Reference works can save you a lot of time. They have done the work of compiling information about a person or topic for you and can help you frame your research question. They also have useful bibliographies that can jump start your research process.
> Guides to Reference Materials and Research
> Dictionaries & Encyclopedias
> Biographical Information
> Biography of Contemporary Composers
> Histories
Oxford Reference Online is a fully indexed, cross-searchable database of about 100 dictionary, language reference, and subject reference works published by Oxford University Press.
Searches sources such as:
Encyclopedia of Popular Music,
The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music,
The Oxford Companion to Music
and many more resources all together!
There are myriad music dictionaries and encyclopedias. Depending on what topic you are researching you may need a very specialized one or a more general one. A few of the best general ones are listed below.
 |
New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
|
|
Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart: Allgemeine Enzyklopädie der Musik (MGG), 2nd ed. - Friedrich Blume
|
Garland encyclopedia of World Music
 |
Diccionario de la música española Call Number: ML101.S7 D53 1999 |
In addition to the biographical dictionaries listed below, there are also book-length biographical tools called biobibliographies. A biobibliography is a bibliography devoted to one composer. They list books, journal articles, and other information about a composer. Sometimes these books are called "guides to research." They are typically located in the MLs in the Reference collection.
|
|
|
Sometimes it can be difficult to find biographical information about composers who are still living. Some good sources are publisher websites and interviews (either online or in newspapers in periodicals).
| The Oxford history of western music- Taruskin, Richard.
Call Number: ML160 T18, 6 vols (3rd Floor)
|
|
Duckles, Vincent. Music Reference and Research Materials, 5th ed.
|
|
|
|
Crabtree, Phillip. Sourcebook for Research in Music. |
There are four resources within Oxford Music Online, including:
1. Grove Music Online
Note: All three of these Grove titles are searched when you select "Grove Music Online." :
The New Grove (NGII) is the major English-language music encyclopedia. It was first published in 1879-89 in four volumes under the title Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians. The 29 volume set found on the Index/Encyclopedia table in the Reference area is the 2nd edition with the title New Grove (but the 7th edition of the encyclopedia overall) and was published in 2001.
More than half of the entries are on composers. Particularly for major composers, these give both biographical data and musical analysis and extensive work lists. Other people given individual entries include performers, scholars, writers, librettists, dancers, patrons, printers, instrument makers and others significant in the history of music. Numerous entries cover a variety of geographical areas--cities, countries, and regions of the world. The New Grove also includes hundreds of terminological and survey articles on music other than Western European art music including popular music and world music (ethnomusicology).
The New Grove is the most inclusive reference source for music in the English language and is the primary English-language resource for the world's music.
2. Oxford Companion to Music (Alison Latham, 2002)
3. Oxford Dictionary of Music (Michael Kennedy, 2006)
4. Encyclopedia of Popular Music (Colin Larkin)