The '''Early Music Ensemble''' is a group of instrumentalists and vocalists at Virginia Tech performing historical music. The group was founded in 1996 as the outgrowth of a program of class and studio instruction in early instruments and informal recorder and vocal/instrumental ensembles. The group studies and performs the music and the instruments of the Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque periods. The group was founded and is directed by John Howell former director of [[The New Virginians]].