It is a society of players, builders, publishers, distributors, restorers and others sharing a serious interest in music for viols and other early bowed string instruments.
We hold an annual, week-long Conclave in mid-summer at educational institutions around the country with a faculty of internationally recognized performers and scholars.
If this is your first visit to our web site, we suggest that you start with a message from our president.
Join the VdGSA and experience the music, scholarship and camaraderie!
December 3, 2011 - We've added "Sonnambula" to the ensembles on our Professionals page - complete with three recordings.
November 15, 2011 - The Peter Tourin/Thomas MacCracken list of extant historical viols is now available. Search a list of over 200 old instruments, with more coming!
October 24, 2011 - Information about Conclave 2012 is now available here.
September 25, 2011 - The 2011 Conclave photos are now on the site.
September 18, 2011 - Announcement of 10th Traynor competition for new music for the viol. Details here.
August 13, 2011 - New videos! We've just added three new videos. In the first two, Margriet Tindemans talks about the basics of continuo playing. In the third, Larry Lipnik explains how to express song text and meter with your bow. Plus: all of our videos are now accessible on iPhone, iPod and iPad.