Your Librarian
Online dictionaries & encyclopedias
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Oxford Music OnlineAccess Grove Music Online and other Oxford reference resources. Find music-related information, from definitions of terms to in-depth articles on scholarly topics. Covers classical music, opera, jazz, and popular music. Includes resources for further reading.
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The Garland Encyclopedia of World MusicA comprehensive English language source for information about world music and the field of ethnomusicology. Organized by geographical region. A print edition of this multi-volume encyclopedia is available at the Fine Arts Library.
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Encyclopedia Britannica OnlineFully searchable and browsable collection of authoritative references, including Britannica's latest article database, hundreds of articles not found in the print Britannica, Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, the Britannica Book of the Year, with thousands of links to other World Wide Web sites selected by Britannica editors.
Biographical databases
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Biography in ContextFind biographies of current and historic people throughout history. Searchable by name, occupation, nationality, place of birth, and place of death.
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Oxford Dictionary of National BiographyThe Oxford Dictionary of National Biography provides signed biographies of 50,000 men and women who have shaped all aspects of British history from the earliest times up to the present. It is searchable by name, full text, references, contributors, images, and may also be browsed alphabetically by name, or by themes.
Other important sources
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Classical Music Reference LibraryFind a variety of essential reference materials, spanning the entire history of Western classical music.
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African American Music ReferenceSearch or browse over 160 books on all aspects of African American music.
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Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA broad musical scope covering popular music of all genres and periods from 1900 to the present day, including jazz, country, folk, rap, reggae, techno, musicals, and world music
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Harvard Dictionary of MusicOne volume dictionary of musical terms. Useful for finding concise definitions. Does not include information on composers.
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Oxford Bibliographies-MusicComprehensive online music bibliographies of different composers, music genres, and countries.
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Die Musik in Geschichte und GegenwartComprehensive and scholarly German language encyclopedia. New edition. Older edition at Music Reference ML 100.M92.
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Cambridge Companions OnlineCambridge Companions to Music include comprehensive reference information on composers, instruments or musical topics.