Introduction

Library of Congress Classification

Materials in Reference Collection

Indexes and Databases

Internet Resources

Introduction

Music includes one of the more artistic endeavors of mankind. Its students usually both study and practice what they learn. Music study is generally broken down into various areas, some on the academic side (history, criticism) and some on the more practical side (technique, theory).

Library Of Congress Classification

Library materials are organized by a system created by the Library of Congress that groups materials based on what they are about. This LC system uses letters and numbers to determine the call number of a book, which serves as that book’s address within the collection. The advantage of this system is that books about the same subject, say the French Revolution, should be in the same area. Find a good book on your subject and you should be able to find others in the same area.

The Library of Congress system places books on music in LC Class M. This class are further broken down into subclasses that define more specific subjects. Some important subclasses for music are listed below. Click here for a more complete look at Library of Congress Class M.

Specific books and other library materials can be found by searching the Online Catalog. This is a catalog that not only lists the collection of the Rockhurst University Greenlease Library, but can also be used to see the collections of the other MOBIUS libraries. For more information about the MOBIUS consortium, visit their website at https://mco.mobius.umsystem.edu/. One can search by title, author, subject and keyword to find books owned by the library. A good research strategy is called subject heading tracing. This strategy involves first doing a keyword search to find books relevant to a topic. Once a ‘good’ book is found, look at its subject headings. Then do a subject search and type in that subject heading. You should find other books on your topic this way.

Materials In Reference Collection

The library’s reference collection contains materials that are quite useful to students studying music. These reference items include:

Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of Musicians (REF ML 105 B16)

Baker's Dictionary of Music
(REF ML 100 S635 1997)

Bibliographical Handbook of American Music (REF ML 120 U5 K78)

Encyclopedia of the Musical Theatre (REF ML 102 M88 G3)

Music Reference and Research Materials (REF ML 113 D83 1997)

New Grove Dictionary of American Music (REF ML 101 U6 N48)

New Grove Dictionary of Jazz (REF ML 102 J3 N48)

New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (REF ML 100 N48)

New Grove Dictionary of Opera (REF ML 102 O6 N5)

New Oxford Companion to Music (REF ML 100 A76 1984)

New Oxford History of Music (REF ML 160 N44)

Oxford Dictionary of Music (REF ML 100 K35 1994)

Penguin Encyclopedia of Popular Music (REF ML 102 P66 P64)

Resources of American Music History: A Directory of Source Materials from Colonial Times to World War II (REF ML 120 U5 R47)

Song Index (REF ML 128 S3 S31)

Indexes And Databases

Indexes and databases are tools used to find journal articles about a particular topic. Some are used primarily for academic research, while others can be used to find popular articles to practice one’s reading skills. Some are available only in print, while others will be electronic and may even contain the full-text of the article. See our Electronic Resources page for a complete list of electronic indexes and databases.

FirstSearch
FirstSearch is actually a cluster of almost 40 databases and requires a training session to access. But the training session is well worth it! Some of the databases useful to researchers of music and the arts include:

Art and Humanities Search
Clase and Periodica

Humanities Index. New York: Wilson, 1974 - 2004.
INDEX AREA Ref. AI 3 R492
Covers literature, folklore and languages, plus other humanities topics such as archaeology & classical studies, area studies, history, literature, performing arts, philosophy, religion, theology. Continues Social Science and Humanities Index. New York: Wilson, 1965-1974.

MLA International Bibliography
This bibliography identifies critical writings, published from 1926 to the present, on national literatures, languages, linguistics, literary theory & criticism, literary forms & genres and folklore. Approximately 75% of the works cited are scholarly journal articles. The bibliography does not include the full-text of the works cited.

Connect to MLA International Bibliography

Internet Resources

Music: A Guide to Internet Resources
Maintained by the University of Delaware Library, this site offers links to other websites grouped into starting points, topics in music, and associations and organizations.

WorldWide Internet Music Resources
Maintained by the William and Gayle Cook Music Library at Indiana University’s School of Music, this vast resource offers information on musicians (individual and groups), composers and composition, genres and types of music, research and study on music, the commercial world of music, journals on music, and general information on music.