The area of early music, especially of its performance, is yet young. Classes in early music performance are offered in only approximately a quarter of the nations colleges and universities, and these are found to vary widely in levels of both faculty and student proficiency, and in the authenticity achieved, resulting from available instruments and knowledge of styles and performance practices affecting interpretation. Although standard sources exist on performance practice, their information on the baroque period highly outweighs that on the Middle Ages or Renaissance. All three periods are encompassed by this writer within early music. Sources regarding practical concerns of an early music program are quite rare., and it is primarily in the few schools granting degrees in early music that a student might learn administrative skills. The lack of funds for instruments or for a faculty specialist often deters the inception of such a program. This guide is intended to serve as a resource tool for the non-specialist already on a faculty, who may happen into the position of collegium director., as well as the interested early musician who cannot attend one of those specializing schools, and who may not have the background to pursue the interest authentically. The hope is to fill a perceived need for a single source, treating both practical matters of directing a program and performance practice of all three.Each of the chapter topics is riled with conflict., both from early and modern writers, so that often concrete solutions cannot be given., and many questions remain unanswered. This work is meant to be a compendium of the many ideas and interpretations,, offering suggestions where possible, otherwise directing the reader to further sources for his own pursuit of solutions. It is hoped that through this work and its reference directions, readers may gain information to help recreate the sounds of early music with as much efficiency., and particularly, authenticity as possible.