Supporting Diversity in the Music Experience
This guide provides resources that support diversity within the music experience at St. Olaf.
LibKey Nomad
Research and Instruction Librarian for Music & Fine Arts
Karen Olson
she/her/hers
Recent Publications on Music of Asia and the Asian Diaspora
Chinese Music in PrintAvailable online.
The Oxford Handbook of Music in China and the Chinese DiasporaAvailable online.
Sounding the Indian OceanAvailable online.
Encyclopedias, Dictionaries, and Overviews
We have many more dictionaries and encyclopedias than those listed below. To find more reference sources, search Catalyst for your topic keywords and the phrase (dictionary OR encyclopedia) in parentheses, like this:
The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: South Asia: The Indian SubcontinentCall Number: Music Ref: ML100 .G16 1998Available in print and online. See also the volumes on Southeast Asia and East Asia.
The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Music of IndiaAvailable online.
Score Anthologies
Korean Art Songs: An Anthology and Guide for Performance and StudyCall Number: M1619 .K676 v.1 and v.2 in high and med/low voicingsAvailable in print.
Find Research and Repertoire -- Print Resources
We have many more bibliographies than those listed below. Search for them in Catalyst by searching for your keywords and the word bibliography, as shown below.
Be sure to look at the dates of the bibliographies to see how recent they are. You may be able to find more recent sources by consulting our music databases or by looking at the online resources in the next box.
Find Repertoire -- Online Resources
- Karen's Giant Spreadsheet of Composer Diversity Websites -- a list of 60+ websites Karen consults when selecting new music by composers from historically underrepresented groups; please email Karen if you have suggestions of new sites to add or if links are broken.
Some of the sites Karen consults frequently from this spreadsheet include:
- Institute for Composer Diversity -- click the "search" button at the top to access their databases for composers, art songs, choral works, band works, orchestral works, and more.
- Diversity in Brass Music from Last Row Music -- lists of repertoire by woman composers and by Black composers
- No Broken Links -- Google spreadsheets for woodwind repertoire by composers from historically underrepresented groups
- Sphinx Catalogs -- music for strings by Latin American composers
- A Seat at the Piano -- piano repertoire by BIPOC and woman composers
- Music By Black Composers -- repertoire lists of music by Black composers, currently strongest in string repertoire; see also their directories of living and historic Black composers
- SongHelix -- originally designed to track art songs by topic, it now also permits searching by composer identities
- Alex Shapiro's Programming Resources -- includes pages on woman composers, LGBTQIA2s Composers, and Black, Latino, Asian, and Indian composers
Useful Links
- Asian American Arts AllianceAsian American Arts Alliance is a nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring greater representation, equity, and opportunities for Asian American artists and cultural organizations through resource sharing, promotion, and community building.
- Asian Pacific American Heritage and Music from the Smithsonian InstitutionBlog posts and podcasts about Asian Pacific American musiciansl
- Music of Asian America Research CenterThe Music of Asian America Research Center (MAARC) strives to increase knowledge and awareness of Asian American history and experience through collecting and conducting research on materials related to music-making by Asian Americans
- Resounding the ScoresThis project features a collection of parts and full scores of 51 pieces of Chinese instrumental ensemble music preserved in the Music Office (MO) of the Hong Kong Government's Leisure and Cultural Services Department.