Music

Articles | Reference Books | Web Sites | Librarians

For more resources on teaching music, visit the Education page.

Core Databases and Indexes

Click on the to see database description ‡ Citations Only

Title	# Users	Access Restrictions	Format
Classical Music Library	3	On & Off Campus	Online
Dance in Video		On & Off Campus	Online
Ethnographic Video Online		On & Off Campus	Online
Humanities & Social Sciences Index Retrospective: 1907-1984 (EBSCOhost)	4	On & Off Campus	Online
Humanities International Index (EBSCOhost)		On & Off Campus	Online
JSTOR		On & Off Campus	Online
The Music Index (EBSCOhost)		On & Off Campus	Online
Music Online (Listening and Reference)		On & Off Campus	Online
Nineteenth Century Collections Online Archive 3: British Theatre, Music, and Literature: High and Popular Culture		On & Off Campus	Online
Opera in Video		On & Off Campus	Online
Oxford Music Online (formerly Grove Music Online)	2-3	On & Off Campus	Online
WorldCat ‡ (FirstSearch)		On & Off Campus	Online

To search for a specific journal, use the A-Z Journal List.

Related Databases and Indexes

Click on the to see database description ‡ Citations Only

Title	Access Restrictions	Format
Academic Search Complete (EBSCOhost)	On & Off Campus	Online
BGMI - Biography and Genealogy Master Index ‡	On & Off Campus	Online
CREDO Reference	On & Off Campus	Online
Dissertations and Theses - A&I ‡ (ProQuest)	On & Off Campus	Online
Early English Books Online (ProQuest)	On & Off Campus	Online
Google Scholar	On & Off Campus	Online
Medieval Illuminated Manuscripts Database	Unrestricted	Online
MLA International Bibliography (EBSCOhost)	On & Off Campus	Online
MUSE	On & Off Campus	Online
Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD)	Unrestricted	Online
PRIMO	Special	Online
17th & 18th Century Burney Collection Newspapers Digital Archive	On & Off Campus	Online
Theatre in Video	On & Off Campus	Online
The Times (London) Historical Archive (1785-2006)	On & Off Campus	Online

To search for a specific journal, use the A-Z Journal List.

Reference Books

Following is a very select and brief list of resources for general research in music. For more books on this topic, or for books on specific composers and musicians, periods and styles, please use the Library Catalog.

Using the Library Catalog to find music items can be tricky, so you might start by reading through these tips.

NOTE: If you are having trouble finding a particular composition, please ask for help at the Reference Desk. The library has the Complete Works of major composers such as Bach, Beethoven, Berlioz, Brahms, Chopin, Debussy, Handel, Haydn, Liszt, Mozart, Schoenberg, Schubert, Telemann; usually the individual compositions contained in those are not listed in the library catalog. These tend to be located in M3 - M3.3 in both the Main Collection and the Oversize Collection.

Don't forget that many of the music scores are too tall to fit on the regular shelves, so they are located in the Oversize Collection.

To find books in other libraries, try using WorldCat, a collective catalog for thousands of libraries in the United States, Canada, and around the world. This catalog should not be used as a substitute for this library's catalog, but as another avenue of searching for books.

Dictionaries and Encyclopedias

Oxford Music Online (formerly Grove Music Online) is the best place to begin your musical research. It comprises the full text of The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd ed. 2001 (the Oboler Library has the 29-volume print version of this in the Reference Collection at ML100 .N481 2001), The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, edited by Stanley Sadie (London, 1992), and The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, second edition, edited by Barry Kernfeld (London, 2002).

The Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments (Reference Collection: ML 102. I 5 N 48 1984): This three-volume dictionary defines thousands of different musical instruments from around the world. It also contains articles on the creators and manufacturers of musical instruments and important terms and concepts related to the playing of musical instruments.

Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music (Reference Collection: ML 100. K 35 1996): This dictionary is designed be a quick guide to unfamiliar terms relating to composition, performance, music history, and more.

The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music (Reference Collection: ML 102. P 66 G 84 1995): This six-volume encyclopedia consists of articles on musicians, song writers, and recording companies in all genres of popular music. A complete index, along with artist and subject bibliographies, can be found at the end of volume 6.

Oxford Reference Online: Premium Collection, this resource, a large collection of scholarly electronic reference books in all subject areas, might be particularly useful for research topics that encompass more than music history or pedagogy, for instance dance, theater, art, popular culture, general education, political history, music as a business, etc.

Handbooks and Guides

The Oxford Companion to Music (Reference Collection: ML 100. S 37 2002): This companion guide to music contains primarily short articles on composers, musicians, and movements in music. Also included are articles on musical instruments, composition, and more. An index of people can be found at the back of the book.

This Business of Music: The Definitive Guide to the Music Industry (Reference Collection: ML 3790. S 5 2003): This book is designed to help musicians, composers, and others involved in making music understand the legal side of the music business, including copyright, recording contracts, labor issues, royalties, licensing and more. This guide covers popular and classical music.

Web Sites

Idaho State University's Music Department A great source of information about ISU's degree requirements, upcoming performances, links to music organizations, and much more.

Library of Congress Classification System for Music This resource can help you learn to browse the music collection more efficiently.

Petrucci Music Library / IMSLP: The free public domain music library, from the International Music Score Library Project.

Virginia Tech Multimedia Music Dictionary: Includes audio clips for pronunciations and sound examples. Created by Richard Cole (Virginia Tech Department of Music) and Ed Schwartz (VT Learning Technologies).

Internet Resources in Music: The libraries of the University of California-Santa Barbara have created this collection of links to useful sites in music theory, history, popular and classical music, and so on.

INFOMINE: INFOMINE is a special database that searches for Web site and documents that most search engines miss, primarily Web pages and documents on university Web sites. This database is developed and maintained by the Library of the University of California, Riverside.

MusicTheory.net: This site, created by a software engineer, contains short tutorials on understanding how music works. The tutorials cover key signatures, notes, major and minor scales, chords, and more.

NAfME (The National Association for Music Education, formerly called MENC). A very important resource, particularly for Music Education students.

Performing Arts Encyclopedia Explore music, theater, and dance at the Library of Congress.

Digital Mozart Edition This is a reproduction of the new collected edition of Mozart's works (the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe) in a digitized format, which enables scholars and performers to peruse Mozart's music on the Internet.

WWW Sites of Interest to Musicologists from the American Musicological Society Links to a very broad range of music-related websites.

YouTube Offers an ever-expanding but not very authoritative nor user-friendly selection of videos including musical performances.

Librarians

Reference Librarian for American Studies	Bibliographers for American Studies
Kristi Austin Reference Librarian Interim Director of Idaho Health Sciences Library (208) 282-4073 austkris@isu.edu	Spencer Jardine Coordinator of Instruction (208) 282-5609 jardspen@isu.edu	Cheryl Sebold LAIII-Reference & Collection Development (208) 282-3246 sebocher@isu.edu

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Last Modified 12/11/2012 kk