Subject Research Guides
Music
In This Guide:
- Getting Started: Finding Context and Definitions
- Web Pages I've Found Recently
- Finding the core sources
Getting Help:
Getting Started: Finding Context and Definitions
Use these sources at the beginning of your research to get an overview of a topic or to identify synonyms or related terms that will apply to your topic. Later, return to these sources to clarify concepts or define new vocabulary. These sources also include bibliographical references that may prove helpful. All of these sources are located in the Reference Collection, and this is only the beginning! Search Bridge or browse the reference shelves to find more.
- New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
Ref ML100 .N48 2001
The most complete reference work for music, musicians, composers, instruments, genres, and terms. Entries are signed, and most contain bibliographies for further reading, lists of works, and the like. You can also access this work and several other music related works as part of Oxford Music Online.- Oxford History of Western Music
Ref ML160 .T18 2005
From Gregorian Chant to the end of the 20th Century, this set of volumes surveys this history of Western Music. Each signed article (of 50 to 100 pages) examines one chunk of history. Remember to follow up on the notes (gathered at the end of each volume) to point you toward the authors' sources or other suggested reading. The final volume contains a comprehensive chronology, bibliography, and master index.- Garland Encyclopedia of World Music
ML100 .G16 1998
This is the first encyclopedia to summarize in one place the major findings of 20th-century ethnomusicologists. Each volume covers a continent, and each signed article includes an extensive bibliography. The first volume also includes essays on the ethnomusicologist and their methods as well as a comprehensive glossary, discography, bibliography, and index for each volume.- Worldwide Internet Music Resources
Maintained by the William and Gayle Cook Music Library at the Indiana University School of Music, this is an exhaustive and well-organized collection of links. Don't be put off by the "last update" on the upper index pages--the site is being maintained.Note that many of the articles in these encyclopedias and the bibliographical citations are at least 5 years old. You can "update" this information using the authors names or article titles in a "cited reference search" in the Web of Knowledge to see who has cited these works recently.
Web Pages I've Found Recently
Whenever I find web pages that are useful resources for students of music, I bookmark them using del.icio.us. You can see the most recent pages I've bookmarked for you here.
Finding Scores & Manuscripts
- New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
Ref ML100 .N48 2001
The single most complete reference work for music, musicians, composers, instruments, genres, and terms. Entries are signed, and most contain bibliographies for further reading, lists of works, and the like. The entries for some of the most famous composers also include a section called "Works" near the end of the entry. This section lists all the works by the composer, as well as information about those works and where to find authorized editions. (Oxford Music Online allows online access to this reference work, but the table of Works is much easier to read in the book version.) - Bridge (or WorldCat)
- Scores: Search Carleton and St. Olaf's score collection by limiting your search to "All Music Scores" on the main search form. (You can find scores held here at Carleton by doing an advanced search and selecting "Carleton Books" and/or "Carleton Music Resource Center" from the location box and "Music Scores" from the material type box.) If you do an "author" search for the composer's last name, that composer's works will be gathered by Uniform Title. You can use the little box at the bottom of the result screen (normally filled with numbers) to jump to "sonatas," for example, in this list of Uniform Titles (definition).
- Manuscripts: We have a few manuscripts at Carleton and St. Olaf. To find them, do an Advanced Search in Bridge using your composer's name as an Author and then saying that "Subject Contains" the word "manuscripts."
- Browsing the Stacks
- M 3 : Collected Works by composer
- M 20 - M39 : Music for solo piano
Tip: Finding Authoritative Editions
Important and prolific composers often have their works gathered together into carefully researched collections which become the authoritative edition of that composer's work. To find this holy grail of an edition:
- Look up your composer in Grove. At the back of entries for important/prolific composers, there will probably be a section entitled "Works."
- The Header information for this Works section is important. It lists the authoritative edition(s) of that composer's works and (if there are more than one) assigns them initials. It also lists the Thematic Catalog(s) (definition) from which the opus numbers are taken and explains how to read the following table of works.
- In Bridge, do an Author search for the composer (last name first). The results will be listed alphabetically by Uniform Title (definition).
- Use the little search box at the bottom of the result list (the one that has numbers in it normally). Type "Works" to jump down the result list to that Uniform Title ("Works" refers to the collected works of a composer).
- Open the entries listed and compare publication information with that given by Grove. Most likely, the one you want will be shelved with the Oversized Books under a call number beginning M3.
Note that Bridge lists all the volumes of the multi-volume sets we own. Click the gray "view additional copies" bar to see all the volumes. Some may include the notation "Kritischer Bericht," which means "Critical Commentaries." these volumes will explain the research that went into creating the authoritative editions of the pieces in the accompanying score volume.
Finding Recordings & Reviews
Recordings
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Bridge (or WorldCat)
Limit your search to "All Sound Recordings" to search the recordings held at the Gould Library, the Music Resource Center, and St. Olaf. If you want to specify location further, use the Advanced Search page and select locations and material types that fit your needs. Remember that you can do an Author search for your composer and then use the little search box (normally filled with numbers) at the bottom of the result list to jump to specific Uniform Titles (definition).Note: To listen to St. Olaf recordings, you will have to physically go to St. Olaf's music library.
- DRAM
Access to streaming music and liner notes. The DRAM collection is focused on hard-to-find yet culturally and academically important music. - Naxos Music Library
You can search Naxos easily using the main search box on the first page. I tend to enter the composer's name followed by as much unique identifying information as possible. For example "Beethoven piano sonatas no. 8 op. 13" got me to listings for Sonata Pathetique. You can also list Uniform Title (definition) of a piece plus the composer's name to achieve similar results. (Remember to log out when you're done using Naxos. Only 10 people at a time can be listening to music.) - Opera in Video and Dance in Video
Growing archives of opera and dance productions in video. The Opera in Video archive allows you to turn on subtitles. - Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project
Published by the University of California - Santa Barbara
On this site you will have the opportunity to find out more about the cylinder format, listen to over 6,000 recordings of musical and spoken selections from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and discover a little-known era of recorded sound. - American Memory Project's Performing Arts, Music Collection
All collections that say "Recordings" and some that say "Multiformat" contain digitized musical selections ranging from the beginnings of American recorded sound up through the mid-Twentieth Century including folk, jazz, big band, blues, and gospel music.
Reviews
- All Music Guide to Classical Music
ML156.9 .A385 2005
Look here for lists and reviews of current recordings of important or popular classical pieces (listed alphabetically by composer last name). Note that this reference work includes "recommended" recordings that have appeared on CD. The editors have chosen recordings that are "considered reliable introductions to the music at hand and samplings, as diverse as possible, of the excellent performances available" on CD. - Penguin guide to Compact Discs & DVDs
REF ML156.9 .M33
This is very much like the All Music Guide. It's often a good idea to check more than one review source to get multiple perspectives on your recording. -
Music Index
To find reviews of recordings, select "Non-Printed Material Review" from the "Publication Type" box below the main search area. Remember that you can search by subject, and that subjects are constructed in this way:[composer last name], [composer first name] - Works [category of work with or without instrument]
So, for example: Beethoven, Ludwig Van - Works [Sonatas for piano] - Reader's Guide Retrospective
This allows you to search the titles and descriptions of popular magazines as far back as 1890. Keep your keywords pretty general (as this was not designed specifically for music research) and include the keyword "review." Then use the Find It button to gain access to the articles themselves.
Finding Critical Analysis
- The Music Index Online
(1979 to the present)
This is one of the primary tools for locating articles written in any given year (for 1949 to 1979, see the print version in the reference room at Ref ML118 .M84). Keyword searching is often the best way to navigate this database, but be sure to look at the subjects (found at the bottom of any article entry) to see what keyword strings might be most useful. - RILM Abstracts of Music Literature
Published by the Repertoire International de Litterature Musicale, RILM includes coverage of historical musicology, ethnomusicology, instruments and voice, dance, and music therapy. Note that all the works in this database are about music, so there is usually no need to use the term "Music" as a search term. - Bridge (or WorldCat)
To find literature about music in Bridge, search for your composer as a Subject rather than Author. You can further refine your search by doing an Advanced Search, entering your composer's name as a Subject, and entering phrases like the following as a Subject:- History and Criticism
- Interpretation (Phrasing, Dynamics, Etc.)
- Analysis, Appreciation
These are the primary resources, but there are many many more available (see Finding More Articles). Scholarly biographies also include criticism quite often.
Browsing the stacks
- ML650-747: Piano history
- MT140: Analytical guides
Finding Biography and Autobiography
- Bridge (or WorldCat)
Search for your composer (last name first) and the word "biography" or "autobiography." This works best in the Advance Search form, so that you can put your composer's name in as an Author search, and "biography" or "autobiography" in the next box as a Subject search. - Browsing the Stacks
- ML410: Biographies of composers
- ML417: Biographies of pianists
Finding More Articles
Use indexes and databases to locate periodical articles on your topic. If you need periodical literature not covered in the time frame of the database, there are also print indexes in the Reference Collection. Carleton does not own every title indexed in the databases. Check Bridge or the Journals, Magazines, and Newspapers List to see if we own the journal title, not journal article, you are looking for. Then make sure we have access to the correct volume and issue or year. If we don't own the journal or have access to the issue you need, take advantage of our Interlibrary Loan Services.
- The Music Index Online
(1979 to the present)
This is one of the primary tools for locating articles written in any given year (for 1949 to 1979, see the print version in the reference room at Ref ML118 .M84). Keyword searching is often the best way to navigate this database, but be sure to look at the subjects (found at the bottom of any article entry) to see what keyword strings might be most useful.- RILM Abstracts of Music Literature
Published by the Repertoire International de Litterature Musicale, RILM includes coverage of historical musicology, ethnomusicology, instruments and voice, dance, and music therapy. Note that all the works in this database are about music, so there is usually no need to use the term "Music" as a search term.- Humanities International Complete
Includes hundreds of full text journals from all of the humanities. This databases is particularly useful for popular and contemporary music research.- Academic Search Premier
Scholarly, multi-disciplinary journals. This is one of the best places to start when looking for scholarly work, especially when your topic incorporates the themes of multiple disciplines (such as music, history, sociology, and the like).- JSTOR
Search the full text of 38 core music journals. Most journals do not have current content, though they almost all go back to the very first issue of the first volume of each journal.- Arts and Humanities Citation Index
Not only can you look for citations of books and articles on your topic, but you can also do a "Cited Reference Search" to find out how many people have cited a particular work or author and what the citing sources are, as well as what citations are contained in a particular work.Useful Databases from Other Disciplines
- Sociological Abstracts
International literature in sociology and related disciplines. Since music is highly tied to society, there is quite a bit of information here on societal effects on music and music's part in society.- ProQuest
Full-text journals across a wide range of subject areas. It's collection of newspaper and magazine articles adds to its emphasis on scholarly works to give a rounded view of your topic.- America: History and Life
A bibliography of works about the history and culture of the U. S. and Canada. There are quite a few subject terms that include the word "Music," so try putting that into a search box and selecting "SU Subject" from the drop-down box that says "select a field."- Newspaper Sources
For more newspaper databases see LexisNexis, Historical Newspapers, ProQuest NewsStand Complete, or (for specifically Carleton-based news) the Carletonian Online. Get specifics for the time periods each database covers on the library's Newspapers web page.- andante
This comprehensive web site includes a magazine, directories, and a searchable reference section which provides links to articles from print publications as well as web pages.
Discographies
There are quite a few discographies, covering different genres and time periods, held in the library's Reference collection, but if you don't see the one that you need, try looking downstairs in the general collection in the ML156 section. You can browse them by doing a Bridge search for ML156, search for your genre and the term "Discography" as a Subject term, or use this Customized Bridge Search Form to search the discographies held by Carleton and St. Olaf. Here are some of the most popular discographies.
- All Music Guide to Classical Music
ML156.9 .A385 2005
Look here for lists of current recordings of important or popular classical pieces. Note that this reference work includes "recommended" recordings that have appeared on CD. The editors have chosen recordings that are "considered reliable introductions to the music at hand and samplings, as diverse as possible, of the excellent performances available" on CD. All CDs were available and in print as of February 2005.- Early Music Discography: From Plainsong to the Sons of Bach
ML156.2 .C76
The first volume is a record index, the second an index of composers, plainsong, anonymous works, and performers. Note that not all of the recordings presented here are still available. Check Bridge and WorldCat before setting your heart on listening to one of these recordings.- All Music Guide to Jazz
ML156.4.J3 A45 2002
Look here for lists of current recordings of important or popular classical pieces. Note that this reference work includes "recommended" recordings that have appeared on CD. The editors have chosen recordings that are "considered reliable introductions to the music at hand and samplings, as diverse as possible, of the excellent performances available" on CD. All CDs were available and in print as of February 2002.- Jazz Discography
The Jazz Discography is the most up-to-date general discography of all categories of recorded jazz, from 1896 to 2003. It provides a detailed listing of recording sessions, each with specific information: Leader name (or Group name), Published album title, Group name, Musicians with instrument(s) played, Location and date of recording session, Tune names, including matrix and release numbers (78 & 45 rpm, LPs & CDs). It's not very intuitive to use, so check out this short guide on getting started.- All Music Guide Online
Includes information about albums, artists, cover art, descriptions of the artists or pieces, relational information about the connections between artist and music, as well as editorial content by AMG's staff and freelance writers.- Composer biographies often include discographies of their work.
Finding the Sources of Lyrics
Many lyrics come from poetry, so poetry indexes can help you identify origins lyrics or poetic references.
- Last Lines
PN1022 .K55 1991
An index of the last lines of poetry.- Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry in Anthologies
PN1022 .H39 2002
Indexes many of the poems commonly included in anthologies.- Poetry Index Annual (1982-1993)
PN1022 .P63
Indexes poetry written each year from 1982 to 1993.- Index of American Periodical Verse
PN1022 .I47
Indexes American poetry from 1971 to 1980.- Literature Online
Searches the full text of poetry and prose from different eras and different countries.- Amazon.com Search Inside the Book
Searches the full text of many books, including collections of poetry.- Google Book Search
Searches the full text of many books, including poetry.
More Information
Other Kinds of Sources... Just for fun
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Thematic Catalogs
Thematic catalogs provide authoritative lists of authors' works and identifying opus numbers as well as other information about each piece.To find thematic catalogs in our library: Do an Advanced Search in Bridge that looks like this...
....Subject contains: [composer's name, last name first]
....Subject contains: "Thematic Catalogs."
Thematic Catalogs may also appear within authoritative biographies on your composer. Most of the information is in German, but you should be able identify the most useful information if you know the following terms:
- abschriften = transcription
- autograph = autographed manuscript
- anmerkengen = remarks or observations
- ausgaben = editions
- bearbeitungen = arrangements
- widmung = dedication.
Uniform Titles
Select "Title begins with" to search two types of titles at the same time: titles as they appear on recordings and "uniform titles." Uniform titles are assigned to musical works so that a single search can retrieve all the different editions and formats of that work. What is more, uniform titles are constructed in predictable ways depending on whether the work is named for it's form or the composer assigned it a distinctive title.
Form titles begin with the name of the form entered in the plural ("symphonies" rather than "symphony"), followed by the instruments used to perform the work (unless the form implies them), the opus or catalog number, and finally the key of the work. The form title for collected works of a composer is "Works."
e.g. Sonatas, piano, no. 8, op. 13, C minor
Distinctive titles (assigned by their composers) are always entered in the original language when constructing uniform titles.
e.g. Die Zauberflöte for "The Magic Flute"
A single album containing recordings of several individual works may have multiple uniform titles listed in the "Added Author" section of the Bridge record (found below the location, call number, and other descriptive information). In this example, an album called "Piano Sonatas" and having the uniform title "Sonatas, piano. Selections." has several additional uniform titles for individual works. You can click on these titles to see if we have other recordings of that particular work.
Bridge Searching -- Not Quite Like Searching for Books
There are several basic ways to manipulate Bridge into giving you the music-related sources you want. I've integrated tips specific to your course into this page, but if you want a handy reference for the basics of Bridge for musicians try this handout.
Further Information
This Research Guide By:
Iris M. Jastram- Reference & Instruc. Librarian for Literature and Languages
- x7105
- ijastram@carleton.edu
- Library 463
