Music Resources 

 Music Research Guide

List best print and online resources, reference books, journals, citing your sources and more.

Music Databases

To access these databases, click the link and then click on the title of the database in the alphabetical list.

African American Music Reference

"includes over 3,900 pages of reference, including a comprehensive set of biographies on the top 185 African American composers, edited by Samuel Floyd, Jr., as well as 5,000 pages of liner notes from Document Records. Other materials in this release include African American iconography, collections of spirituals and slave lyrics, and reference on important ensembles and musicians such as the Fisk Jubilee Singers,Jelly Roll Morton, Wynton Marsalis, Stevie Wonder, and more."~ Alexander Street Press

Classical Music Reference Library

"Classical Music Reference Library brings together more than 30,000 pages of essential reference materials, spanning the entire history of Western classical music, in a unified online database. Included are the authoritative reference titles Baker's Dictionary of Music, Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, and Baker's Student Encyclopedia of Music, which are available for the first time in electronic form. This release includes 26,619 essays and images from 23 sources, over 26742 pages." ~Alexander Street Press

Classical Scores Library

 "This collection includes works spanning time periods from the Renaissance to the 21st century. Coverage of score types is comprehensive, with full scores, study scores, piano and vocal scores, and piano reductions. The database has been indexed to enable users to search on musically relevant fields, such as composer, work/opus number, key, genre, instrument, time period; as well as score-specific fields, such as score type, duration, editor, arranger, publisher." ~Alexander Street Press

Garland Encyclopedia of World Music

"...Contains Audio Tracks, overviews of the region, a survey of its musical heritage, traditions and themes; and a description of specific musical genres, practices, and performances. Articles include detailed photographs that show musicians, musical instrument, and the cultural context of dances, rituals, and ceremonies. Other images include drawings, maps, and musical examples for further study." ~Alexander St. Press

Oxford Music Online (formerly Grove Music)

"The new home of Grove Music Online and the access point for new and forthcoming Oxford music reference subscriptions and products." ~Oxford University Press.  Subscription includes Grove Music Online, Oxford Dictionary of Music, and the Oxford Companion to Music.  Some articles include images and sound clips.