller sizes of shawm, chiefly the soprano, alto and sometimes the tenor, were more often coupled with the Renaissance trombone, or sackbut, and the majestic sound of this ensemble was much in demand by civic authorities.

The shawm became standard equipment for town bands, or waits, who were required to herald the start of municipal functions and signal the major times of day.

A tenor shawm in C with a single key [without the customary lower extension to G], with a range of a perfect twelfth, was described as a nicolo according to Michael Praetorius in his Syntagma Musicum II (1619), pages 23 and 36, but was not illustrated.

[citation needed] The charumera (チャルメラ), or charumeru (チャルメル), is a double-reed instrument in traditional Japanese music descended either from shawms brought to Japan by Portuguese Christian missionaries,[13] or possibly Iberian traders in the 16th century.