EXPERIENCE THE MAGIC OF EARLY MUSIC WITH US.

What Is Early Music & Historical Performance?

“Early music” is a blanket term that generally refers to music written before 1750, especially the Renaissance (c. 1450–1600) and Baroque (c. 1600–1750) eras.

Historical performance is an approach to playing older (especially early) music using the tools, techniques, and stylistic habits that composers and musicians of the time would have known. Below are three of the main components of historical performance which separate it from much of the rest of the classical music world:

  • INSTRUMENTS

    The instruments our musicians play are antique, or faithful replicas of, instruments from the Baroque era. Playing on these instruments gives us a clearer sense of the sounds composers originally imagined. Often, these historical instruments produce a warmer, more natural, and often more intimate sound than today’s instruments.

  • PITCH

    Pitch was not the same everywhere in the past, so early music ensembles frequently tune to different “As” depending on what a composer in that time and place would have expected. However, for the sake of standardization, today’s early music ensembles often use A=415Hz, a historical pitch which is one semitone lower than the A=440Hz used by most musicians and orchestras today.

  • STYLE

    Style in historical performance means that the musicians perform with the rhythms, ornaments, improvisations, and and phrasing musicians would have used long ago, so the music feels as alive and expressive as it did back then.

Where Bama Baroque Fits In

Bama Baroque is an early music ensemble that performs Baroque repertoire and early folk music side by side using these historically informed techniques.

Though they may seem like separate traditions, the worlds of Baroque and folk music were deeply intertwined. Many of the ballads, dance tunes, and sacred songs carried to America by early settlers grew directly out of the musical language of the 17th and 18th centuries. The same rhythms that powered Baroque dance suites are found in early American reels and Appalachian fiddling; the haunting modal colors of Renaissance and Baroque melodies live on in ballads still sung today.

This shared heritage makes Baroque and folk music feel, at times, like long-lost cousins. Bama Baroque embraces this natural fusion: by placing classical and folk traditions in the same conversation, we offer Alabama audiences a unique and fresh way to hear music they may already know and love.

Whether you're brand new to early music or already in love, we’d be delighted to welcome you to our concerts. Come hear the music, ask questions, or just enjoy the moment: there’s no single “right” way to experience early music. Every listener brings something special, and in every piece we play is an ancient story waiting to be told again.

There’s always a seat open and a tune to share. We hope you’ll join us!