Reference
- Oxford Music Online This link opens in a new windowIncorporates Grove Music Online, the Oxford Dictionary of Music, and the Oxford Companion to Music.
- Performing Arts Encyclopedia from the Library of CongressThe PAE provides information about the Library's unsurpassed collections of scores, sheet music, audio recordings, films, photographs, and other materials. Users can find digitized items from the collections; special Web presentations on topics and collections; articles and biographical essays; finding aids to collections; databases for performing arts resources; information on concerts at the Library; and a special Performing Arts Resource Guide which contains entries for hundreds of Library collections, Web sites, databases and exhibits.
Oxford Reference (database) Books
The following encyclopedias & dictionaries are found within the database "Oxford Reference." For easy access, click on the link below for a specific subject.
General Music
- Oxford Dictionary of Music (6th ed)Over 10,000 A-Z entries. Includes 2 appendices - one listing French, German, and Italian musical terms with English translations, and an abbreviations list for letters commonly used in musical scores and musical writing.
- Oxford Dictionary Plus MusicA-Z entries on people and organizations related to music.
- The Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments (2nd ed)Over 8,000 A-Z entries on musical instruments. Includes instruments from around the world, their builders, history and techniques of instrument design/manufacture, performance practice. Also gives special attention to electronic and experimental instruments and the human body as an instrument.
- Oxford Companion to MusicA-Z entries focus on loving composers and their music. Includes articles that range from definitions of musical ideas/terms to surveys of musical forms and styles. Places music in its social and cultural context. Covers current research including areas such as analysis, theory, ethnomusicology,and performance in all varieties of musical forms including jazz, popular music, dance.
- The Grove Dictionary of American Music (2nd ed)Over 9,000 A-Z entries, which includes areas such as popular music, cities/regions, musical theater, music technology, and musical traditions of numerous ethnic/cultural groups. Articles range from definitions to mid-length biographies, & larger subjects such as the history of jazz, musical instruments, and the American history of the orchestra. Also includes over 400 images and 140 musical examples.
- Oxford Companion to the American MusicalOver 2,000 A-Z entries on musicals, performers, composers, lyricists, producers, choreographers, etc. Includes cross-references, a list of recordings, and a chronology of all the musicals listed. Also, contains a complete index of Tony Award and Academy Award winners.
- Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed)Over 30,000 A-Z entries covering all genres and periods of popular music from 1900 - present. Includes jazz, country, folk, rap, reggae, techno, musicals, and world music.
- Oxford Encyclopaedia of the Music of IndiaOver 5,000 A-Z entries depict the story of Indian music through 2,000 years of history. Entries cover forms of music from classical to film-originated, as well as dance styles, technical terms, instruments, and biographies of vocalists, musicologists, saints, poets, gurus, composers, and instrumentalists. Includes music of India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
- Encyclopedia of Aesthetics (2nd ed)A-Z entries feature 815 articles by distinguished scholars about major concepts, thinkers, and debates about the meaning, uses, and value of all the arts—from painting and sculpture to literature, music, theater, dance, television, film, and popular culture.
- Oxford Encyclopedia of the Bible and the Arts148 A-Z entries that cover the cultural history of biblical texts, themes, characters, images, and the Bible itself in the literary, visual, and musical arts. Entries are organized primarily according to specific literary, visual, and musical artists, types of works, and periods (e.g., Bach, Johann Sebastian; Shakespeare, William; Children’s Bibles and Literature; Christian Visual Art, Early), revealing how the Bible figures in each.
Oxford Handbooks : Music
- Oxford Handbooks (Music)Chapters of Oxford Handbooks that focus on music topics.
- Oxford Handbook of Community MusicChapters feature a diversity of topics and approaches, structured in five parts: Contexts; Transformations; Politics; Intersections; and Education.
- Oxford Handbook of Country MusicChapters cover issues of historiography and practice as well as the ways in which the genre interacts with media and social concerns such as class, gender, and sexuality,
Fine Arts Librarian
Song Indexes
- UTK Song IndexSearchable database of more than 50,000 songs in song anthologies owned by the University of Tennessee, Knoxville Libraries. Search includes 1st line or composer.
- ASU Song IndexSearch for songs in Arizona State University Libraries. Includes 1st line search.
BAC Music Library REFERENCE SHELF
Useful resources for music research and searching for scores
The Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music by Call Number: Reference ML105 .H38 1996 (BAC Music Library)Publication Date: 2004-03-28eBook available through link. Emphasizes classical and art music composers, but includes composers of jazz, blues, rock, pop, hymns, and showtunes.- Music Titles in Translation byCall Number: Reference ML111 .H7 (BAC Music Library)Publication Date: 1976-04-01Score titles are often found in several languages. Not sure what the translation might be? For scores written before 1976, this guide cross-references titles In English and other languages.
Music Research : A Handbook by Call Number: Reference ML113 .S28 2020 (BAC Music Library)Publication Date: 2019-01-30Guide for the music research process and research tools. Bibliographies of reference materials. Digital media writing style.
The Jazz Standards : A Guide to the Repertoire by Call Number: Reference Ml128 .J3 G56 2012 (BAC Music Library)Publication Date: 2012-07-06Discusses more than 250 key jazz songs and includes a listening guide to different versions. Click the link and view the TOC to see which songs are included.
Music Analyses : An Annotated Guide to the Literature by Call Number: Reference ML128.A7 D5 1991 (BAC Music Library)Publication Date: 1991-05-01A bibliography of selected analytic literature on Western art music. The Diamond Guide lists where the analyzed pieces are located, including titles of articles and books that discuss and analyze composer's works.
Subject Guide to Classical Instrumental Music by Call Number: Reference ML128.I65 G59 1989 (BAC Music Library)Publication Date: 1989-01-01Looking for a score that relates to a particular subject, like "Snow" or "Trees" (or more)? Use this guide to find the right piece.
Writing about Music by Call Number: Reference ML3797 .W75 2014 (BAC Music Library)Publication Date: 2014-09-05eBook available through link. Writing style for music papers, such as how to write titles of works, use of major and minor, dynamic markings, pitch names, and much more.
