Dictionaries & Encyclopedias
Dictionaries and encyclopedias are great reference tools, because they can help you identify key information about a musician, musical topic, genre, style, etc. fairly quickly.
Encyclopedias, such as The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, feature entries for musical terms, topics, or people. Entries for musicians are particularly useful because they will include a list of works (some more comprehensive than others), bibliographies for further research and related sources.
Keep in mind that print reference tools will go out of date and may not include information about contemporary/emerging people, topics, or issues in music. Online reference tools are available (see below) for several of the more exhaustive dictionary and encyclopedia titles.
Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart: allgemeine Enzyklopädie der Musik by Call Number: Music Library Reference ML100 .M92 1994Publication Date: 1994-2007
The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music by
Explores key themes in African music that have emerged in recent years-a subject usually neglected in country-by-country coverage emphasizes the contexts of musical performance-unlike studies that offer static interpretations isolated from other performing traditions presents the fresh insights and analyses of musicologists and anthropologists of diverse national origins-African, Asian, European, and American Charts the flow and influence of music. The Encyclopedia also charts the musical interchanges that followed the movement of people and ideas across the continent, including: cross-regional musical influences throughout Africa * Islam and its effect on African music * spread of guitar music * Kru mariners of Liberia * Latin American influences on African music * musical interchanges in local contexts * crossovers between popular and traditional practices. Audio CD included. Also includes nine maps and 96 music examples.
Call Number: Music Library Reference ML100 .G16 1998Publication Date: 1997-08-01
The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians by
Since its initial publication in 1980, the Dictionary has been widely acclaimed as an indispensable resource and a classic reference. The word "updated" doesn't begin to describe the thousands of new articles, topics, cross-references, and areas of scholarship incorporated into The New GroveII. Every one of the first edition's 22,500 articles has been reviewed and revised, with thousands of articles expanded. Previously neglected or under-represented areas have been examined, explored, and explained. Movements and topics once deemed too controversial or too far from the mainstream havebeen added. And throughout, 6,500 new articles cover more than 5,000 years of music history, instruments, composers, institutions, performers, genres, and more.The New Grove II takes you beyond the customary and familiar into new worlds with extensive, authoritative contributions on non-Western music. From major influences, such as Latin American music, to less-examined contributions, such as Asian, sub-Saharan African, and Pacific Islander, The New GroveII presents the music, theory, instruments, and musicians that have helped to define music around the world.
Call Number: Music Library Reference ML100 .N48 2001Publication Date: 2003-02-11
Dictionaries & Encyclopedias Online
- MGG OnlineDie Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart (MGG) is a general encyclopedia of music. MGG is encyclopedic in the true sense of that term: it offers in-depth articles on every aspect of music as well as many related areas such as literature, philosophy, and visual arts. MGG Online contains the second print edition of MGG, published from 1994 to 2008, as well as current, continuous online updates and additions.
- Music Online Garland Encyclopedia of World MusicThe Garland Encyclopedia of World Music Online is the first comprehensive online resource devoted to music research of all the world's peoples. It contains more than 9,000 pages of material, combined with entries by more than 700 expert contributors from all over the world.
- Oxford Music OnlineOxford Music Online (OMO) is the access-point for Oxford music reference subscriptions and products, including Grove Music Online (includes The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd edition, The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, and The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, 2nd edition), The Oxford Companion to Music, The Oxford Dictionary of Music, and the Encyclopedia of Popular Music (Colin Larkins comprehensive reference work, 4th edition, devoted to rock, pop, and jazz). With OMO patrons can cross-search Grove and Oxford reference content in one location.
- RILM Music EncyclopediasThis resource is a compilation of 41 seminal titles published from 1775 to the present comprising nearly 80,000 pages, the majority of which are not available anywhere else online. This is an extensive global resource designed to meet the teaching, learning, and research needs of the international music community. It provides comprehensive encyclopedic coverage of the most important disciplines, fields, and subject areas, among them popular music, opera, instruments, blues, gospel, recorded sound, and women composers.