Music Subject Guide

Use dictionaries to locate quick definitions or meanings of terms.

The music library owns many specialized dictionaries in the music reference collection (call number range REF ML 100-109)

• Harvard Dictionary of Music
  REF ML100.A64 2003
  The basic dictionary of musical terms. Does not contain biographical information.
  
  
• Terminorum Musicae Index: Septem Linguis Redactus
  REF ML108.T476
  Offers equivalent musical terms in seven languages.

Encyclopedias offer helpful overviews of topics and provide valuable bibliographies that lead to other trustworthy information.

Locate encyclopedias in the music reference collection (call number range REF ML 100-105)

• New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. 29 vols.  
  REF ML 100.N48 2001
  The most scholarly music encyclopedia in the English language, available in paper in the Music Library's reference area, and online. Be sure to use the bibliographies and list of composers' works at the end of articles.
   
• Oxford Music Online.
  Includes online versions of the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, the New Grove Dictionary of Opera, and the New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, as well as several basic Oxford reference works.
   
• Garland Encyclopedia of World Music. 10 vols.
  REF ML100.G16 1998
  A comprehensive overview of world musics. Articles are written by leading scholars in the field.
  

For quick biographical information, consult:

• Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians. 6 vols.
  REF ML105.B2 2001
  
  
• Directory of Music Faculties in Colleges and Universities, U.S. and Canada. 
  REF ML13.D57
  A quick way to find out who works where.
  
  
• International Who's Who in Music and Musicians' Directory.
  REF ML105.I58
  Brief biographical coverage of living musicians with useful appendices. Vol. 1 covers classical music, vol. 2 popular.

Good starting places when looking for analyses of music:

• Diamond, Harold. Music Analyses: An Annotated Guilde to the Literature.
  REF ML128.A7D5 1991
  Geared for an undergraduate collection such as ours. We've even written call numbers by things we own!
  
  
• Hoek, D.J. Analyses of 19th and 20th Century Music, 1940-2000. 
  REF ML113.W45 2007
  
  
• Reader's Guide to Music: History, Theory, Criticism.
  REF ML160.R32 1992
  A great starting place for most topics. Essays provide an overview of general music topics and their literature, including information about authors' biases, etc.