The community has the chance to travel back in time by listening to the music played during the medieval time periods during a free concert in Covington.

Lauda Musicam of Atlanta will perform standard fare from the medieval, renaissance and baroque periods on instruments commonly used during those eras.

The concert will take place at The Church of the Good Shepherd, located at 4140 Clark Street on Feb. 10, at 3 p.m. Concert organizer JJ Hayden said this is the second year Lauda Musicam of Atlanta will be performing in Covington.
A 35-member instrumental ensemble of recorders, viols, harpsichord, sackbuts, shawms, harps, crumhorns, cornettos, and percussion will perform music by some of the most well-known composers from the historical periods. Uncommon Practice — an a cappella vocal ensemble specializing in music before Bach’s “common practice” period — will also be performing.

Lauda Musicam of Atlanta director Jody Miller said the concert is idea for young and first-time concert goers.
He said during the performance, there will be demonstrations of the instruments and music forms for people less familiar with historical music.

“We’re playing specifically music from the renaissance period and the music would have been music that was discovered in manuscripts from that time period. Some of it will be vocal music that is played on instruments, some of it will be music that it is for voices and instruments together and all the music will have a love theme since this is our Valentine’s Day concert,” Miller said.

A reception will be held after the concert, where members will lead a “petting zoo” for people to see and try instruments, and ask members questions.

“The early instrument petting-zoo held after the concert was a big hit last year so they have agreed to do this again, so this is a chance to see and “pet” a serpent,” Hayden said.

Lauda Musicam of Atlanta plays about three concerts a year. The nonprofit organization, which has been in existence for about four years, strives to educate the community about historical music and historical instruments and consists of musicians from all over the Georgia.

Miller holds degrees in music and music education from the University of Southern Mississippi, has a choral degree from Georgia State University and a degree in early music study from Indiana University.

Miller said before he was the director of Lauda Musicam of Atlanta, he was the director of the Emory Early Music Ensemble at the main campus of Emory in Atlanta for nine years.

He has also performed professionally in period performance ensembles that specialized in performing music in specific time periods. He explained why he enjoyed putting on these particular concerts for communities.

“Music as we know it evolved from this time period and elements of music that we know today were being developed during this time period,” Miller said. “It’s a part of music history that we can look back to and know where musical concepts came from and how the instruments developed.”

Hayden said the concert is free, but donations are accepted and appreciated, as they will go to local charities in Covington.