Are you curious about all the different early music instruments?
One of the best web sites to explore is Ross Duffin’s site at Case Western Reserve University. It contains sound files, illustrations, and brief essays about Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque musical instruments:
http://music.cwru.edu/medren/
Are you specifically interested in Baroque music?
Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra of Toronto has a particularly good educational web site with information about Baroque instruments, Baroque composers, and Baroque performance style:
http://www.tafelmusik.org/flash/learningcentre/index.html
Are you a YouTube fan?
Hear EMA member and USC Thornton School of Music faculty member Adam Gilbert demonstrate a number of medieval/Renaissance wind instruments:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBdgjItBhR0
Would you like to hear one of EMA’s distinguished board members, Professor Thomas Forrest Kelly of Harvard University, address the differences between modern and period instruments in classical music? Check out this video:
http://athome.harvard.edu/programs/kelly/kelly10.html
The National Music Museum has an amazing collection of old musical instruments, and their web site is very informative:
http://www.usd.edu/smm/
YouTube now has MANY interesting videos featuring various early music instruments. Here are a few of our favorites:
Some Medieval/Renaissance items:
Ben Bagby performs the opening of Beowulf:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y13cES7MMd8
Asteria performs a 15th-century song (lute and voice):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzwQUPDfLPA
Members of Piffaro play and talk about Josquin and Isaac at St. Olaf College:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJTHUPQ6sqs
Nigel North plays Dowland on the Renaissance lute:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXb3zih2umw&feature=related
Jordi Savall and his kids play Diego Ortiz (gamba, harp, theorbo):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3T8Z3GIpxx0
Some Baroque items:
Hanneke van Proosdij (harpsichord) and Joanna Blendulf (viola da gamba) play Bach:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgqrKFT7u0U
Trio Settecento playing Leclair on Baroque violin, viola da gamba, and harpsichord:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0KkQusRPwM
Ton Koopman plays Bach on the harpsichord:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btZyjlP4c9s
Opening of Monteverdi's Orfeo (Savall, Barcelona)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdHFxkd7s0s
The Pachelbel rant:
http:///www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdxkVQy7QLM