Research Guides: *Music Research: Music Databases A to Z

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Music Databases A to Z

All online music resources are listed here.

Music Online: African American Music Reference This link opens in a new window African American Music Reference brings together biographies, chronologies, sheet music, images, lyrics, liner notes, and discographies about African American experience through music. This includes coverage of blues, jazz, spirituals, civil rights songs, slave songs, minstrelsy, rhythm and blues, gospel, and other forms of black American musical expression.
Berliner Philharmoniker Digital Concert Hall This link opens in a new window Note: Registered users access through link above. Log in prior to each use. Note: First time users: register using a Northwestern email address and unique password. The Digital Concert Hall is the virtual concert venue of the Berliner Philharmoniker on the Internet. Here you can experience the orchestra performing live at the Philharmonie in Berlin in more than 30 broadcasts every year. Just a few days after each broadcast, a recording of the concert is then available to watch in the archive. Also includes music-related documentaries and interviews.

Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World: Locations An authoritative reference work on the history and current practice of popular music, it covers nation states and is organized according to continental regions. Each discusses the history, development and current practice of popular music.
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Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World: Media, Industry and Society This title contains two major sections: "Social and Cultural Dimensions" and "The Industry". The former contains many entries on social phenomena of relevance to the practice of popular music. The Industry section contains info on contains numerous entries on recording studios, music publishers, record labels
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Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World: Performance and Production This work covers a range of music performing groups, production, and styles.
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Daniel's Orchestral Music Online This link opens in a new window Orchestral Music Online is the most recent iteration of David Daniels's classic repertoire reference work used by conductors, orchestras, musicians, and musicologists throughout the world. This new online version, based on the critically acclaimed fourth edition of the printed reference work Orchestral Music: A Handbook (2005, Scarecrow Press), provides greater and easier access to more information on composers and works.
DRAM This link opens in a new window DRAM offers streaming access to a large catalogue of American music from folk, opera, Native American, jazz, electronic and beyond. Included are complete liner notes, essays, bibliographies and discographies.
Entertainment Industry Magazine Archive This link opens in a new window Contains primary sources for studying the history of the film and entertainment industries, from the era of vaudeville and silent movies through to 2000. US and UK trade magazines covering film, music, broadcasting and theater are included, together with film fan magazines and music press titles.

The Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music
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Garland Encyclopedia of World Music Music Online: The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music is the first comprehensive online resource devoted to music research of all the world’s peoples. More than 9,000 pages of material and 300 audio recordings, combined with entries by more than 700 expert contributors from all over the world, make this the most complete body of work focused on world music.

Grove Dictionary of American Music This link opens in a new window Focusing on music in American culture, this encyclopedia offers information on popular music, cities and regions, musical theater, opera, concert music, and music technology, as well as the musical traditions of many ethnic and cultural groups.

Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music A guide to the thousands of characters, from humble artisan to lofty genius, who people the unfolding history of music, this volume brings together all the pertinent biographical information about composers, performers, music theorists, and instrument makers from the days of praise chants to the bop and pop of today.
Harvard Dictionary of Music Combining authoritative scholarship and lucid, lively prose, the Fourth Edition of The Harvard Dictionary of Music is the essential guide for musicians, students, and everyone who appreciates music.
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Index to Printed Music This link opens in a new window Find music published in sets and series, and in anthologies according to various criteria: by composer (Complete works: Gesamtausgaben),by geographical area (Monuments: Denkmler), by time or style period, or by primary sources.
IPA Source This link opens in a new window ACCESS RESTRICTED to the Northwestern University Evanston campus. This is a library of International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) transcriptions and literal translations of opera arias and art song texts. IPA Source includes more than 7500 IPA texts.
Jazz Discography This link opens in a new window Access limited to 2 simultaneous users at a time. Please log off when finished. General discography of all categories of recorded jazz, from 1896 to today. Covers all categories of jazz and other creative improvised music, including Traditional, Swing, Bop, Modern, Avant-Garde, Fusion, Third Stream, etc.

Latin American Choral Music An ongoing compilation of information about choral music by Latin American composers from 1550 to the present.

Medici.tv This link opens in a new window Online collection of high definition videos of classical music, operas and ballets.
Met Opera on Demand: Student Access This link opens in a new window More than 450 Met performances. Dozens of Live in HD productions, classic telecasts from the 1970s, '80s, '90s, and '00s, and hundreds of radio broadcasts dating back to 1936.
MusicalAmerica.com This link opens in a new window MusicalAmerica provides breaking news stories as well as an electronic version of the respected Musical America International Directory of the Performing Arts. Article coverage includes news on performing organizations, record labels, foundations, significant performers and managers, competitions and awards. The directory section comprises over 14,000 contacts and addresses, including links for all Web site and E-mail addresses.
Music Index This link opens in a new window Covers all aspects of music, including history, musicology, ethnomusicology, music education, music therapy, acoustics, composition, music theory, performance practice, and popular music. Music Index provides citations to articles published in approximately American and foreign music journals, citations to dissertations and some books, as well as concert, sound recording and book reviews, and includes indexing by subject heading, title, book author, periodical, date, and keyword.
Music Magazine Archive (incorporated into Entertainment Industry Magazine Archive Collection) This link opens in a new window Music Magazine Archive is a series of digital collections focused on 20th and 21st century genres such as Rock, Folk, and Hip-Hop & Rap. Each genre-based collection unites every page and every issue of a diverse and influential group of magazines.
Music Periodicals Database (formerly International Index to Music Periodicals) This link opens in a new window Music Periodicals Database is an outstanding resource used to find articles in music journals. It enables you to access articles on a comprehensive variety of musical subjects, styles, and genres. Covers 1874-present.

MGG Online A German language encyclopedia of music, MGG Online contains the second print edition of MGG, published from 1994 to 2008, as well as current, continuous online updates and additions
National Jukebox The Library of Congress presents the National Jukebox, which makes historical sound recordings available to the public free of charge. The Jukebox includes recordings from the extraordinary collections of the Library of Congress Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation and other contributing libraries and archives.

Naxos Music Library This link opens in a new window For access to Naxos Music Library via mobile app, click here Naxos Music Library (NML) is the world's largest online classical music library. The library offers the catalogs of more than 50 classical, jazz and world music labels with more labels joining every month. Among the labels whose catalogs are included in the service are leading independent classical labels such as BIS, Chandos, CPO, Haenssler, Hungaroton, Marco Polo, Vanguard Classics, VOX, and of course Naxos. World music content is provided by ARC, Celestial Harmonies and others.
Naxos Music Library: Jazz This link opens in a new window Naxos Music Library Jazz offers thousands of tracks of jazz from over 2,300 albums. Hundreds of jazz artists are represented. Naxos Music Library Jazz comprises Naxos Jazz and the 22 labels of Fantasy Jazz. Naxos Jazz, along with Prophone and Proprius, brings you the world of international Jazz, covering Sweden and Scandinavian jazz artist.
Naxos Video Library This link opens in a new window To view subtitles for videos in Naxos that have them, select the language desired ONLY from the “Libretto/text” tab to the right of the video player. A performing arts video library presenting more than 2600 full-length videos of classical music performances, opera, ballet, live concerts and documentaries. Subtitles are available in 5 different languages and libretti are often included. Search videos by category, role, composer, artist, production personnel, work, venue or festival. Note: Access is limited to 20 users at a time, please log off when finished.

The New Penguin Dictionary of Music A great A to Z guide to over 1000 years of Western art music.

Oberlin Song Index This link opens in a new window Index of 48,000+ songs in anthologies, many of which are held in the Music Library. All styles and time periods are represented. Once an anthology has been identified, search NUcat for that anthology. The Northwestern Music Library may not own all anthologies included in the Oberlin Database.
Music Online: Opera in Video This link opens in a new window A streaming video resource, Opera in Video boasts five hundred hours of the most important opera performances, captured in video through staged productions, interviews, and documentaries. Selections represent the world’s best performers, conductors, and opera houses and are based on a work’s importance to the operatic canon across all periods of musical style.
Oxford Bibliographies: Music This link opens in a new window Oxford Bibliographies in Music combines the best features of a high-level encyclopedia and a traditional bibliography in a style tailored to meet the needs of today's online researchers. Each article, written and reviewed by top scholars in the field, is rich with citations and annotations, expert recommendations, and narrative pathways to the most important works for virtually all areas of music.
Oxford Music Online This link opens in a new window Oxford Music Online includes The Oxford Companion to Music and The Oxford Dictionary of Music, as well as Grove Music Online, the cornerstone of Oxford's online music reference collection.
Oxford History of Western Music This link opens in a new window A survey of the traditions of western music by one of the most prominent and provocative musicologists of our time, this book illuminates, through a representative sampling of masterworks, those themes, styles, and currents that give shape and direction to each musical age.
RILM Abstracts of Music Literature This link opens in a new window RILM offers broad international coverage base. It includes music related works from articles, books, bibliographies, dissertations, film & video to concert reviews and recording notes, provided the items are of scholarly interest. Topics include historical musicology, ethnomusicology, instruments and voice, librarianship, performance practice and notation, theory and analysis, pedagogy, liturgy, dance, criticism, music therapy, and interdisciplinary studies on music and various other fields.
RIPM - Retrospective Index of Music Periodicals with Full Text This link opens in a new window RIPM Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals with Full Text is an international, highly annotated bibliography with detailed content analysis of writings on musical history and culture between 1760 and 1966, all provided by internationally-recognized scholars and editors.
RISM - Repertoire International des Sources Musicales This link opens in a new window RISM identifies the locations of primary materials in music stored in libraries, archives, monasteries, schools and private collections, most of which date from before 1800.
Rock and Roll, Counterculture, Peace and Protest: Popular Culture in Britain and America, 1950-1975 This link opens in a new window Rock and Roll, Counterculture, Peace and Protest contains materials about popular culture in the U.S. and U.K. from 1950 to 1975. Topics include student protests, civil rights, consumerism, and the Vietnam War.
Music Online: Smithsonian Global Sound This link opens in a new window Smithsonian Global Sound is a network of international cultural institutions working to preserve and distribute music from archives worldwide, and to foster appreciation for traditional roots music. Through its Web site, Global Sound will offer audio and video downloads, streaming media, educational resources, and detailed liner notes to music lovers, students, historians, teachers, and the academic community.

Related Databases

Working on an inter-disciplinary topic? If so, you may also wish to try these databases.

Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window This multidisciplinary database provides access to articles from journals, magazines, and reference sources across all subject areas. Coverage is primarily from 1980 to the present, with some older content.
Artstor This link opens in a new window
ERIC This link opens in a new window
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Project Muse This link opens in a new window
PsycINFO This link opens in a new window
Web of Science This link opens in a new window Multidisciplinary coverage of over 10,000 journals in the sciences, social sciences, and arts and humanities, as well as published proceedings for over 12,000 conferences per year, and over 50,000 scholarly books.Powerful tools allow you to search and see what articles in the database have cited a particular work, as well as perform other analytics.