• Remember that you can use opus or thematic index numbers effectively in keyword searches. You can also combine words of titles with performers names, etc.
• Use the “Jump” command in author searches to jump alphabetically to genre titles.
• Be sure to limit by format type when appropriate. Advanced searching or modifying/limiting searches allows you to select specific formats of recorded sound, etc.

• Use WorldCat (available via the library webpage) to search for books or scores from other libraries.

Naxos and DRAM online libraries of recorded sound.

• In addition to gaining access to individual recordings in these online collections via Bridge, you may also want to visit their websites directly for complete and up-to-date access to their ever-growing collections.

Encyclopedias & Dictionaries:

International Who's Who in Music and Musicians' Directory. 24th ed. London: Routledge, 2008. (Music Library REF ML 105.I58)
Brief biographical coverage of living musicians, with excellent appendices. Vol. 1 covers classical music, vol. 2 covers popular.

The New Grove Dictionary of American Music . ed. by H. Wiley Hitchcock and Stanley Sadie. London: Macmillan, 1986. 4 vols. ( Music Library REF ML 101.U6 N48 and )
A "spin-off" of the important New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians , focusing solely on American music. Be sure to use the bibliographies at the ends of articles. An essential starting point for most research on American music.

The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz . ed. by Barry Kernfeld. London: Macmillan, 2002. 3 vols. ( Music Library REF ML 102.J3 N48 2002 and online)
The "largest dictionary of jazz ever published." Scholarly articles on all aspects of jazz. Helpful bibliographies and many photographs included. An essential starting point for jazz research.

New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd ed.   29 vols. Stanley Sadie, ed. London: Macmillan, 2001 [Music Library  Reference ML100.N48 2001 and online.]
Use the lists of composers' works following articles about them to locate specific works within collected sets of composers' complete works.

The New Grove Dictionary of Opera . 4 vols. Stanley Sadie, ed. London : Macmillan, 1992. [Music Library Reference ML102.O6N5 1992 and online]
An excellent source of general information about opera history. Be sure to make use of the extensive bibliographies.

The Oxford Companion to Popular Music. ed. by Peter Gammond. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. ( Music Library REF 102.P66 G35 1991 )
Brief entries for people and terms associated with popular music after approximately 1850. Some entries include selective bibliographies for further reading.

 

Barlow, Harold and Sam Morgenstern. A Dictionary of Musical Themes. Rev. ed. London: Ernest Benn, 1975. (Music Library REF ML128.I65B3 1975)
A thematic index of more than 10,000 musical themes arranged by composer and composition with an index of the musical notes transposed to the key of C.

______. A Dictionary of Opera and Song Themes. London: Ernest Benn, 1976. (Music Library REF ML128.V7B3 1976)

Academic Search Premiere 1975-present    (available online via the Libraries' web page)
This database provides access to over 8040 multi-disciplinary publications, many in full-text. Not as comprehensive in music as Music Index, but a great source for current information on your topics.

Diamond, Harold J. Music Analyses: An Annotated Guide to the Literature . 1991. [Music Library Reference ML128.A7D5 1991]
A superb annotated bibliography of music criticism appropriate to the music generalist and undergraduate student. Arranged by composer with subdivisions of general articles and articles devoted to individual works.

Doctoral Dissertations in Musicology-Online (DDM-Online)  (available online via the Libraries' web page)
"DDM-Online presents an index to dissertations-in-progress and a bibliography of completed dissertations reported since mid-1995, arranged under the traditional broad categories."

Grun, Bernard. The Timetables of History: a Horizontal Linkage of People and Events . New York: Simon & Schuster, 2005. ( Music Library Reference D11.G78 2005)
An excellent chronology that uses tables to highlight important political and cultural events from the beginning of time. A good way to identify how one area may have influenced another.

Hall, Charles. A Chronicle of American Music, 1700-1995. NY: Schirmer, 1996. (Music Library Reference ML200.H15 1996)
Provides a year-by-year listing of significant world events, cultural highlights, and a variety of information about musical events.

Almquist, Sharon G., comp.  Opera Mediagraphy: Video Recodings and Motion Pictures.  Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1993.
(Music Library REF ML 158.6.O6O64 1993)
A listing of opera performances abailable on video, including information about the procution, cast, orchestra, and corresonding reviews of each production.  An important source.

American Memory: Collections (Library of Congress) Click on "Performing Arts" to search the Library of Congress's collections including "African-American Sheet Music, 1850-1920," "Music for the Nation: American Sheet Music, 1870-1885," "The American Variety Stage: Vaudeville and Popular Entertainment, 1870-1920," and much more. Essays on related topics are included as well as scanned images of the sheet music, itself!

The Lester S. Levy Collection of Sheet Music (Johns Hopkins University)  (Accessible via the Music Library web page ) "Contains over 29,000 pieces of music and focuses on popular American music spanning the period 1780 to 1960."  The composer, lyricist, arranger, and performer of the music are listed as well as instrumentation and publication information.  Images of the printed music are available if the music is in the public domain.

Necrology (database provided by Gaylord Library, Washington University)  (Accessible via the Music Library web page ) This database includes birth and death dates for important figures in the field of music. Citations for obituaries are included.

Worldwide Internet Music Resources
Produced by the Indiana University Music Library, tis well-organized and thoughtfully collected site provides access to Web information on all topics related to music.

• Authority: Can the author of the page be readily identified and are his/her qualifications for providing the page clearly stated?
  
• Accuracy: Are there any spelling errors? Is the source of factual information clearly documented?
  
• Objectivity: Is the information relatively unbiased?
  
• Currency: When was the page written or last updated?
  
• Coverage: Is the topic explored in depth? Is there considerable content on the page? Are entire articles or items provided or just excerpts from larger works?