FAQ

I want to teach!
If you have a topic you’re passionate about teaching, let us know. We will do our best to make sure that everyone who is interested in teaching gets to teach a class.

I play a modern instrument / sing in a non-Early Music choir. Can I participate?
Absolutely. If you can (more-or-less) read modern sheet music, you’ll be able to fully participate in just about every class. We aren’t picky about period instruments. Sure, renaissance recorders and shawms might be ideal, but plastic baroque recorders, oboes, modern flutes, french horns are all fine. We might draw the line at a theremin. Maybe.

I can’t carry a tune in a bucket, I don’t read music, and I don’t play any musical instruments. Will there be anything for me to do?
Yes, although a fair number of the classes will assume you have some musical knowledge. There will be lecture classes that are about music but do not involve playing or singing music. You can attend the afternoon Salon and evening Concert. For the evening concert there will be program notes to help you better appreciate the music you are listening to. Classes with little or no music background required will be marked.

Is this event only for Pre-1600 European music?
No, this event welcomes all music from before 1600. While classes and performances in the past have been primarily European-focused, there have been classes on pre-1600 Indian, Arabic, and Japanese music; we encourage classes on and performances of non-European pre-1600 music!

Pre-1600 or pre-1650?
Because the SCA time period is “pre-seventeenth century”, the event is obligated to say pre-1600. However, Renaissance music didn’t suddenly become Baroque at the turn of the century, and certainly not all over Europe nor for every composer. I’m sure the same is true elsewhere in the world. So, up to 1650 is fine.