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Most research assignments should have a combination of different source types within your research. Books are a great resource for doing research. E-books and physical books both fall into this category.
Books differ from peer-reviewed journal articles because books provide general overviews of a topic, whereas articles are shorter and more specific.
Remember: You don't have to read the entire book! If there is one chapter in the book that works for your topic, just read that chapter.
The link to the library catalog will take you to an advanced search. Use these steps to fill in the search box:
Your results will come up as a list of sources with the ability to save links. Along the right side of the page is a sidebar with more filtering options.
The sidebar is labeled "Tweak your results." Use some or all of the following tips to narrow down your results further:
Finding Scholarly Articles
These articles are basically the "bread-and-butter" sources for scholarly research - they're used in every discipline.
What does peer-reviewed mean?
If an article is peer-reviewed that means that before the article was published it was reviewed and scrutinized by other experts in the same field. This process ensures that the sources are reliable and trustworthy.
Why you should use them:
These source types may also be referred to as peer-reviewed article, academic article, or journal article.
Here are some of the best databases to use for finding scholarly articles in music:
Finding Reference Resources
Reference resources are great sources to provide you with background information or context for a topic. These resources can be dictionaries, encyclopedias, guides, handbooks, etc.
Finding Multimedia
Multimedia resources are essential when researching within music. The following are some selected resources that can connect you with multimedia sources:
Web Resources
Archival Sound Recordings (British Library): NOTE: December 2023, the British Library's digital resources are down due to a cybersecurity breach. Digital access to selected recordings from the British Library Sound Archive. U.S. researchers can search all recordings on the site, listen to recordings where copyright permits (currently over 22,900 items), and view notes and tags added by other users.
Classical Cat: Free MP3 recordings of compositions across the world
Internet Archive's Audio Collection: The incredible Internet Archive contains thousands of audio tracks, recorded concerts, and more. This is a fantastic, historically-oriented resource.
Live Music Archive (Internet Archive): A community committed to providing the highest quality live concerts in a lossless, downloadable format. Preserves and archives as many live concerts as possible for current and future generations to enjoy. "All music is from trade-friendly artists and is strictly non-commercial, both for access here and for any further distribution."
Library of Congress: National Jukebox: At launch, the Jukebox includes more than 10,000 recordings made by the Victor Talking Machine Company between 1901 and 1925. Jukebox content will be increased regularly, with additional Victor recordings and acoustically recorded titles made by other Sony-owned U.S. labels, including Columbia, OKeh, and others.
RadiOM: Cutting-edge music from all periods, from the Baroque to modern sound poetry, from San Francisco radio station KPFA-FM, 1959-2005
RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America): "Since 1958, the RIAA has been giving awards for best-selling music and spoken word records and albums: gold (500,000 albums sold), platinum (one million), multi-platinum (two million), and diamond (10 million). Search the database by title, artist, label, format, category, and award."
Spotify: Spotify offers both a free and subscription service which allows users to create playlists, browse artists, and stream audio from a number of devices.
Finding Open Educational Resources (OER)
What are Open Educational Resources?
Open Educational Resources (OER) are online (in most cases) resources that are openly licensed or in the public domain and are free for legal public use. OERs can come in many forms: textbooks, videos, online modules, assignments, etc.
Visit the Open Educational Resources Research Guide for more information
If you have any questions about Open Educational Resources please contact the library!
Where to find OERs
MERLOT: MERLOT (Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching) is a curated collection of free and open online teaching, learning, and faculty development services contributed and used by an international education community.
OER Commons: From the Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education, the OER Commons offers OER for the primary through post-secondary levels.
OpenStax CNX: An OER collection offered by Rice University. Browse by subject, and use the Type filter to the left to browse only books.
Featured Music History OERs
Music: Its Language, History, and Culture
Music from the Earliest Notations to the Sixteenth Century
Finding Web Resources:
Library of Congress: Music Treasures Consortium: The Music Treasures Consortium provides online access to the world's most valued music manuscripts and print materials, held at the most renowned music archives, in order to further research and scholarship.
Doctoral Dissertations in Musicology: From the American Musicology Society
Music Research Resources Online: Guide from UCLA Libraries
IMSLP: Petrucci Music Library: Database of Public Domain Music