Sound Recording Program Notes
Notes that come with compact discs and LPs can sometimes contains some very good information about the piece you’re working on. Search Tripod, the Tri-College Online Catalog and try using the “music” search limited to “sound recordings”. Also try the Naxos Music Library online, a database of thousands of streaming audio files, many of which come with an "about this recording" link to program notes.
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MUSC 048 : Lessons for Credit (SC)
Good Starting Points:
Oxford music online
Compised of Grove Music Online, the Oxford Dictionary of Music, and the Oxford Companion to Music, covers all topics related to music and is a great place to start researching your composer and genre.
The Oxford history of western music
Publisher: New York : Oxford University Press, 2005.
A good resource for placing a piece in context both historically and musically.
Xreferplus Online
Allows for cross searching over a number of music dictionaries including the Harvard Dictionary of Music and the Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music. The articles are not as detailed as Grove but worth exploring.
Editor’s Notes
The preface to the edition of the music you are working from might have some good notes. If your edition doesn’t then perhaps another edition in the library does. Again, search Tripod and try using the “music” search limited to “music scores”.
The preface to the edition of the music you are working from might have some good notes. If your edition doesn’t then perhaps another edition in the library does. Again, search Tripod and try using the “music” search limited to “music scores”.
Composers:
The Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music
From XRefer, contains medium length articles, lists of works, and bibliographies.
Biographies
Tripod, the Tri-College Online Catalog is a good place to search for books about composers and their works. Try a subject search on the composers’ last name. You can also try a keyword search combining the last name of the composer and the type of music you’re playing; for example, bach and sonatas and flute. If you limit the results (by using the “modify” button) to material type books and location Swarthmore, you’ll have a shorter list to browse. Shelf browsing is also useful. Composers biographies can be found in the call number area ML 410 and are arranged alphabetically by the composer’s last name.
Tripod, the Tri-College Online Catalog is a good place to search for books about composers and their works. Try a subject search on the composers’ last name. You can also try a keyword search combining the last name of the composer and the type of music you’re playing; for example, bach and sonatas and flute. If you limit the results (by using the “modify” button) to material type books and location Swarthmore, you’ll have a shorter list to browse. Shelf browsing is also useful. Composers biographies can be found in the call number area ML 410 and are arranged alphabetically by the composer’s last name.
Genres:
Tripod Searching
Try a Tripod subject search on terms such as piano music, chamber music, vocal music, songs, operas, sonatas, suites, concertos, symphonies, etc. You can also try a keyword search combining one of these terms with the last name of the composer. If you limit the results (by using the “limit” button) to material type books and location Swarthmore, you’ll have a shorter list to browse.
Try a Tripod subject search on terms such as piano music, chamber music, vocal music, songs, operas, sonatas, suites, concertos, symphonies, etc. You can also try a keyword search combining one of these terms with the last name of the composer. If you limit the results (by using the “limit” button) to material type books and location Swarthmore, you’ll have a shorter list to browse.
Shelf Browsing
If you're doing a piano piece, check out the books in ML 706 - ML 707, and also MT 140. If you're doing a chamber piece, a violin sonata, or a flute sonata, etc., i.e. something for at least two instruments together, take a look at The Literature of Chamber Music, by Arthur Cohn in the Reference shelf (Reference ML 1100 .C63) or Guide to Chamber Music by Melvin Berger (ML 1100 .B45 1989) If you're doing an opera aria, check out the opera reference books (Reference ML 102 .O6) to find out who your character is and what they are doing. One such book is Who's who in opera; a guide to opera characters .
Performance Practice:
Performance practice
Publisher: New York : W.W. Norton, 1990, c1989.
A two volume set from the Norton/Grove Handbooks in Music series. Volume one covers music before 1600 and volume two covers music after 1600.
Shelf Browsing
Many books on performance practice are shelved in ML 457.
Many books on performance practice are shelved in ML 457.
Terminology:
Naxos Music Library Glossary
A text resource within the Naxos Music Library of online sound recordings.
Lyrics:
Lied & Art Songs Texts
Tens of thousands of song texts, many with English translations. Entries can help answer questions such as who wrote the text, what was the original language of the text, who else has set this text.
Lyrics and translations included with notes to sound recordings are also great resources for texts and translations.
Evaluating Sources:
Scholarly Journals vs. Popular Magazine Articles (USTA Library)
This page compares the two types of publications on several levels, including language, structure of articles, editorial procedures, and credits.
Evaluating Information Found on the Internet (Johns Hopkins University Library)
Discusses the criteria by which scholars in most fields evaluate print information, and shows how the same criteria can be used to assess information found on the Internet.
Citing Sources:
Chicago Manual of Style
Chicago/Turabian Documentation
from the University of Wisconsin Writing Center
Guidelines for Citing Scores and Recordings
from Williams College