Library Resources

Books on music have call letters beginning ML or MT and are located in the Johnson Center Library open stacks. Printed music and recordings have call letters that begin with M and are located on the first floor of the Johnson Center Library. A book designated REF. is non-circulating and will be located in the Johnson Center Music Library Music Reference section. Books with * are also located in the Fenwick Library Reference section.

Subject-specific encyclopedias and dictionaries are excellent places to begin looking for background information or general information about music. This would include information about composers, music styles, instruments, musicians, the history of music, and music theory.

The following is a selective list of resources:

• The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
  *REF. ML 100. N48 1995
  The most comprehensive music reference resource to date; an authoritative encyclopedia with 22,000 articles covering music from all periods and encompassing all forms. Includes theory, practice, history, excellent biographies and lists of works, and detailed bibliographies. No index.

• New Grove Dictionary of American Music
  *REF. ML 101. U6 N48 1986
  Principle reference work on American music. Copiously illustrated, it provides detailed coverage of styles and genre. For composers there are works lists and bibliographies. There are also many articles covering American musical instruments.

• New Grove Dictionary of Jazz
  REF. ML 102. J3 N48 1984
  First fully developed dictionary of jazz. The 1994 edition is an unaltered reprint of the previous 2-volume edition. Covers individuals, groups, styles, terminology, theoretical topics, musical instruments, record labels, festivals, venues, films, institutions, and individuals who are not musicians but who have contributed to the field of jazz. There is a bibliography of discographies at the end of the volume and bibliographies of selected recordings and resources given for most articles.

• New Grove Dictionary of Opera
  REF. ML 102. O6 N5 1994
  Signed articles on composers, singers, conductors, and other persons associated with the production of opera, as well as operas, opera houses, specific opera libretto, opera topics, terminology, and activities related to opera such as costume, etc. Includes appendices of roles in cognate form and incipits of arias, ensembles, etc. Individual entries have bibliographies.

• New Harvard Dictionary of Music
  REF. ML 100. N485 1986
  Primarily non-biographical. Excellent for term definitions, bibliographies, and brief historical articles.

• The Oxford Companion to Popular Music
  *REF. ML 102. P66 G35 1991
  Covers popular music of all periods. Includes people and groups, shows and films, songs and albums.

• New Oxford History of Music
  REF. ML 160. N4
  The history of music from ancient times to 1960. Analyzes trends, forms, and composers. Accompanied by a set of sound recordings titled The History of Music in Sound.