Contents:
Pamela Bristah
Music Librarian, x2076
Offcampus Access · Databases A-Z · Research Guides by Subject | by Course · Reference Books Online · Library Catalog
A few tips:
- Starting a paper? Check out Starting your Research,
a guide to finding information, evaluating and citing information, a
term paper timetable to help you schedule your work, and additional
help.
- For how to cite scores, CDs, CD liner notes, and other sources for your music papers in Turabian style, see Citing Music Sources in Your Essay and Bibliography, from the University of Western Ontario.
| Find books, scores, sound recordings, videos |
Also find periodicals, scores and parts, compact discs, cassette tapes, LPs, DVDs, VHS tapes, laser discs, & other formats.
- Wellesley College Library catalog, text version
- The text version of the Wellesley catalog, accessed via telnet software, works best for music searching. Login as library. A highly recommended search strategy is to enter A to search by composer ("author" on the search screen), then type J to jump to the title of the musical work you want. Type in the first few words of the title, or just the first few letters, and press the <enter> key.
- If you don't have telnet software installed on your computer, use the Web-based version of the catalog.
WorldCat/OCLC- Use this database to find books, journals, videos, compact discs, and etc. in 54,000+ libraries worldwide. Useful for discovering materials that are not at Wellesley but can be ordered via Interlibrary Loan. If it's ever been published or recorded, you will probably find it in WorldCat.
Catalogs for Other Libraries in the Boston Area- Links to the library catalogs of Brandeis University, Boston University, Boston Public Library, University of Massachusetts, and New England Conservatory of Music, among others.
| Find sound recordings online |
- Classical Music Library
- Classical music, major labels and artists, approximately 48,000 tracks. Includes the option to create your own playlists.
Naxos Music Library- Primarily classical music, plus smaller collections of world music and jazz. Over 8,800 CDs, and approximately 130,000 tracks by over 7,000 composers. Faculty can have playlists created for courses · technical requirements
Naxos Music Library Jazz- 20,000+ jazz, blues, and R&B tracks from over 2,000 CDs, featuring more than 500 jazz artists. Labels include Fantasy Jazz, Riverside, Prestige (including its subsidiaries New Jazz, Bluesville, Folklore, Swingville, Tru-Sound, and Moodsville), Milestone, Stax Records (and affiliated labels Volt, Enterprise, and Gospel Truth), Contemporary/Good Time Jazz, Specialty, Takoma, and Kicking Mule. In addition to Ellington, Coltrane, Monk, and Miles, jazz artists include Ella Fitzgerald, Oscar Peterson, Bill Evans, Art Tatum, Stan Getz, Abbey Lincoln, and Art Blakey. Faculty can have playlists created for courses · technical requirements
- Smithsonian Global Sound
- World music, "a virtual encyclopedia of the world's musical and aural traditions," approximately 35,000 tracks. Includes the option to create your own playlists.Available via the Boston Public Library; first-time users must register online with the BPL for an eCard, which is good for two years.
- African American Song
- Gospel, blues, jazz, and other forms, documenting "the history of African American music in sound," approximately 50,000 tracks. Includes the option to create your own playlists. Available via the Boston Public Library; first-time users must register online with the BPL for an eCard, which is good for two years.
Louisiana State Museum Jazz Collection- Over 600 recordings and 700 photographs, primarily dealing with traditional New Orleans jazz.
| Find background information |
General
Grove Music Online
The most comprehensive and authoritative encyclopedia on music overall, covering classical music, jazz, world music, and popular music. Incorporates the New Grove dictionary of music and musicians, the New Grove dictionary of opera, and the New Grove dictionary of jazz. Definitive articles on all musical subjects; excellent bibliographies for further reading; complete lists of works by major and minor composers. Also pictures, maps, portraits of composers and musicians, sound clips of music, and links to other definitive Web sites on music.Garland Encyclopedia of World Music Online
A comprehensive encyclopedia devoted to music of all the world's peoples. More than 9,000 pages of material, with entries by more than 700 expert contributors from all over the world, make this the most complete body of work focused on world music. For each region of the world, it features an overview of the region, a survey of its musical heritage, traditions and themes, and a description of specific musical genres, practices, and performances; also photographs, maps, and musical examples. Available via the Boston Public Library; first-time users must register online with the BPL for an eCard, which is good for two years.The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music
Brief entries on musical terms, composers, works, librettists, performers. Published by Oxford University Press.
Composers & Works
Composer Pages
Links to Web sites on composers. Page maintained by the Indiana University Music Library.Art of the States
Online recordings of contemporary American art music, recorded in full, and available 24/7 from WGBH. Includes composers and performer biographies, extensive notes on each work, and links to related sites on composers and works.Free, Printable Music on the Web
Links to sites with online scores for sheet music, operas, songs, orchestral works, chamber music, piano music, choral music, and more. Web site maintained by Martin Jenkins, Wright State University Libraries.
Women & Music
Women and Music
Women's music studies page, maintained by the Women's Studies Section of the Association of College and Research Libraries.International Alliance for Women in Music
The IAWM "builds awareness of women's contributions to musical life through its publications, website, international competitions, conferences, concert promotion, and presentations."Ladyslipper
Catalog of recordings of music by women composers.
Jazz
All Music Guide: Jazz
Basic information on a wide range of jazz artists and styles..University of North Texas Jazz Research Portal
A gateway site, providing links to select information-rich Web pages on jazz artists and styles. Page maintained by Donna Arnold.The Red Hot Jazz Archive: a History of Jazz Before 1930
For pre-1930 jazz, articles on musicians and bands, including discographies that link to online recordings, and filmographies.Downbeat.com
Online excerpts from the jazz magazine, Downbeat. Go to their Archive page to search for selected full-text articles.All About Jazz
An online jazz magazine "produced by jazz fans for jazz fans," covering jazz world-wide, and featuring full-text interviews and profiles of hundreds of jazz musicians, all searchable.Photographs from the Golden Age of Jazz, by William P. Gottlieb
Over 1,600 photographs of jazz greats in New York and Washington DC, 1938-1948.
World Music
All Music Guide: World Music
Basic information on a wide range of world music artists and genres.Ethnomusicology, Folk Music, and World Music
A research-oriented site, with links to Web sites for world music organizations, institutions, archives, and research centers; world music bibliography, periodicals & online publications; world music recording labels and distributors; and world music sites by geographical region. Web page maintained by the University of Washington.International Music Archive
The International Music Archives is an educational resource providing extensive information about music worldwide. Contains information about countries and regions, and their musical styles and instruments, plus related sound samples and photographs.
Vocal Music
Opera Glass
Opera synopses, libretti, performance histories, discographies, pictures, and pointers to many other opera sites. Page by Rick Bogart.The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera
Brief entries on operas, operatic styles, opera history, and singers. Published by Oxford University Press.Who's Who in Opera
Information on operatic characters, and synopses of opera plots. Published by Oxford University Press.Lied and Song Text Page
Texts and translations for Lieder and art songs in Czech, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Latin, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Spanish, and Swedish. Page by Emily Ezust.The Aria Database
Texts, word-by-word translations, and some MIDI files of operatic arias, duets, ensembles and choruses. Page maintained by Robert Glaubitz.
Instruments & Instrumental Music
Instrument Encyclopedia
Short articles, with photographs and sound clips, for musical instruments world-wide. From the University of Michigan.
Local Concerts
Wellesley College Concert Series
Concerts sponsored by the Music Department.Boston Online: Music
Concerts of classical music, jazz, world music, and pop in and around Boston.
| Find articles, essays & reviews |
- JSTOR
- Full text articles, up to ca. 2002. Use to find full-text articles published prior to the last five years from scholarly periodicals in the humanities, including 32 core music periodicals.
Project Muse- selected
full text articles, ca. 2002 to date
Use to find full-text articles from the last 4 years, from academic journals in the arts, humanities, and social sciences. Includes a growing collection of music periodicals, and many music-related articles from non-music periodicals.
RILM Abstracts of Music Literature- citations and summaries, 1967 to date
Along with Grove Music Online, RILM is one of the most essential tools for music research. It cites and summarizes significant writings on music published from 1967 to date, chiefly scholarly articles within periodicals and books (article anthologies, conference proceedings, and Festschrifts), as well as providing citations for and summaries of books and dissertation themselves
International Index to Music Periodicals- citations and summaries, ca. 1966 to date
IIMP contains citations to periodical articles on all aspects of music from 1966 to date, with brief summaries. IIMP differs from RILM Abstracts in covering more popular and performance-oriented music periodicals, and in including only periodical articles.
Expanded Academic ASAP- Use this to find full-text articles on music, as well as concert and record reviews, from a limited number of journals.
New York Times- Search for full-text articles on music, and for concert reviews.
Electronic Journals and Newsletters- Online music journals. Page maintained by Kirstin Dougan, Duke University Music Library.
You can also consult a list of full text music journals at Wellesley.
Other online resources may be useful to you, depending on your specific topic and approach. Please visit the Library's Databases A-Z List, or our Reference Books Online, or email Pamela Bristah, Music Librarian, for customized suggestions.
| Key Web sites |
The following are well-organized and comprehensive gateways to sites on classical music, jazz, world music, and other musics. If you don't find what you are looking for, please contact Music Librarian Pamela Bristah for assistance.
- Music Resources
- Well-organized links to sites, with a good balance between musicology and music performance.Page maintained by Indiana University Music Library.
Web Sites of Interest to Musicologists- Comprehensive links to sites on musicology, ethnomusicology, jazz, opera, orchestral music, women and music, "funny music stuff," and much much more. Page maintained by the American Musicological Society.
Music events in and around Boston- Listings, articles, and reviews for concerts in the Boston area.
Wellesley College Library • WCIS • Pamela Bristah • last modified: March 31, 2008