Who we are and what we do…
Ansteorra has an active collection of instrumental musicians and music ensembles. Though instrumental and vocal solo performance is also part of Bardic performance, the Ansteorra Musician’s studies group fosters all aspects of period music. For more information contact the Music Deputy.
Ansteorra is not responsible for the content in these links provided. The material remains the property of the copywrite holder.
Ansteorra Based Music Groups
Facebook groups are often unofficial groups for organizing activities. Ansteorra is not responsible for their content.
Ansteorra Musician’s Collective – Group for organizing pick up performance at courts, balls and other events in Ansteorra. The Collective has a standard repertoire that comes from The Pennsic Pile . It is as follows: Amoroso, Black Alman, Black Nag, Gathering Peasecods, Gelocia, Heart’s Ease, Heralds in Love, The Bransle Suites, Jenny Pluck Pears, Ly Ben Dystonys, Petit Verin, Petit Rose, Picking Up Sticks, Pivas (Cantiga CSM 119), Rufty Tufty, Trenchmore, Whirligig, Belle Qui Tiens La Vie, Queen’s Alman, Hole in the Wall. These are some of the standard dance tunes that are played at dance balls.
Bjornsborg Early Music Ensemble (BEME) – Instrumental and vocal group performances of the Bjornsborg Ffynnon Gath communities
Bryn Gwald Early Music Guild – Instrumental and vocal group performances of the Bryn Gwald and Hellsgate communities
St Romanos Chorale – Chorale of the Elfsea and Steppes areas.
For Middle Eastern Music, see Middle Eastern Studies.
Period Source Material and Academic Groups
Petrucci Music Library – IMSPL – A large library of public domain music. Includes works in and out of period but a great resource for instrumental and vocal music in period. Often includes scans of the original works in the original notation. Includes MIDI and MP3 files for many of the pieces for those that do
The Cantigas de Santa Maria – Scans and chant notation translations of The Cantigas de Santa Maria attributed to Alfonso X from the 13th Century in Iberia. The emphasis is on singing but there are several suggestions on performance styles and lists of various academic works on the pieces. Music can also be found at
Istanpitta – Sheet music and CDs from Master Avatar from Ansteorra. His book Early Period & Popular Dance Music is what we use for most of the ensemble dance music. Medieval Songs and Dances 1 & 2 are used for court music on many occasions. Master Avatar is also the most recent editor of The Pennsic Pile. This is a free work that supports many of the dance balls in the SCA. (See the link at the bottom of this page.)
Choral Music Public Library – Open source choral music. Includes both period and post period resources.
Red Book of Montserrat – Sheet music for the Llibre Vermell de Montserrat a surviving work from 12th Century Spain.
Musica Subterranea – Link to their CDs of SCA dance music. See also iTunes and Amazon music.
Gaita – Their CDs and modern transcriptions of period music.
Transcribing and Reading White Mensural Notation – Reading mid 16th century music notation.
For additional information on European dance music see European Dance. This includes additional music sources as well as CDs and videos of performances. For more information on solo works see Bardic and Performance for additional resources.
Additional SCA Resources
The SCA Minstrel – List of many period music resources in and out of the SCA.
List of Dance Music Arrangers – This is the list of websites of SCA dance music arrangers and choreographers. (The physical addresses are out of date.)
For additional information on European dance music see European Dance. This includes additional music sources as well as CDs and videos of performances.
Helpful Music Software
Here is a list of sheet music composition and MIDI format tune players for those that do not read music. Most composition software will play MIDI, Wave and Music XML files.
Finale Music Notepad – Finale music software provides this free software for creating your own music compositions or for viewing other works created in software format.
Notion for IOS – Helpful music composition software for the iPad. Not a free software program but one of the few for tablet.
Musescore – Another free music composition program. Includes a forum of free compositions from other musicians and bards.
Noteworthy – Music notation for older Windows and MAC computers that is feature rich and inexpensive.
Noteflight – Cloud based notation software. Has a pay and free service with various options and can be accessed from all tablets and PCs.
ScoreCloud – Another free score software program. Also has a pay service with additional features.
Gregorio – Free software to make your own Gregorian chants and early notation, Minseral
Serenissima – The font “Early Music Sources Serenissima” is emulating both visually and conceptually, the most common way music was printed in the 16th century.
Downloadable Resources
The Pennsic Pile is the music resource for most of the European dance balls in the SCA.
