- St. Olaf Libraries
- Research Guides
- Music 141: Introduction to Musicology
- Tertiary Sources: Dictionaries and Encyclopedias
Music 141: Introduction to Musicology
Course Guide for Music 141
Karen Olson
Karen Olson
she/her/hers
LibKey Nomad
Research and Instruction Librarian for Music & Fine Arts
Karen Olson
she/her/hers
Why Use a Reference Source?
Reference sources are tertiary sources, including dictionaries and encyclopedias. They draw on primary and secondary sources to summarize the basic details of a topic.
Reference sources are a good place to start your research, especially if your topic is brand new to you.
- They provide introductions the topic and the major research points that other scholars have discussed.
- They provide quick definitions of important terms or concepts.
- They often include bibliographies of suggested sources that can help you build your own set of research sources.
Music Reference Sources
Online Music Reference Sources
- African American Music Reference This link opens in a new windowCovers blues, jazz, spirituals, civil rights songs, slave songs, minstrelsy, rhythm and blues, gospel, and other genres. Includes biographies, chronologies, lyrics, sheet music, liner notes, images, and discographies.
- Oxford Music Online This link opens in a new windowThe go-to encyclopedia for western art music. Most articles include bibliographies. Includes the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, the New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, the Oxford Dictionary of Music, and the Oxford Companion to Music.
- Harvard Biographical Dictionary of MusicBrief biographies of musicians, mostly in western art music. Shorter and less detailed than those in Oxford Music Online.
- Harvard Dictionary of MusicBrief definitions of musical terms. Especially good for western art music.
- Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th edition)Information on a range of popular music genre from 1900s onwards; including rock, pop, jazz, folk blues, heavy metal, techno, R&B, reggae, and hip-hop. This biographical encyclopedia contains a name index, an index of song titles, and bibliographies by artist and subject. Updated in 2006.
- Garland Encyclopedia of World Music Online This link opens in a new windowFull-text encyclopedia covering music around the world and throughout history. Includes regional overviews, information on musical genres and practices, and images (photographs, drawings, maps, and musical examples).
Print Music Reference Sources
Additional specialized reference works are available in print in Halvorson Music Library. These are located along the north wall of the library (to the right when you enter the library.) Here are just a few!
- Broadway Musicals: Show by Show (2008) byCall Number: Music Reference ML1711 .G735 2008ISBN: 9781557837363Includes music and lyrics information; names of producers, directors and choreographers; cast lists; New York run dates; songs; and more.
- International Dictionary of Black Composers byCall Number: Music Reference ML105 .I49 1999ISBN: 1884964273Brief biographies for composers of color.
- The Norton-Grove Dictionary of Woman Composers byCall Number: Music Reference ML105 .N38 1995ISBN: 0393034879Detailed biographies of more than 1,000 female creators of western art music.