This guide suggests resources and strategies for research on music.

Background Information  |  Facts & Figures  |  Find Articles  |  Find Books  |  Criticism & Reviews  |  Primary Sources  |  People  |  Organizations  |  Web Resources

Encyclopedias and other reference works are an excellent place to start a research project or simply learn more about a particular topic.  They provide topic summaries, context, and bibliographies for further reading.

Encyclopedia of Country Music (R 781.64203 En194)

Encyclopedia of Popular Music (R 781.6403 En19 1998)

Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music (R 781.6403 G948 1995)

Garland Encyclopedia of World Music (R 780.9 G183 )

New Grove Dictionary of Jazz (R 785.4203 N42)

New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (R 780.3 G919 2001)

New Grove Dictionary of Opera (R 782..103 N42)

Performance Practice: Music after 1600 (781.4309 P416 1990)

 

Use dictionaries, statistical works, atlases, handbooks and similar works to find and check facts about topics, people, or events.

American Musical Theatre Song Encyclopedia (R 782.140973 H622a)

Dictionary of Western Church Music (R 782.3203 P864d)

Film it with Music: an Encyclopedia guide to the American Movie Musical (R 791. 436 H622f)

Key Concepts in Popular Music (781.6403 Sh92k)

New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments (R 781.910321 N42)

New Grove High Renaissance Masters (780.922 N4197 1984)

New Grove Italian Baroque Masters (780.922 N42 1984)

New Grove Modern Masters (780.922 N4198 1984)

Search indexes, abstracts, and databases to find journal, magazine, and newspaper articles.  For a complete list of Kent Library's online indexes and databases, see the Find: articles page (http://library.semo.edu/find/articles.asp).

To find historical/source materials, such as newspaper and magazine articles use the following print sources:

Humanities Index
   (located in the Indexes/Abstracts area, main floor)
Music Index
   (located in the Indexes/Abstracts area, main floor)
International Index to Periodicals, 1907 - 1965
   (located in the Indexes/Abstracts area, main floor)
New York Times Index, 1851+
   (located in the Indexes/Abstracts area, main floor)
Official Index to the Times & The Times Index, 1906+
   (located in the Indexes/Abstracts area, main floor)
Readers Guide to Periodical Literature
   (located in the Indexes/Abstracts area, main floor)

To find recent articles and scholarly/peer-reviewed articles use the following online databases:

Dissertation Abstracts
Encyclopedia Americana
JStor
Lexis Nexis Academic Universe
Music Index
 

Use the Kent Library Catalog (http://library.semo.edu/find/books.html) to find books, periodicals (journals, magazines, & newspapers), videos, government documents and other materials.

Keyword searches allow you to use your own words as search terms.
Subject heading searches use Library of Congress subject headings. Printed volumes of these headings are located near the Reference Desk on the main floor.

Music subject headings include -

Music

Music-- (keyword descriptors) as in Music--Social Aspects

Music-- (geographical discriptor) as in Music--United States

Musical analysis

Musicology

Composers may be listed individually as in Bach, Johann Sebastian, 1685-1750

Browse the shelves by call number.  Use the Dewey Decimal chart (http://library.semo.edu/learn/guides/dewey100.shtml) to get you in the right subject areas or try the following:

In Kent Library materials on/ or related to music are classified in the 780's.
 

Critical analysis of musical compositions can be found in Music Index (paper and online) and in individual works found in the general collection. For example for a critical analysis of works by J.S. Bach, search under Bach, Johann Sebastian, 1685 - 1750. For critical analysis of a particular performance of a musical work, search the Music Index, Readers Guide to Periodical Literature, or an online resource such as Lexis Nexis or Academic Search Elite.

Butt, John. Bach interpretation: articulation marks in primary sources of J.S. Bach. Cambridge, England. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990. (780.92 B122b)

Tracy, Steven C. Write me a few of your lines: a Blues reader. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1999. (781.643 W9391)

Lawson, Colin. The historical performance of music: an introduction. Cambridge, England. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999. (781.4309 L444h)

Stowell, Robin. The early violin and viola: a practical guide. Cambridge, England. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001. (787.214309 St79e)

Claghorn, Charles Eugene. Women composers and songwriters: a concise biographical dictionary. Lanham, Md: Scarecrow Press, 1996. (927.8092 C519w)

Cowden, Robert H. Popular singers of the twentieth century: a bibliography of biographical materials. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press, 1999. (782.0640922 C8388p)

Giddins, Gary. Visions of jazz: the first century. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. (781.65092 G36v)

Greene, David Mason. Greene's biographical encyclopedia of composers. Garden city, N.Y: Doubleday, 1985. (780.922 G8316)

Handy, D. Antoinette. Black conductors. Metuchen, N. J: Scarecrow Press, 1995. (973.0496073 H1926)

Reagon, Bernice Johnson. We'll understand it better by and by: pioneering African American gospel composers. Washingon: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1992. (782.25 W485)

Schonberg, Harold C. The great conductors. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1967. (927.81635 Sch65g)

Schonberg, harold C. The lives of the great composers. New York: W. W. Norton, 1981.

Professional organizations and/or societies often provide very useful topic related information.

American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers  http://ascap.com

Broadcast Music, Inc.  http://bmi.com
 

Worldwide Internet Music Resources  http://music.indiana.edu/music_resources/

For a list of Web searching tools, see the Find: web resources page (http://library.semo.edu/find/webpages.html).