BRRS is the Baton Rouge Recorder Society, a non-profit organization whose focus is to play recorders (the instruments) and promote early music. BRRS members get together on a regular basis to share the musical experience.

To promote and encourage the playing of recorders and other early instruments in the Greater Baton Rouge and surrounding areas.

To educate and raise awareness of the public regarding recorders and early music.

To promote the use of the recorder as a professional instrument and to encourage the use of recorders among amateurs.

To raise the level of proficiency among members.

To provide performance opportunities for members.

To provide educational opportunities and experiences for members.

To educate others regarding the importance of the recorder in the history of music and show that it still has a relevant purpose and function in music today.

To relate and communicate with the American Recorder Society (ARS).

The Baton Rouge Recorder Society (BRRS) was founded in 1978 by the members of the Collegium Musicum and a group of local physicians who had been meeting the previous Summer for informal playing sessions.

Since the Collegium Musicum met on Thursday afternoons.  It was felt that a chapter of the American Recorder Society, whose meetings would be held in the evenings, would give others the opportunity to play early music.  John H. “Jack” Waite, a prominent local physician, and Wallace McKenzie, who was Professor and Chairman of the LSU School of Music, were instrumental in the founding of BRRS.  

The first meeting was held in LSU’s Music and Dramatic Arts building on August 24, 1978.  They officially became a chapter of the American Recorder Society on September 14, 1978.

Founded in 1939, the American Recorder Society (ARS) has provided service and support to recorder players worldwide for over 60 years. The network of chapters provides a structure for finding many opportunities to:

• play great music from past and present in groups;
• attend workshops;
• find out what other recorderists and groups are doing throughout the world;
• receive information about state-of-the-art recorders and recorder products; and
• give and receive support and encouragement as you teach, learn, and play the recorder.
  

The Baton Rouge Recorder Society mostly plays Early Music. Early music is generally defined as music from the Medieval (500 AD - 1400 AD), Renaissance (1400 AD - 1600 AD), and Baroque (1600 AD - 1760 AD) periods. Early Music is a standard term, used in trade magazines, journals, record store classical sections, etc. Occasionally, BRRS plays ancient music that predates the early music period.