Library: Music: General

Music Research Databases

Click on a database name to search:

ProQuest Central This link opens in a new window Search ALL ProQuest databases at once. Covering more than 160 subject areas, ProQuest Central is the largest aggregated database and contains a diversified mix of content including scholarly journals, trade publications, magazines, books, newspapers, reports and videos. Encompasses business, science & technology, health, social sciences, arts & humanities, and news.
Google Scholar This link opens in a new window Uses the popular Google search engine to search for scholarly sources. Accessing Google Scholar from within the Library will directly link you to items we subscribe to.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window Updated regularly. Offers a high-quality, interdisciplinary archive to support scholarship and teaching. Includes archives of over 1,000 leading academic journals across the humanities, social sciences, and sciences, as well as select monographs and other materials valuable for academic work. The entire corpus is full-text searchable, offers search term highlighting, includes high-quality images, and is interlinked by millions of citations and references.
Academic Search Ultimate This link opens in a new window The world's largest academic, multi-disciplinary database with full text journals, newspapers, magazines, reports, eBooks and videos. Meets the needs of scholars in virtually every discipline.
SAGE Journals Online This link opens in a new window An interdisciplinary database that contains over 1,000 full text, online journals in the fields of business, education, health, the humanities, law enforcement, criminology, and other social sciences. Several of these journals are the most authoritative and influential in their fields. Access from 1999-present.
Communication & Mass Media Complete This link opens in a new window With full-text for over 480 journals, this database incorporates the content of CommSearch (formerly produced by the National Communication Association) and Mass Media Articles Index (formerly produced by Penn State) along with numerous other journals in communication, mass media, and other closely-related fields of study, such as broadcasting, linguistics, marketing, and more!

Multidisciplinary eBook databases:

eBook Collection (EBSCOhost) This link opens in a new window Multidisciplinary eBooks representing a broad range of subjects.
Ebook Central (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window eBooks on a range of subjects such as business, information technology, education, engineering, health, history, humanities, life & physical sciences, and social and behavioral sciences.

Learn more about finding and downloading eBooks:

Click on a database name to search:

Films On Demand: Master Academic Package This link opens in a new window Full-length streaming videos in the humanities, social sciences, business, health, medicine, sciences, and mathematics fields.
Alexander Street: Academic Video Online‎ This link opens in a new window A large multidisciplinary collection of streaming videos. Includes documentaries, interviews, performances, news programs and newsreels, field recordings, commercials, raw footage, award-winning films, including Academy® and Emmy® winners, newly released films, and archival material previously unavailable.
ImageQuest (Britannica) This link opens in a new window Nearly 3 million rights-cleared images from more than 50 collections including Getty Images, the National Portrait Gallery of London, and the National Geographic Society.
Credo Reference This link opens in a new window Specialized reference eBooks for background information on all subjects, including audio, video, and image results.

Click on a database name to search:

Credo Reference This link opens in a new window Specialized reference eBooks for background information on all subjects, including audio, video, and image results.
Britannica Academic This link opens in a new window The largest, most authoritative encyclopedia in the world, this database contains articles, maps, images, videos, and yearbooks from 1993 to present. Use it instead of Wikipedia for your research!
Gale eBooks This link opens in a new window More than 50 reference eBooks in business, communications, history, law, literature, medicine, nation & world, science, and technology.

OneSearch

Find articles, eBooks, etc.

Using Google Scholar: Finding Peer Reviewed Resources (Transcript)

Selected Resources

American Musicological Society "The American Musicological Society was founded in 1934 as a non-profit organization to advance "research in the various fields of music as a branch of learning and scholarship."" Student membership available.
Society for American Music "Founded in honor of Oscar George Theodore Sonneck, The Society for American Music, a nonprofit scholarly and educational organization, seeks to stimulate the appreciation, performance, creation, and study of American music in all its historical and contemporary styles and contexts. These include, but are not limited to, art ("classical") music, popular music, musical theater, folk music, music for the dance,church music, the musics of ethnic groups and minorities, and the full range of activities associated with music" Student membership available; interest groups for sub-specialties.
OPERA America "OPERA America leads and serves the entire opera community, supporting the creation, presentation, and enjoyment of opera."
Society for Music Theory "The Society for Music Theory promotes the development of and engagement with music theory as a scholarly and pedagogical discipline. We construe this discipline broadly as embracing all approaches, from conceptual to practical, and all perspectives, including those of the scholar, listener, composer, performer, teacher, and student. The Society is committed to fostering diversity, inclusivity, and gender equity in the field."
Music Teachers National Association "The preeminent source for music teacher support, where members embody like-minded values and commitment to their students, colleagues and society as a whole, while reaping the rewards of collaboration, continuity and connection throughout the lifetime of their careers. The mission of MTNA is to advance the value of music study and music making to society and to support the professionalism of music teachers."

Glossary of Musical Terms Accelerando to xylophone; short, useful definitions from Naxos Records. Better for novices than for advanced readers.
Library of Congress National Jukebox Historical sound recordings available to the public free of charge from the Library of Congress.
Library of Congress Music for the Nation: American Sheet Music Over 47,000 pieces of sheet music registered for copyright during the years 1870 to 1885. Included are popular songs, piano music, sacred and secular choral music, solo instrumental music, method books and instructional materials, and music for band and orchestra.
Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum Digital Archive Through its Digital Archive, the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum is dedicated to preserving its unparalleled collection of historically and culturally unique resources, as well as making them publicly accessible for educational purposes. With support from the generous donors listed below, the Museum is currently digitizing the rarest, most fragile, and most requested portions of its collection, including photographic negatives, videotapes, and acetate transcription discs.
Musical Library Digital Scores Collection (University of Washington) "Contains manuscript musical scores dating from the 17th through 19th centuries. The majority of the collection is comprised of 17th and 18th century operas, opera excerpts, and other vocal music. The original manuscripts reside in the Music Library’s Rare Book Collection."
Spotify: Digital Music Service For personal use only.

How to use this guide

This guide is designed to help you with your research, introducing a range of Music resources available to you. The Music Research Databases box lists databases recommended in your subject area that you can search to find articles, eBooks, videos, and more.

Background Information

Stevie Wonder performing

Morley, S. (n.d.). Stevie Wonder performs [Photograph].

Music Topic pages contain background information in many formats. It also pulls in resources from other Excelsior Library databases, making it a one-stop place to brush up on your topic!
Rock Music Topic pages contain background information in many formats. It also pulls in resources from other Excelsior Library databases, making it a one-stop place to brush up on your topic!
Country Music Topic pages contain background information in many formats. It also pulls in resources from other Excelsior Library databases, making it a one-stop place to brush up on your topic!
Composition Topic pages contain background information in many formats. It also pulls in resources from other Excelsior Library databases, making it a one-stop place to brush up on your topic!