A brief list of
Basic Reference Sources
in the UNC-Chapel Hill Music Library
All of the material listed below is located in the Reference Room or at the Circulation desk. If you don't find what you are looking for please ask.
Dictionaries and Encyclopedias
| American Musical Traditions | ML3551 .A53 2002 |
| Five-volume work written by leading folklorists and ethnomusicologists in conjunction with Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Music of representative communities and musical genres that give an idea of the range of traditional music in the United States. V.1 Native American Music; v.2 African American Music; v.3 British Isles Music; v.4 European American Music; v.5 Latino American Music and Asian American Music. | |
| Book of World Famous Music: Classical, Popular, and Folk, 5th ed. | ML113 .F864 2000 |
| Useful work that traces the lineage of many of the most familiar compositions of the Western world. Entries are alphabetically arranged, with musical incipits and detailed commentary on the sources, composers, and history. | |
| Encyclopedia of Musical Theatre, 2nd ed. | ML102 .M88 G3 2001 |
| Comprehensive 3-volume reference covering shows from early operetta to the present in Britain, U.S. and Europe. Includes detail on first performances, casts, songs, critical reception, runs, revivals, and versions. Minimal bibliographic and discographic information. | |
| Garland Encyclopedia of World Music | ML100 .G16 1998 |
| The first encyclopedia devoted to the music of all the world's peoples. Each of the first nine volume is devoted to a particular geographic region, written by the world's experts on specific music cultures. Each volume also lists study and research tools, glossary of terms, lists of audio and visual resources, and an extensive bibliography. Volume 10 is a comprehensive compilation of the reference sections of the first nine volumes; also includes behind-the-scenes essays on how ethnomusicology is done. | |
| The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd ed. | ML100 .N48 2000 |
| A 29-volume comprehensive encyclopedia of music, including biographies, places, subjects, and musical terms. Complete overhaul of articles and composer works lists in 1980 edition. Separate index and appendixes volumes. Also available online on the library web page: New Grove 2 Online. | |
| The New Grove Dictionary of American Music | ML101 .U6 N48 1986 |
| A 4-volume encyclopedia of music of particularly American subjects. Updates many articles from 1980 New Grove. | |
| The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, 2nd ed. | ML102 .J3 N48 2002 |
| An important 3-volume encyclopedia on jazz periods, styles, performers, composers, terms, and instruments from many countries. Drastically revised and expanded from the 1988 edition. Comprehensive bibliographies in appendix. Contents have been incorporated into Online Grove. | |
| The New Grove Dictionary of Opera | ML102 .06 N5 1992 |
| A 4-volume encyclopedia detailing information on operas and the people and places associated with them. Also incorporated into Online Grove. | |
| The New Harvard Dictionary of Music | ML100 .N485 1986 |
| A standard one-volume musical term dictionary focussing on art music in the Western traditions; no biographical information. | |
Biographical Sources
| Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, 9th ed. | ML105 .B16 2001 |
| Centennial Edition of this classic work. Comprehensive biographical dictionary in six volumes; virtually re-written from earlier editions, it now incorporates a greater proportion of artists in popular music, rock, and jazz fields. Good works lists. | |
| The Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music | ML105 .H38 1996 |
| A one-volume dictionary of composers and performers of Western art music; also some jazz and popular figures. | |
Indexes: Periodical
- Music Index (1949-current in paper version; 1979-current online)
- RILM Music Abstracts (1967-current in paper and online versions)
- International Index to Music Periodicals (IIMP) (available online only)
are all available from the Music Library's web page: Music Journal Indexes.
These indexes provide access to book reviews and articles in music journals and magazines.
Indexes: Song
| Song Index of the Enoch Pratt Free Library | ML128 .S3 L665 1998 |
| Two-volume index to the extensive song book collection of this venerable public library in Baltimore. Includes all types of anthologies, school song books, hymnals, and single and multiple composer collections in a wide variety of genres, though particularly strong in popular and folk music; also some foreign language anthologies. Composer and Source indexes in volume 2. | |
General Sources
| Music Reference and Research Materials: An Annotated Bibliography, 5th ed. | ML113 .D83 1997 |
| Comprehensive bibliography of music reference works. | |
| Musical America: International Directory of the Performing Arts, 2003 ed. | ML12 .M88 |
| International directory, but with emphasis on North America, of dance and opera companies, choral groups, festivals, music schools, competitions, foundations and awards, publishers, professional organizations, managers, and magazines and trade papers. Access to performers is through the Index to Advertisers, classified by type of performer. | |
DLS 9/03
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This page was last updated Friday, January 13, 2006.