Spring 2009

Music materials are located in both the Davidson College Music Library and the E.H. Little Library.  The Music Library contains mostly music-related reference materials, audio recordings, and scores.  Books about music can be found in the Little Library.  The Dewey Decimal Classification call numbers for music are:

781  General principles & musical forms
782  Vocal music
783  Music for single voices; The voice
784  Instruments & Instrumental ensembles
785  Chamber Music
786  Keyboard & other instruments
787  Stringed instruments (Chordophones)
788  Wind instruments (Aerophones)

Be sure to check carefully the call number and location of the item you’re looking for!  If you have questions about the location of any item, please feel free to ask a librarian.

Biographies

Note:  To locate works about a person in the Davidson Library Catalog, do a subject search for the person’s name (last name first).  For biographical information about recent artists, you may need to visit popular websites.

• American National Biography
  Contains biographical information about more than 17,400 prominent American men and women from all periods of history.  Excludes individuals who are still living.  Also provides useful bibliographies as well as cross references and links to relevant websites.
  
  
• Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of Musicians.  Ed. Nicolas Slonimsky.  Centennial ed.  6 vols.  New York:  Schirmer Books, 2001.
  Music Library Reference:  927.8 B16b8 2001
  Little Library Reference:  R 927.8 B16b8 2001
  
  
• Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of Popular Musicians Since 1990
  Contains the fully-searchable text of Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of Popular Musicians Since 1990 (2 vols.; New York:  Schirmer, 2004).  Includes entries on 550 individual artists and groups and covers rock, rap, metal, post grunge, electronic, house, pop, country, Latin, jazz, Broadway, and other types of contemporary music.
  
  
• Biography Reference Bank
  Indexes biographies of over 500,000 people from all time periods and countries; over 175,000 of the biographies are full text.  Contains selections from  American Songwriters, Composers of Today, 2nd ed, Composers of Yesterday, Composers since 1900, Composers since 1900 1st Supplement, European Composers of Today, Great Composers 1300-1900, Living Musicians, Living Musicians 1st Supplement, Musicians since 1900, Popular American Composers, Popular American Composers 1st Supplement, World Musicians, International Dictionary of Black Composers, 2 vols., Hollywood Songsters:  A Biographical Dictionary, Brainard’s Biographies of American Musicians, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera, The Oxford Companion to Music, Grove Dictionary of Music &Musicians, 2nd ed.
  
  
• Grove Music Online (Part of Oxford Music Online)
  Contains the full-text of The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (2nd ed., with updates), with over 29,000 articles about people, places, organizations, and terminology associated with the study of western classical, popular, and world music.  Also provides links to sound files, image files, and related websites and includes The Grove Dictionary of Opera, The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, 2nd ed., the Oxford Companion to Music (2002), and the Oxford Dictionary of Music, 2nd ed. rev.  Updated monthly.
  
  
• International Who’s Who in Classical Music 2006.  London:  Routledge, 2006.
  Music Library Reference:  927.8 W628c 2006
  
  
• International Who’s Who in Music and Musicians’ Directory (In the Classical and Light Classical Fields).  Ed. David M. Cummings.  15th ed.  Cambridge:  International Biographical Centre, 1996.
  Little Library Reference:  R 927.8 W628, 1996-97, v.1
  
  
• International Who’s Who in Popular Music 2006.  London:  Routledge, 2006.
  Music Library Reference:  927.8 W628p 2006
  

Dictionaries and Encyclopedias

• Credo Reference:  Music Resources
  Contains the full text of the Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, The Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music, The Harvard Dictionary of Music, and the Penguin Dictionary of Music.
  
  
• Dictionary of Music.  Nirmala Devi.  New Delhi, Indica:  Anmol Publications, 2004.
  Music Library Reference:  780.3 D492d
  
  
• The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music.  Eds. James Porter and Timothy Rice.  10 vols.  New York:  Garland Pub., 1998-2002.
  Music Library Reference:  780.9 G233
  Music Library Stacks:  CD-1451
  
  
•  The Harvard Dictionary of Music.  Ed. Don Michael Randel.  4th ed.  Cambridge, MA:  Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2003.
  Music Library Reference:  780.3 H339 2003
  Little Library Reference:  R 780.3 H339 2003
  
  
• Music Since 1900.  Laura Kuhn.  6th ed.  New York:  Schirmer Reference/Gale Group, 2001.
  Music Library Reference:  780.904 S63m 2001
  
  
• Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart:  Allgemeine Enzyklopädie der Musik.  Ed. Friedrich Blume.  New York:  Bärenreiter, 1994.
  Little Library Reference:  R 780.3 B65m2
  
  
• The New Grove Dictionary of American Music.  Ed.  H. Wiley Hitchcock and Stanley Sadie.  New York:  Grove’s Dictionaries of Music, 1986.
  Music Library Reference:  781.773 N532
  Little Library Reference:  R 781.773 N532
  
  
• The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.  Ed. Stanley Sadie.  2nd ed.  29 vols. New York:  Grove, 2001.
  Music Library Reference:  780.3 N532 2001
  
  
• The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments.  Ed. Stanley Sadie.  New York:  Grove’s Dictionaries of Music, 1985.
  Music Library Reference:  784.19 N532
  Little Library Reference:  R781.9 N532
  
  
• The Oxford Dictionary of Musical Words.  Ed. Alison Latham.  New York:  Oxford University Press, 2004.
  Music Library Reference:  780.3 O982
  
  
• Perspectives on American Music since 1950.  Ed. James R. Heintze.  New York:  Garland, 1999.
  Little Library Stacks:  780.973 P467
  
  
• Reader’s Guide to Music:  History, Theory, Criticism.  Ed. Murray Steib.  Chicago:  Fitzroy Dearborn, 1999.
  Music Library Reference:  016.78 R285
  
  
• Repertoire international des sources musicales/International Inventory of Musical Sources.  Munich:  Henle, 1960 - .
  Little Library Reference:  R016.78 I61 Ser. A
                                       R016.78 I61 Ser. B
  Note:  This collection, commonly known as RISM, is a catalog of the music manuscripts and writings about music contained in libraries, archives, and other locations throughout the world.  Series A arranges materials alphabetically by composer or editor,  while Series B offers a chronological order of materials by category or genre.  The Davidson College Library adds new volumes as they are published.

Citation Manuals and Music Research

• How to Write About Music:  The RILM Manual of Style.  Ed. James R. Cowdrey.  New York:  RILM International Center, 2005.
  Music Library Reference:  808.06 C953h
  
  
• The Chicago Manual of Style.  15th edition.  Chicago:  University of Chicago Press, 2003.
  Music Library Reference:  808.02 C53 2003
  Little Library Reference Desk:  R 808.02 C53 2003
  
  
• Chicago Manual of Style Online
  Contains the fully-searchable text of the 15th edition of The Chicago Manual of Style as well as the Chicago-Style Citation Quick Guide and regularly-updated questions and answers about the style.
  
  
• Irvine’s Writing About Music.  Demar Irvine and Mark A. Radice.  3rd ed.  Portland, OR:  Amadeus Press, 1999.
  Music Library Reference:  808.06 I72w 1999
  Little Library Reference Desk:  R 808.06 I72w 1999
  
  
• A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations:  Chicago Style for Students and Researchers.  Kate L. Turabian.  7th ed.  Chicago:  University of Chicago Press, 2007.
  Music Library Reference:  808.02 T929m7
  Little Library Reference Desk:  R 808.02 T929m7
  
  
• Music Reference and Research Materials:  An Annotated Bibliography.  Vincent H. Duckles and Ida Reed.  5th ed.  New York:  Schirmer Books, 1997.
  Music Library Reference:  016.78 D83m5
  Little Library Reference:  R 016.78 D83m5
  
  
• A Short Guide to Writing About Music.  Jonathan D. Bellman.  2nd ed.  New York:  Pearson Longman, 2007.
  Little Library Stacks:  808.06 B445s2
  
  
• Sourcebook for Research in Music.  Phillip D. Crabtree and Donald H. Foster.  2nd ed.  Bloomington, IN:  Indiana University Press, 2005
  
  
• Writing About Music:  A Style Sheet from the Editors of 19th-Century Music.  D. Kern Holoman.  Berkeley:  Univ. of California Press, 1988
  Music Library Stacks:  808.066 H754w
  Little Library Stacks:  808.06 H754w

Finding Books

Library Catalog
Includes information about books, musical scores, recordings, journals, magazines, and newspapers in the Library.

Finding items related to musical works can be especially challenging, since these works often have title variants.  To help users, libraries have assigned each musical work a unique uniform title.  This title allows library users to find all editions and recordings of a single work in a library catalog.  [For more information about uniform titles, see Principles of Music Uniform Titles (Indiana School of Music).]

• To find a musical work’s uniform title, start with a keyword search and then browse records for the uniform title field.
• Do a “TITLE beginning with” search using the uniform title to find scores and recordings of the musical work.
• Do a “SUBJECT” search using the uniform title to find books about the musical work.

Other hints for searching the Library Catalog:

• To find items located in the Music Library, choose “Music Library” from the “You are searching” dropdown menu at the top of the page.
• To locate musical scores, choose “Musical Scores” from the “Limit by Format” dropdown menu.
• To locate appropriate Library of Congress Subject Headings, start with a keyword search and then browse records.

Search Syntax
Truncation:  use a dollar sign $.
Phrase Searching:  use double quotation marks “ ”.
Wildcard:  use a question mark ?.

ebrary
Contains over 38,000 e-books published by over 220 academic, trade, and professional publishers; covers all subject areas.  Also includes tools that allow you to create your own virtual bookshelf, bookmark pages, and add and save notes and highlights.
Search Syntax
Phrase Searching:  use double quotation marks “ ”.

WorldCat
Indexes books, periodicals, and other materials held by libraries around the world.  Search WorldCat to identify additional books on your topic and then order the books on interlibrary loan.
Note:  It can be helpful to identify relevant Library of Congress Subject Headings in the Library Catalog first; you can then do a subject search in WorldCat to find additional items with these subject headings.
Search Syntax
Truncation:  use an asterisk *.
Phrase Searching:  insert a “w” between the words in a phrase (for example, “cold w war”).
Wildcard:  use a question mark ?.

Finding Sound Recordings

Finding sound recordings can be challenging, because musical works often have title variants.  To help users find all editions and recordings of a single work, libraries have given each work a uniform title.  To find the uniform title for a musical work, do a keyword search in a library catalog and then browse records for the uniform title field.  [For more information about uniform titles, see Principles of Music Uniform Titles(Indiana School of Music).]

• To find sound recordings located at Davidson, go to the Library Catalog.  Enter a keyword or uniform title in the search field and choose “Sound Recordings” from the “Limit by Format” dropdown menu.
• To find sound recordings located in other libraries, go to WorldCat.  Enter a keyword or uniform title in the appropriate search field and click on “Sound Recordings” in the “Limit type to” area.

The following sites also have sound recordings:

• Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project
  From the University of California, Santa Barbara.  Provides a digital collection of almost 8,000 cylinder recordings, commercially produced sound recordings from the early 20th century.
  
  
• DRAM (Database of Recorded American Music)
  Provides streaming audio for over 1,500 CDs (9,800 compositions) from the catalogs of New World Records, CRI, and other labels; covers a wide range of American musical styles, including classical, contemporary, early rock, electronic, folk, opera, and more.  The database also includes liner notes and essays.
  
  
• Emile Berliner and the Birth of the Recording Industry
  Contains 108 Berliner sound recordings from the Library of Congress American Memory Project.
  
  
• Internet Archive
  Includes the Live Music Archive, with access to over 62,000 live concerts, and the Audio Archive, with over 300,000 free sound recordings of concerts, alternative radio programs, and book and poetry readings.
  
  
• The Red Hot Jazz Archive
  Contains recordings of jazz music from 1895-1929.
  
  
• The Virtual Gramophone:  Canadian Historical Sound Recordings
  Provides audio files of 78-rpm and cylinder recordings released in Canada, along with foreign sound recordings of Canadian artists and composers.

Finding Articles

Note:  Truncation symbols and wildcards may be used to search for variant forms of words.  Use truncation symbols to represent letters at the end of words and wildcard symbols to represent one letter within a word.

Music Databases

• Music Index
  (1979 to Present)  An index to over 640 international music periodicals.  Included are references to articles about classical and popular music as well as citations to book reviews, record reviews, first performances, and obituaries.
  Search Syntax
  Truncation:  use a dollar sign $.
  Phrase Searching:  use double quotation marks “ ”.
  Wildcard:  use a question mark ?.
  
  
• RILM Abstracts of Music Literature
  (1969 to Present)  Includes citations to journal articles, books, conference proceedings, catalogues, dissertations, and films and videos on all aspects of music, including historical musicology, ethnomusicology, instruments and voice, dance, and music therapy.  RILM also covers fields related to music, such as anthropology, art, drama, literature, sociology, philosophy, and physics.
  Search Syntax
  Truncation:  use an asterisk *.
  Phrase Searching:  use double quotation marks “ ”.
  Wildcard:  use a question mark ?.

Interdisciplinary Databases

• Academic Search Premier
  (1975 to present) Indexes over 8,000 popular and scholarly periodicals and provides the full text of articles from 4,5000 of these periodicals.  Also indexes several newspapers, including the Christian Science Monitor, New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal.
  Search Syntax
  Truncation:  use an asterisk *.
  Phrase Searching:  use double quotation marks “ ”.
  Wildcard:  use a question mark ?.
  
  
• OmniFile Full Text Mega
  (1982 to present) Indexes articles from over 3,000 scholarly and popular periodicals in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences; also includes the full text of selected articles from over 1,650 of these periodicals.
  Search Syntax
  Truncation:  unnecessary when using “All-Smart Search”; otherwise, use an asterisk *.
  Phrase Searching:  use double quotation marks “ ”.
  Wildcard:  do not use with “All-Smart Search”; otherwise, use a question mark ?.
  
  
• Web of Knowledge
  (c. 1900 to present) A multidisciplinary resource that provides citations to articles in over 10,000 journals in the humanities, sciences, and social sciences.
  Search Syntax
  Truncation:  use an asterisk *.
  Phrase Searching:  use double quotation marks “ ”.
  Wildcard:  use a question mark ?.

Other Databases

Depending on your topic, you may need to search in History, Literature, or Sociology article databases, among others.  You can find appropriate databases in the Indexes and Databases page.  Here are a few that may be of help:

• Essay and General Literature Index
  (1900 to present) Indexes essays published in books and edited collections.  Covers the fields of art, economics, education, history, law, linguistics, literature, music, philosophy, political science, and religion, among others.   Particularly strong in the humanities and social sciences.
  Search Syntax
  Truncation:  unnecessary when using “All-Smart Search”; otherwise, use an asterisk *.
  Phrase Searching:  use double quotation marks “ ”.
  Wildcard:  do not use with “All-Smart Search”; otherwise, use a question mark ?.
  
  
• Humanities Abstracts Full Text
  (1907 to present) Indexes articles in over 500 English-language periodicals in the fields of archaeology, art, classics, communication, film, folklore, history, languages and literature, music, philosophy, religion, and theatre.  Also includes citations for book, theatre, and film reviews, as well as interviews, obituaries, and some original creative works.  Includes the full text of selected articles from 1995 to the present.
  Search Syntax
  Truncation:  unnecessary when using “All-Smart Search”; otherwise, use an asterisk *.
  Phrase Searching:  use double quotation marks “ ”.
  Wildcard:  do not use with “All-Smart Search”; otherwise, use a question mark ?.
  
  
• JSTOR
  A searchable archive of the back issues of major scholarly journals.
  Search Syntax
  Truncation:  use an asterisk *.
  Phrase Searching:  use double quotation marks “ ”.
  Wildcard:  use a question mark ?.
  
  
• Periodicals Index Online
  (1665 to 1995) Indexes articles from humanities and social sciences periodicals from their first issues to 1995.  Particularly useful for locating references to articles from the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries.  International in scope.
  Search Syntax
  Truncation:  use an asterisk *.
  Phrase Searching:  use double quotation marks “ ”.
  
  
• Project Muse
  (c. mid-1990s to present) A searchable collection of full-text articles from journals published by university and scholarly presses.
  Search Syntax
  Truncation:  use an asterisk *.
  Phrase Searching:  use double quotation marks “ ”.

 Finding Music Reviews

Most music reviews can be found in newspapers, magazines, and journals.  The following indexes can help you find reviews:

• Historical Newspapers:  New York Times
  (1851-2005) Provides the full text of the New York Times; page images can be viewed and downloaded as pdf files.
  Search Strategy
  Enter the performer, composer, or work you would like to see reviewed in the first search box and leave “Citation and document text” in the search field.  In the next search box, write the word “review” and choose “Document Type” from the drop-down search field.

To see reviews published during a particular period, write the word “review” in the search box and choose “Document Type” for the search function.  Then, choose the period you’d like to search.  Please note:  this search will produce not only music reviews, but also film, theater, and book reviews.

To see New York Times reviews from 2006-present, please use LexisNexis Academic.

• LexisNexis Academic
  (c. 1980 to present) Provides the full text of articles from local, national, and international newspapers, magazines, and trade journals as well as newswires, business information, patents, legal documents, and transcripts of radio and television broadcasts. 
  Search Strategy
  To find music reviews, click on the red “News” tab at the top of the page. Enter your search terms (i.e., title of piece, composer, performer) in the search box.  In the “Sources” drop-down menu in the middle of the page, choose “Book, Move, Music, Play, and Video Reviews.”  In the “Specify date” drop-down menu, choose the date range you would like to search. 
  
  
• Music Index
  (1979 to Present)  An index to over 640 international music periodicals.  Included are references to articles about classical and popular music as well as citations to book reviews, record reviews, first performances, and obituaries.
  Search Strategy
  From the main page of Music Index, choose the Expert Search.  Enter your search terms in the keyword fields and choose the appropriate search from the “Document Type” dropdown menu:  “Non-printed Material Review,” “Performance Review,” or “Printed Material Review.”  You may also choose to search a date range by filling out the “Years” search fields.
  
  
• Reader’s Guide Abstracts
  (1890 to present) Indexes articles in over 300 popular magazines published in the United States.  Covers a wide variety of subjects, including art, business, education, food, foreign affairs, political science, religion, science, sports, and health and nutrition.  Also indexes music, book, and film reviews.
  Search Strategy
  In the “Document Type” drop-down menu, choose which kind of review you would like to find.  These include:  musical comedy review, opera review, operetta review, performance review, sound recording review.  Then, enter your search term (i.e., title of piece, composer, performer).

Recommended Websites

• All Music Guide
  Contains information about artists, albums, and musical styles across genres.  The website can be searched by artist, album, song, and classical work.
  
  
• American Memory Music Collections
  33 music collections from the Library of Congress American Memory project.  Most collections are multimedia and include sound recordings, sheet music, and images.
  
  
• American Musicological Society
  The website of the American Musicological Society includes information about the society, grants and fellowships, graduate programs in musicology, and websites of interest to musicologists.
  
  
• Music Library Association Obituary Index
  An online version of the obituary citations published in the Music Library Association journal Notes.
  
  
• Musical America
  Provides current music industry news and a directory containing information about thousands of artists, managers, opera companies, dance companies, art festivals, performing arts series, competitions, music schools, and more.  Only available to current Davidson College students, faculty, and staff.
  
  
• Worldwide Internet Music Resources
  A list of music-related websites compiled by the William and Gayle Cooke Music Library, Indiana University School of Music.  Websites are organized by topic:  Individual Musicians (All Genres) and Popular Groups; Composers and Composition; Groups and Ensembles (Except Popular); Other Sites Related to Performance; Genres and Types of Music; Research and Study; Journals and Magazines; The Commercial World of Music; and General and Miscellaneous.

Questions?

Please contact Sara Swanson, Information Literacy Librarian.
saswanson@davidson.edu
704.894.2157