Today’s pop music may not survive for more than 600 years, but the popular music of the 16th century is being kept alive by the Baltimore Consort.

For the past 24 years, this ensemble has been performing and recording popular European music of the Renaissance and baroque eras. Mary Anne Ballard, a member of the Baltimore Consort, says the music is not all that different from some of today’s styles.

“A lot of the music we play works the same way jazz does,” Ballard says. “It starts with a tune everyone knows and just goes from there.”

Ballard has been with the ensemble since its inception in 1980. The group will present its program, “Cupid’s Cabinet: Love Songs and Bawdy Ballads of the 16th to 18th centuries,” at the Ames City Auditorium, 515 Clark Ave., Saturday night.

Ballard plays the viola, which she has been playing since she was a child. She also plays the rebec, which is smaller than the typical violin and is played like a viola. It has a teardrop shape and three strings.

“The rebec is a Middle Eastern instrument that came into Western Europe during the Middle Ages,” Ballard says.

Ballard does most of the research for the group’s programs, which she says is a fairly lengthy in-depth process.

“A totally new program takes a long time, much longer than a string quartet program,” Ballard says. “Our music has to be arranged. Usually all we have to start from is a tune.”

She says from looking through libraries for new pieces of music to the performance itself, the process takes at least a year. Most of the music doesn’t even have an identified composer, she says.

Over the past 24 years, the group has recorded 14 albums. The most recent recording, “Adew Dundee: Early Music of Scotland,” was released last fall.

Ballard says the group’s albums have had a broad range of themes, drawing from Scottish, Elizabethan, Irish and French music. However, Ballard says, the group hasn’t done anything with church music from the time — all of the music they play was written for entertainment.

Ballard says one of the difficulties with popular music from centuries ago is that frequently, the music wasn’t written down.

“When people sold song lyrics on street corners, they didn’t need to include the music,” Ballard says. “It would just say, ‘Sing to the tune of,’ for example ‘Greensleves.'”

Despite the more than 600 years between popular music of today and what the Baltimore Consort plays, Ballard says she definitely sees similarities.

“I think it’s very interesting to compare this ensemble, in reference to how it sounds, to modern popular music such as bluegrass,” Ballard says. “It is very similar in the organization of the instruments — some play tunes, some harmony.”

Ballard says that is part of the reason people enjoy the group’s music.

“The variety of instruments we use provides rhythmic interest and texture, which helps make it popular today,” Ballard says. “It has the kind of beat and tunes that get under your skin.”

Who: The Baltimore Consort

Where: Ames City Auditorium, 515 Clark Ave.

When: 7:30 p.m., Saturday

Cost: Free for students, $20 public