From your mouth to God's ears! The shawm is beautiful, and David Munrow was a genius whose suicide was a public as well as a private tragedy. But one of my favorite musical memories was of an amazing shawm player with the Newberry Consort — I have no idea who he was — who simply flooded the hall with brilliant, ringing tone, not a hint of stridency to it. It was unbelievable to me that the instrument I had up 'til then only ever heard played badly could sound so stunnning.