LibGuides: Music: Music research

Music encyclopedias

Oxford Music Online This link opens in a new window
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Provides access to Grove Music Online, the music encyclopedia, and to the Oxford Dictionary of Music and the Oxford Companion to Music, current.
Current; Oxford Music Online is an integrated music resource on the web. It includes not only the Oxford Dictionary of Music, but also Grove Music Online, Oxford Companion to Music and the Encyclopedia of Popular Music.
Grove Dictionary of American Music (2nd edition) This link opens in a new window
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Discover articles, biographies, and in-depth analysis covering diverse topics in American music, second edition.
The second edition of the Grove Dictionary of American Music includes articles by 1500 scholars that cover a broad expanse of topics dealing with American music, including popular music, cities and regions, musical theater, opera, concert music, and music technology, as well as the musical traditions of many ethnic and cultural groups.
Garland Encyclopedia of World Music Online This link opens in a new window
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Provides access to 10 volumes of this encyclopedia. Entries provide an overview of the region, a survey of its musical heritage, traditions and themes; and a description of specific musical genres, practices, and performances, current.
Current; the Garland Encyclopedia of World Music Online is a comprehensive online resource devoted to music research of all the world's peoples. Each volume contains an overview of the region, a survey of its musical heritage, traditions and themes; and a description of specific musical genres, practices, and performances. Articles include detailed photographs that show musicians, musical instrument, and the cultural context of dances, rituals, and ceremonies. Other images include drawings, maps, and musical examples for further study. This online version includes the entire set of 10 print volumes. This resource may be cross-searched, along with other music resources, via Music Online.
Routledge Encyclopedia of Modernism This link opens in a new window
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Discover articles and images about the Modernist period
Biannual; the Routledge Encyclopedia of Modernism contains over 1000 articles covering all aspects of the field, ranging from broad intellectual topics within modernism to specific works and practitioners. Geographical coverage is worldwide. The content is divided into eight subfields: literature, architecture, visual arts, music, dance, theatre, film, and intellectual currents.
MGG Online This link opens in a new window
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The primary German-language music encyclopedia. Includes biographical and topical essays. The online version of MGG includes a built-in translation tool.
MGG Online is the digital version of Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, the leading German music encyclopedia. With over 19,000 articles written by over 3,500 authors, MGG Online covers a broad range of musical topics from a scholarly perspective. A translation tool is integrated into the online encyclopedia. Continuously updated.

Library of Congress: Performing Arts Encyclopedia
The Performing Arts Encyclopedia is a collection of performing arts materials located at the Library of Congress.

WorldCat FirstSearch This link opens in a new window
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Comprehensive database of books and other materials in library catalogs around the world. Best used for advanced search of book records.

Articles, dissertations, conference proceedings

RILM Abstracts of Music Literature with FULL TEXT This link opens in a new window
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1967-present; RILM (Repertoire International de Litterature Musicale) Abstracts of Music Literature with FULL TEXT is a comprehensive music bibliography featuring citations, abstracts, and indexes, and now FULL TEXT. RILM is international in scope with materials from 150+ countries and in more than 200 languages. There are approximately a half million records in RILM on traditional music, popular music, and classical music. Conference proceedings in go back to 1835.
1967-present; RILM (Repertoire International de Litterature Musicale) Abstracts of Music Literature with FULL TEXT is a comprehensive music bibliography featuring citations, abstracts, and indexes, and now FULL TEXT. RILM is international in scope with materials from 150+ countries and in more than 200 languages. There are approximately a half million records in RILM on traditional music, popular music, and classical music. Conference proceedings in go back to 1835.
RIPM Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals with Full Text This link opens in a new window
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RIPM indexes music periodicals from 1760-1966, focusing on North American, South American, and European publications. Many entries include full text. It is complemented by RILM for content from 1967 forward.
1945-present; RIPM Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals with Full Text is an international, highly annotated database with detailed content analysis of writings on musical history and culture between 1800 and 1950--from Beethoven to Bartok, from Berlioz to Berg, and from Schubert to Shostakovich--all provided by internationally-recognized scholars and editors. RIPM currently indexes the contents of 120 music periodicals including articles, reviews, illustrations, music examples, advertisements, press reviews, and more. In addition, RIPM offers more than 5,000 English-language translations of articles from journals in other languages.Search RILM and RIPM together.
RIPM Preservation Series This link opens in a new window
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Provides access to the RIPM European and North American Music Periodicals (Preservation Series).
RIPM Jazz Periodicals This link opens in a new window
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Provides access to 105 rare, full text jazz periodicals consisting initially of American publications, 1914-2006.
1914 to 2006; RIPM Jazz debuts with 105 rare, full text periodicals consisting initially of American (U. S.) publications. Forthcoming updates will include periodicals published in Europe and Canada.
Performing Arts Periodicals Database This link opens in a new window
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Provides access to scholarly and popular material from all aspects of the performing arts, from scholarly studies to snapshots of popular culture, 1864-present.
1864-present; draws its content from scholarly and popular performing arts periodicals, and also indexes a variety of documents such as biographical profiles, conference papers, obituaries, interviews, discographies, reviews and events. Performing Arts covers nearly all aspects of the performing arts, from scholarly studies to snapshots of popular culture.
Entertainment Industry Magazine Archive This link opens in a new window
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Provides access to primary sources for studying the history of the film and entertainment industries, 1880-2000.
1880-2000; Entertainment Industry Magazine Archive is an archival research resource containing the essential primary sources for studying the history of the film and entertainment industries, from the era of vaudeville and silent movies through to 2000. The core US and UK trade magazines covering film, music, broadcasting and theater are included, together with film fan magazines and music press titles. Magazines have been scanned cover-to-cover in high-resolution color, with granular indexing of all articles, covers, ads and reviews.
Arts and Humanities Citation Index This link opens in a new window
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Offers access to more than 1,800 journals across 28 arts and humanities disciplines, 1975-present
1975-present; source for information in all arts and humanities disciplines. Useful for retrieving recent articles that cite a known earlier article.

Rock's Backpages
1960-present; Rock's Backpages is a database of rock music writing, sourced from the pages of the music and mainstream press. Thousands of articles (reviews, interviews, features and more) for over 2,000 artists are available.

Oxford Handbooks Online This link opens in a new window
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Provides access to review essays that evaluate the current thinking on a field or topic, current.
2012-2020; Oxford Handbooks Online: Scholarly Research Reviews brings together the world's leading scholars to write review essays that evaluate the current thinking on a field or topic, and make an original argument about the future direction of the debate. OHO is a collection of the best Handbooks in 14 subject areas. The series contain in-depth, high-level articles by scholars at the top of their field. All Handbooks are available online as well as in print, and monthly updates introduce articles in advance of print publication.
Daniels' Orchestral Music Online This link opens in a new window
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Provides access to information about orchestral music
Daniels' Orchestral Music Online is a resource providing information about orchestral music. For off-campus access to this eresource, please see Laura Stokes in Orwig Music LIbrary.
MusicID This link opens in a new window
Provides access to perpetually-updated charts information, including Billboard charts, iTunes downloads, Spotify and Apple Music streams, and Shazam searches. Also includes a revenue calculation tool.
Current; Music ID is an academic research tool that utilizes powerful analytics to compile global music industry data. Incorporating 5,452 different charts spanning 74 countries, Music ID Data provides access to perpetually-updated, week-to-week information on iTunes downloads, Spotify and Apple Music streams, and Shazam searches, as well as contemporary and historical data from Billboard, the Official Charts Company, GfK, and more.

The four R-Projects of international music scholarship

RILM Abstracts of Music Literature with FULL TEXT This link opens in a new window
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1967-present; RILM (Repertoire International de Litterature Musicale) Abstracts of Music Literature with FULL TEXT is a comprehensive music bibliography featuring citations, abstracts, and indexes, and now FULL TEXT. RILM is international in scope with materials from 150+ countries and in more than 200 languages. There are approximately a half million records in RILM on traditional music, popular music, and classical music. Conference proceedings in go back to 1835.
1967-present; RILM (Repertoire International de Litterature Musicale) Abstracts of Music Literature with FULL TEXT is a comprehensive music bibliography featuring citations, abstracts, and indexes, and now FULL TEXT. RILM is international in scope with materials from 150+ countries and in more than 200 languages. There are approximately a half million records in RILM on traditional music, popular music, and classical music. Conference proceedings in go back to 1835.

RISM (Répertoire internationale des sources musicales)
RISM's catalog is a finding aid for music manuscripts and prints; the online catalog includes Series A/1 and A/II (Music Manuscripts after 1600) and parts of B/1 as well as a list of library sigla. Other components can be found in print in the Orwig Music Library.
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http://www.rism.info/en/publications.html

RIPM Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals with Full Text This link opens in a new window
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RIPM indexes music periodicals from 1760-1966, focusing on North American, South American, and European publications. Many entries include full text. It is complemented by RILM for content from 1967 forward.
1945-present; RIPM Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals with Full Text is an international, highly annotated database with detailed content analysis of writings on musical history and culture between 1800 and 1950--from Beethoven to Bartok, from Berlioz to Berg, and from Schubert to Shostakovich--all provided by internationally-recognized scholars and editors. RIPM currently indexes the contents of 120 music periodicals including articles, reviews, illustrations, music examples, advertisements, press reviews, and more. In addition, RIPM offers more than 5,000 English-language translations of articles from journals in other languages.Search RILM and RIPM together.
RIPM Preservation Series This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Provides access to the RIPM European and North American Music Periodicals (Preservation Series).
RIPM Jazz Periodicals This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Provides access to 105 rare, full text jazz periodicals consisting initially of American publications, 1914-2006.
1914 to 2006; RIPM Jazz debuts with 105 rare, full text periodicals consisting initially of American (U. S.) publications. Forthcoming updates will include periodicals published in Europe and Canada.

RIdIM: Répertoire International d'Iconograpie Musicale (International Repertoire of Musical Iconography)
The RId'IM database contains descriptions of visual objects that depict music-making, musical instruments, and similar related objects. Where possible, there are links to online images of the artwork.

Music research portals

Online Resources for Music Scholars (Harvard University)
The electronic research guide from Harvard's Loeb Music Library, with many free resources covering musicology, music theory, composition, ethnomusicology, and more.
MusRef (Brigham Young University)
MusRef, a portal from the music library at Brigham Young University, includes an online bibliography of reference sources for music, both print and online, as well as guides for getting started with music reference sources. This site includes a huge collection of links to the vast world of freely available information about music on the web.
Digital Resources for Musicology (DRM)
A portal to open-access projects that may be of use to musicians and musicologists.

Ethnomusicology: Global Field Recordings This link opens in a new window
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Contains materials in audio field recordings and interviews, educational recordings, film footage, field notebooks, slides, correspondence and ephemera
Produced in collaboration with the UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive, the material in this collection includes thousands of audio field recordings and interviews, educational recordings, film footage, field notebooks, slides, correspondence and ephemera from over 60 fields of study.

Music

Performing Arts Librarian

Ask Laura Stokes

Music encyclopedias

Articles, dissertations, conference proceedings

The four R-Projects of international music scholarship

Music research portals