[picture of pipe and tabor
player] [picture of a
capriole]

And there is more to it than this, for dancing is practised to reveal whether lovers are in good health and sound of limb, after which they are permitted to kiss their mistresses in order that they may touch and savour one another, thus to ascertain if they are shapely or emit an unpleasant odour as of bad meat. Therefore, from this standpoint, quite apart from the many other advantages to be derived from dancing, it becomes an essential in a well ordered society.


Thoinot Arbeau, Orchesography (1589), trans. Mary Stewart Evans
(Images from Dover edition of Arbeau)

SCA Medieval and Renaissance Music Homepage

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If you have any suggestions or contributions for this page, please write me at lindahl@pbm.com, or suggest a link.

There is a mailing list for this topic, with web-based subscribe/unsubscribe and an archive. This page is a subpage of the Society for Creative Anachronism Arts and Sciences homepage.

Early Music

Western European music in the SCA period has long been studied under the name `early music.' There are many groups which perform such music and many sources should be available in a good library. In addition, there is Usenet newsgroup, rec.music.early, which covers this topic. You may also obtain this newsgroup via a mailing list.

Songs / Minstrels / "Bardic Arts"

In the SCA, you'll often find solo music performances lumped in with poetry, juggling, and other performances arts under the term "Bardic Arts". These areas are covered on their own page, the Minstrel Homepage. Almost all of the music material there is repeated here.

Dance Music

Dance Music is mostly covered in the SCA Dance Homepage.

On With the Show...

Non-Western Music and Dance

I don't have that much good information on non-Western dance or music, but there are a couple of sources of middle-eastern info on the Web.


Finally, there is a generic homepage for music-related resources at Indiana.

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Who else has links to this page?


Gregory Blount of Isenfir (Greg Lindahl)