Long ago four people used to meet every year under a tree on Palomar Mountain to sing madrigals during the San Diego Early Music Society's workshop. In 2003, it occurred to them that they could meet more frequently outside the context of the workshop, and so they arranged to get together "down the mountain". They were joined by two more friends, and Courtly Noyse was born. This lively mix of personalities soon developed the blend of humor, imagination and versatility in the performance of Renaissance music that became their trademark. As years passed, some members moved on and others joined, but the group's unique style and love of making music together remains.

You might say that some members of Courtly Noyse (aka "The Noysies") are instrumentalists who sing, and others are singers who play instruments. Our goal is to be true "Renaissance men" - in other words, to derive pleasure from playing wide variety of musical instruments & singing without necessarily being technically superlative in every area. Just like our forebears in the sixteenth century, we enjoy whiling away an evening or a Sunday afternoon with music, storytelling and jokes - and our hope is that our audience will enjoy our collaboration as much as we do.

At the time of this writing, Courtly Noyse plays recorders, violas da gamba, vielle, krummhorns, harps, cornamuse, cornetti, shawms, sacbuts, Renaissance guitar, chalumeau, hurdy gurdy, bowed psaltery, cittern, gemshorns, lute, cavaquinho, rackett, tambourine, finger cymbals, various drums, maracas and casanets (although this list is constantly growing!). We are also known to cast our instruments aside at the drop of a (Tudor) hat and burst into vocal harmony.

For more information on some of the instruments we play, please click here:


Early Instruments