Research Subject Guides: Music: Home

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Key Music Resources (Text-based)

Business Source Complete (EBSCOhost) This link opens in a new window
Use for music industry information post-2000 (where Entertainment Industry Magazine Archive leaves off).
Classical Scores Library (Alexander Street) This link opens in a new window
Hundreds of thousands of pages of classical music scores. Pages can be printed and annotated.
Entertainment Industry Magazine Archive (Proquest) This link opens in a new window
US and UK trade magazines (1880-2000) covering the vaudeville era to the internet era. Includes Billboard, Variety, Broadcasting, Melody Maker and much more
Oxford Music Online This link opens in a new window
Encyclopedic-type information, includes Grove Music Online, the Oxford Companion to Music and the Oxford Dictionary of Music.
Comprises the full text of The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell (London, 2001), The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, edited by Stanley Sadie (London, 1992), and The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, second edition, edited by Barry Kernfeld (London, 2002) plus additional resources.
RILM Abstracts of Music Literature (EBSCOhost) This link opens in a new window
Offers citations and abstracts of articles on international subjects including historical musicology, ethnomusicology, instruments, voice, dance and music therapy. Scholarly journals included. Covers 1969 – the present.
RIPM Jazz Periodicals This link opens in a new window
Facsimiles of 105 full text American jazz journals published between 1914 and 2006. Significant journals include, among others, Cadence, Down Beat, Mississippi Rag, and Record Changer. Images, advertisements included.

Scores and sheet music

See also resources BY MUSICAL GENRE in the menu above.

Classical Scores Library (Alexander Street) This link opens in a new window
Hundreds of thousands of pages of classical music scores. Pages can be printed and annotated.

IMSLP
Ad-supported and crowd-sourced library of musical scores and sheet music.

Key Audio and Video Resources

Our Streaming Media Guide lists all streaming media resources in all subjects available through the library.

Academic Video Online (Alexander Street Press) This link opens in a new window
Mostly documentary and journalistic videos.
Many films include closed captions, searchable transcripts and clipping functionality for accessibility and teaching support. Limited public performance rights include classroom showings and extracurricular viewing as long as no admission is charged.
Digital Theatre+ This link opens in a new window
Some musicals are included in this collection of theater performance videos.
Google Chrome is the preferred browser for Digital Theatre+.
Docuseek2 This link opens in a new window
Documentary videos, often with a social justice focus.
DRAM (Database of Recorded American Music) This link opens in a new window
Diverse American music, including roots/folk/jazz and more.
Kanopy Streaming This link opens in a new window
Feature films, including biopics.
Instructors may request access via the request form in Kanopy.
If you live in Massachusetts and wish to use Kanopy outside of academic use, the Boston Public Library (BPL) offers Kanopy for free, up to 4 films a month. First BPL Kanopy-related info .
Music Online (Alexander Street Press) This link opens in a new window
This streaming site has separate collections of contemporary, jazz, classical, and Smithsonian Global Sound
Set up a personal account to be able to create clips, bookmarks and playlists for sharing with a class or with others in the Northeastern community.
Naxos Music Library This link opens in a new window
Over 85,000 tracks, emphasizing classical, but also including world music, jazz, folk, and more, available for streaming. Access is limited to 15 users at a time.
Smithsonian Global Sound This link opens in a new window
in partnership with Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, is a virtual encyclopedia of the world's musical and aural traditions.
Set up a personal account to be able to create clips, bookmarks and playlists for sharing with a class or with others in the Northeastern community.

Finding Background Information

Oxford Music Online This link opens in a new window
Emphasis on classical music: encyclopedia-type articles about music history, instruments, technology, and people. At its core is the esteemed Grove Music Online, formerly Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.
Comprises the full text of The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell (London, 2001), The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, edited by Stanley Sadie (London, 1992), and The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, second edition, edited by Barry Kernfeld (London, 2002) plus additional resources.
Garland Encyclopedia of World Music (Alexander Street) This link opens in a new window
Organized geographically, this is a good starting point for ethnomusicology and comparative music studies.
Sage Research Methods This link opens in a new window
How to do research: project planning and strategies, methods, timelines, ethics, and more.
*Recommended:SAGE Encyclopedia of Communication Research Methods.