Getting Started
The following resources are helpful places to start at the beginning of the research process.
Digital scores and sound recordings
- American Choral Music: A collaboration of the American Choral Directors Association and the Library of Congress. Provides access to significant choral music in the public domain by the leading American composers of 1870-1923.
- The Choral Public Domain Library: Searchable archive of modern editions of sacred and secular choral music in the public domain. Musical scores are available in PDF format, with some titles available in other formats including Midi, Finale, Encore, and Noteworthy.
- Classical Net: Guides to repertoire, books, recordings, composers, and Internet links in the field of western classical music. Features 2,500 CD reviews, as well as 5,800 files and over 4,000 links to other classical music web sites.
- Digital Scores and Libretti: Loeb Music Library’s digital collection of scores and libretti, selected for their rare or unique natures and their popularity as objects of research and teaching.
- Sheet Music Consortium: Searchable list of digitized sheet music in consortium music libraries and archives.
Music reference books
- The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians / ML100.G885 1980
- The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (2001 edition) / available at Rodman Resource Center
Online reference sources
- Classical Net: Information on composers and their works.
- Credo Reference: A great starting point for research projects. Search in hundreds of encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesauri, quotations, and subject-specific titles, as well as 200,000+ images and audio files, and nearly 200 videos.
- Discovery Search: Search Lane Library’s books, ebooks, and articles in one place.
Articles
The following databases are useful places to search for music-related articles. Contact a librarian if you would like more information on how to search for articles on your specific topic.
Databases
- Academic Search Complete (EBSCO): Full-text access to over 4000 journals.
- Humanities International Complete: Broad coverage of humanities disciplines, with over 1200 full-text journals and books. Includes full-text for more than fifty theatre periodicals.
- JSTOR: Full-text access to the archive of over 400 journals. The most current 3-5 years may not be available.
- Proquest Research Library: Full-text access to over 2,500 journals.
Journals
Search for journals that cover music-related topics by using our Publication Finder tool. You can search for specific journals by title, subject, and more.
Get articles from other libraries
If you cannot find a full-text version of the article you need, request it through interlibrary loan. Interlibrary loan is a free service that allows you to borrow books and articles from other libraries.
Books
Books from Lane Library
Search for books in our collection through Lane Library’s catalog. You can find books with music-specific subject headings below:
Discovery Search: Search Lane Library’s books, ebooks, and articles in one place.
Books from other libraries
WorldCat: Search for books not available at Lane Library and borrow from other libraries for free through interlibrary loan.
Writing Guides and Citations
- Chicago Manual of Style, 17th ed.: Purdue Online Writing Lab’s resource and guidance on using the Chicago Manual of Style for formatting and citing.
- A Guide for Music Citation – Chicago/Turabian Style: This guide from Indiana University Bloomington Libraries provides helpful examples of how to cite many different music resources using Chicago/Turabian Style.
- Lane Library Citation Guide: Find info on APA, Chicago, CSE, and MLA citation styles here.
- Music in Words: A Guide to Researching and Writing About Music / ebook / Lane Library stacks (ML3797 .H537 2009)
- Writing About Music: A Style Sheet / ebook
