Collegium Musicum (Latin, Koh-leg-ee-oom Moo-zee-koom) in the 17th Century, is a name for musical associations formed by amateurs for the performance of serious music. Nowadays, the term is applied to similar groups connected with a university and devoted to the cultivation of early music, usually that originating from the Medieval, Renaissance, or Baroque periods, covering the approximate time span of 1250-1750. For an overview of this kind of music, see for instance http://www.hoasm.org/Periods.html

As early as 1616, a musical society in Prague was called a Collegium Musicum. Perhaps the most famous was that founded at the University of Leipzig under the enthusiastic direction of Johann Kuhnau (1660-1772) and continued by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750). The present-day revival is usually credited to Arnold Dolmetsch (1858-1940), an English antiquarian who began to reconstruct historical instruments after learning to perform on a well-preserved viola d' amore dating from the early 18th Century. The re-introduction of historical instruments into the Collegium dates from around 1920 at the University of Freiburg. Today most German and a growing number of American universities boast a Collegium Musicum.

The vocal portion of the UMR Collegium is referred to as the Madrigal Singers and includes the King's or Queen's Table (SATTB or SSATB), the Court Singers (SATB) and the Friers and Criers(SSA/TTB). The vocal ensembles are the "strolling"  music of the Collegium, specializing in the performance of 16th-Century part songs with particular emphasis on the English Elizabethan Madrigal.

The instrumentalists are referred to collectively as the King's Musicke and consist of three ensembles or "consorts" of like instruments. The Waytes, who play sackbutts and cornetto or soprano shawm; the Court Minstrels who play recorders and other  woodwinds; and the Private Musick, a consort of viols or violas da gamba.

The UMR Collegium Musicum Heraldric crest shown at left illustrates the instrumental consorts in the quarters of the escrutcheon, with the drum and other percussion instruments being included in most King's Musicke selections. The Madrigal Singers are represented by the perpetual canon aptly notated on a circular music staff.

The major Fall performance of the UMR Collegium Musicum is the Annual Christmas Madrigal Dinner, a series of public dinner-concerts at which the performers recreate an Olde English Feaste, complete with the toasting of the wassail and the boar's head. The performance includes staging, costumes and an elaborate set depicting an oak-paneled Great Hall and stained glass windows. Auxiliary performers include mimes, jesters, jugglers, and table wenches. The music consists of madrigals, dances and instrumental selections, and concludes with the performance of traditional carols. The Fall itinerary also includes a weekend of performances at the Kansas City Renaissance Festival.