LibGuides: Music History: Reference Books

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How to Find Reference Books

To look for reference books enter your search terms in the search box above. After your results appear, in the "Collection" section of the "Narrow Your Results" column on the left side of the page, click on "Reference".

Useful terms for starting might be:

Music History
Music Biography
Music Dictionary
Jazz History
Opera History
etc.

You can also enter your search terms in the search box at the library home page. For more detail see the "How to Find Books" tab above.

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What are Reference Books

Reference books typically contain information in a concise and authoritative manner. Encyclopedias and dictionaries are the two most common types you will encounter. Other types are almanacs, bibliographies, directories, handbooks, etc. Books in Tomlinson Library's Reference Collection cannot be checked out and must be used in the library. The library has some electronic reference materials as well. If you are at home and need to look up something, try our electronic reference materials. A few music e-resources are listed folowing the books below.

E-Reference Sources

Selected Reference Books

Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz
Call Number: Ref ML 102 J3 F39 1999
Detailed information on the careers of 3.300 jazz musicians from around the world.
Blues Who's Who
Call Number: Ref ML 102 B6 H3 1981
Covering the history of country, city, folk, and rock blues, all eras and styles, it features detailed biographies of 571 blues artists, 450 photographs, and hundreds of pages of facts.
Encyclopedia of Country Music
Call Number: Ref ML 102 C7 E54 2004
Useful guide to the Country Music genre.
Encyclopedia of Popular Music
Call Number: Ref ML 102 P66 G84 1998
Covering both mega-star and little-known performers, the Encyclopedia includes jazz, rock, country, folk, rap, blues, stage and film musicals, heavy metal, punk, techno, and unique coverage of world music and reggae.
Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music
Call Number: Ref ML 105 H38 1996
This volume brings together the pertinent biographical information about composers, performers, music theorists, and instrument makers from the days of praise chants to the bop and pop of today.
Harvard Concise Dictionary of Music and Musicians
Call Number: Ref ML 100 H36 1999
This concise dictionary offers definitions of musical terms; succinct characterizations of the various forms of musical composition; entries that identify individual operas, oratorios, symphonic poems, and other works; illustrated descriptions of instruments; and capsule summaries of the lives and careers of composers, performers, and theorists.
Harvard Dictionary of Music
Call Number: Ref ML 100 A64 2003
The Harvard Dictionary of Music is the essential guide for musicians, students, and everyone who appreciates music.
Historical Dictionary of the Broadway Musical
Call Number: Ref ML 102 M88 E94 2008
Through a chronology, an introductory essay, a bibliography, and 900 dictionary entries on Broadway shows, playwrights, directors, producers, designers, and actors, this handy desk reference offers quick information on the many aspects of the Broadway musical.
History of Western Music
Call Number: Ref ML 160 G872 2006
Covers a range of topics from the musical life and thought in ancient Greece and Rome to the music of the Middle Ages, the late Renaissance and Reformation, and Baroque period, to the solo, chamber, vocal music, and opera in Europe and America throughout the centuries to the present.
New Grove Dictionary of Jazz
Call Number: Ref ML 102 J3 N48 2002
With articles on every aspect of the field, from jazz groups, composers and arrangers to instruments, terms, record labels and venues, the new edition is an ideal companion for scholars and enthusiasts in this rapidly growing field.
New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
Call Number: Ref ML 100 N48 2001
The Dictionary has been widely acclaimed as an indispensable resource and a classic reference. 29 volumes. Also available electronically, see entry below on this page.
New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments
Call Number: Ref ML 102 I5 N48 1984
Grove describes over 12,000 musical instruments individually and in the context of instrument families. Charting the history, development, musical function, and intercultural links of each instrument, this is the most comprehensive collection of information on the topic.
New Grove Dictionary of Opera
Call Number: Ref ML 102 O6 N5 1992
Incorporating a decade of musicological research, the Dictionary contains contributions from over 1,300 of the world's leading critics and scholars with 11,000 articles, all fully cross-referenced.
Oxford Companion to Music
Call Number: Ref ML 100 S37 2002
Contains a broad sweep of musical subjects ranging from composers, performers, conductors, individual works, instruments and notation, and forms and genres, to music scholarship and aesthetics, music education, broadcasting and publishing, all aspects of music theory, and performance practice, as well as jazz, popular music, and dance. Entries range from brief definitions to in-depth essays on subjects such as politics, religion, psychology, and computers. Also available electronically, see entry below on this page.

Selected E-Reference Titles

Grove Book of Opera Singers
Call Number: Online
Biographical and professional information about more than 1,500 opera singers active from the sixteenth through the twenty-first centuries
Oxford Companion to Music
Call Number: Online
Contains a broad sweep of musical subjects ranging from composers, performers, conductors, individual works, instruments and notation, and forms and genres, to music scholarship and aesthetics, music education, broadcasting and publishing, all aspects of music theory, and performance practice, as well as jazz, popular music, and dance. Entries range from brief definitions to in-depth essays on subjects such as politics, religion, psychology, and computers.
Oxford Companion to the American Musical
Call Number: Online
Overview of the American musical theater on the stage, silver screen, and small screen. The 2000-plus entries are brief but detailed accounts of plots; production histories; careers of actors, dancers, musicians, lyricists, composers, choreographers, and directors; organizations; and genres (animated musicals, frontier musicals).
Oxford Music Online
Call Number: Online
Contains the information found in the print edition of The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Updated regularly.