Research Guides: Music: Home

Find Articles

Use these databases to find scholarly articles:

RILM Abstracts of Music Literature
Provides citations and abstracts to music articles (international focus) from 1969-present, with records in over 200 languages. Indexes more than 2,000 music journals and about 11,000 journals from other disciplines.
JSTOR
Provides access to content across all disciplines. Search or browse books, journals, images, and primary sources.
ProQuest Central Premium

Provides access to thousands of full-text scholarly journals, trade and professional titles, newspapers, magazines, dissertations, working papers, case studies, and market reports. Content covers all major subject areas, including business, health and medical, social sciences, arts and humanities, education, science and technology, and religion.
Project Muse
Provides full-text access to approximately 250 journals published by 40 academic presses in the arts and humanities, social sciences, and mathematics.
Music Index
Covers all areas of classical and popular music (international focus). Provides indexing and abstracts for over 660 journals. Articles date from 1964-present.

Find Background Information

Use these encyclopedias, dictionaries and databases to find authoritative background information on musical genres, periods, instruments, composers, performers, and more:

Oxford Music Online (formerly Grove Music Online)
Provides full-text access to Grove Music Online, The Oxford Dictionary of Music, and The Oxford Companion to Music.

Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music
Derived from the classic Oxford Dictionary of Music, this is the most authoritative dictionary of music available in paperback. Up-to-date and clearly written, it is a rich mine of information for lovers of music of all periods and styles.
The Oxford Companion to Music
The new edition of this classic reference work includes articles that range from clear, concise definitions of musical ideas and terms to extended surveys of musical forms and styles, with specialist coverage of virtually every musical subject.
Encyclopedia of Popular Music
This encyclopedia's 30,000 entries cover all genres and periods of popular music from 1900 to the present day, including jazz, country, folk, rap, reggae, techno, musicals, and world music.
The Oxford Companion to the American Musical
With more than two thousand entries, this guide offers a wealth of information on musicals, performers, composers, lyricists, producers, choreographers, and much more.
Who's Who in Opera
Is a unique and authoritative A-Z reference work that will answer all your questions on who's who in opera. Contains over 2,500 lively entries on operatic characters, with information on the creator of the role and notable performances.
Dictionary of Opera Characters
A unique and authoritative A-Z reference work that will answer all your questions on who's who in opera. Contains over 2,500 lively entries on operatic characters, with information on the creator of the role and notable performances.
The Grove Book of Opera Singers
Covering over 1500 singers from the birth of opera to the present day, this marvellous volume will be an essential resource for all serious opera lovers and an indispensable companion to the enormously successful Grove Book of Operas
The Grove Book of Operas
Each succinct yet insightful entry is written by a leading authority on the opera and includes a full synopsis of the plot, a cast list, a note on the singers in the original production, and information on the origins of the work and its literary and social background. Contributions conclude with a brief comment on the particular work's place in operatic history.

IPA Source
Comprehensive collection of literal translations and International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) transcriptions of foreign language texts in art song and opera. This reference source aids singers, instructors and others with the correct and knowledgeable performance of vocal literature. Promotes accurate pronunciation of words and allows singers to imbue each syllable with the appropriate emotional content.