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Introduction to Music Research

At a Glance

For a brief overview of our digital resources, click through the tabs below. For a complete listing of databases we subscribe to, consult our Databases list. Note that this list does not include resources outside of MSM that can be accessed through other means (see below).

 

Many print encyclopedias, dictionaries, and journals have been digitized in the last decade. Manhattan School of Music subscribes to several databases for these materials, including:

  • JSTOR
    Over 70 journals and 50 ebooks about music: indexing, keyword searching, and full text.
  • Daniels' Orchestral Music Online
    Search repertoire by composer and instrumentation.
  • Database of Recorded American Music
    Recordings and liners notes from a number of labels, including New World Music and CRI.
  • Music Periodicals Database
    More than half a million indexed articles, plus detailed abstracts and full text from periodicals dating from 1874 to today.
  • Music Online: Music Periodicals of the 19th Century
    Full-text periodicals depicting American musical life from 1838 to the early 1900s through local and international news, reviews, editorials, sheet music, and advertisements
  • Music Reference Collection
    Full-text content spanning time periods, genres, cultural groups, and geographic regions, including reference books, artwork, biographies, songsheets, dictionaries, and encyclopedias.
  • Oxford History of Western Music
    Richard Taruskin's multi-volume history of Western music.
  • Oxford Music Online
    The gateway to Grove Music Online, with access to search The Oxford Dictionary of Music and The Oxford Companion to Music.

 

There are several important article databases that are available for free through the New York Public Library (with your NYPL library card).

Below is a curated selection of music-related databases:

  • Index to Printed Music: Collections & Series
    "...is a tool for finding individual pieces of music printed in standard scholarly editions, as it indexes each individual piece in a collection. Music for specific performing forces is easily retrievable, thus offering detailed repertory for performers, conductors, and directors of ensembles."
  • ProQuest Dissertations and Theses
    "Includes citations for dissertations from 1861 to those accepted as recently as last semester. Abstracts from 1980 - present. The database represents the work of authors from over 1,000 North American graduate schools and European universities, from a diverse array of academic subjects including literature, languages, art history, music history, philosophy, history, mathematics, psychology, and science. A subset of these documents is publicly available using the website PQDT Open."
  • RILM
    "The online version of the Repertoire International de Litterature Musicale, RILM Abstracts of Music Literature (1969-present) is a continuously updated bibliography of music literature providing broad international coverage including full text records in over 202 languages from 3,700 journals."
  • RIPM: Online Archive of Music Periodicals: 1800-1950
    "Full text archive of specialized music journals, daily newspapers, articles in literary periodicals, theatrical journals and magazines,  as well as engravings and lithographs in the illustrated press."

In addition, here are a couple general academic databases that might be of use to your research:

  • Academic OneFile
    Search or browse by discipline for both full-text articles and abstracts from scholarly, trade, and general-interest publications, addressing subjects related to current events, general sciences and technology, social sciences, arts, and humanities. Included in this collection are articles from the Chronicle of Higher Education.
  • Academic Search Premier
    Contains a vast collection of academic articles, journals, and other scholarly content across various fields.