Member Favorite Research Tips & Tools: Reference

Music Reference
General sources

• Green, A. and Duffy, M.J. (2013).  Basic Music Reference: A Guide for Non-specialist Librarians, Library Assistants, and Student Employees.  Middleton:  AR Editions.  https://www.areditions.com/books/BM8.html 
• Grove Music Online http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/public/book/omo_gmo

Sources for sound recording sales data.

1. Freely available online
   • Billboard.com Current Billboard charts. Some historical data back to 1958.
   • Billboard Magazine, 1940-2011 (http://books.google.com/books?id=mB0EAAAAMBAJ&dq) Scanned issues available on google books; better for historical data.
   • Official Charts Company. (http://www.officialcharts.com/) UK charts. Current charts by genre, selected historical charts back to 1960.
2. Print
   • Joel Whitburn’s Records Research series. Top Billboard albums by time period or genre
   • Frank Hoffman and George Albert’s Cash Box series, Scarecrow Press, 1988-95. Record sales data from Cash Box magazine.
   • For a more extensive list of print sources for sales data, see Vincent H. Duckles and Ida Reed, “Collectors Guides to Popular Recordings,” in Music Reference and Research Materials: an Annotated Bibliography (New York: Schirmer Books, 1997), 10.116-10.165.
3. Subscription
   • Academic Charts Online: International Popular Music (http://www.academiccharts.com/).
   • See also Susannah Cleveland, review of Academic Charts Online: International Popular Music, Notes 69, no. 3 (March 2013): 599-602, doi:10.1353/not.2013.0029.

Digital Score Collections

1. Internet Music Score Library Project  www.imslp.org
2. Digitized scores from the Sibley Music Library, Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester  https://urresearch.rochester.edu/viewInstitutionalCollection.action?collectionId=63
3. Sheet Music Consortium http://digital2.library.ucla.edu/sheetmusic/

Ethnomusicology Research

• Garland Encyclopedia of World Music Online http://glnd.alexanderstreet.com/
• Oxford University Press Global Music Series.  Bonnie C. Wade and Patricia Shehan Campbell, editors.  24 titles (most include CDs) with geographical focus – (ex. –  Music of Bali, Music of Ireland, Music of East Africa, Music of America, etc.)  http://www.oup.com/us/companion.websites/umbrella/globalmusic/

 

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