LibGuides: Music: Reference Sources

General Music Reference Sources

These reference sources offer biographical and background information on musicians, musical styles and terms, composers, music history and instruments. Note that some are available in print in the Reference section of the library (see the call numbers), some are available as eBooks, and some are in both formats. Call the library Information Desk (778-1206) if you have any questions or problems accessing these sources.

New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd ed. (ebook)
Call Number: REF ML100 .N48
Often referred to simply as "Grove" or "Grove Music", this 29-volume set contains lengthy, encyclopedic articles on a large variety of music topics. The online version (part of Oxford Music Online) can be accessed from the link above and the print version can be found at the call number above.
Oxford Companion to Music (ebook)
Call Number: REF ML100 .S37
Definitions of musical ideas and terms, surveys of musical forms and styles, current research in and approaches to music, including analysis, theory, ethnomusicology, and performance practice. This one-volume work contains shorter articles than you would find in Grove. Available both online and in print.
Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Classical Musicians
Call Number: REF ML105 .S612 1997
PRESENTLY UNAVAILABLE.
Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Popular Musicians since 1990 (ebook)
Call Number: REF ML102 .P66 B35 2004
Two volumes offer 583 approximately one-page profiles of bands and individual artists working in all popular musical genres--from electronica and hip hop to heavy metal, country, and world music.
Available in print or online in Gale Virtual Reference Library.

Sarangi

Short-necked fiddle of South Asia, found both in the art music of North India and Pakistan (from Grove Dictionary of Music)

India, C, 1900, Metropolitan Museum of Art
Image from ARTstor database