Introduction

Encyclopedias and dictionaries broadly address the field of music; the subjects covered are generally listed alphabetically. There are many music dictionaries and encyclopedias. Depending on what topic you are researching you may be fine with a more general reference source or you may need a very specialized source.

Oxford Music Online

There are four resources within Oxford Music Online, including:

1. Grove Music Online

• New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd ed. (often referred to as New Grove or NGII) (also available in print)
  Call number: ML100 G76N38 2001, 29 vols. (Ready Reference)
• New Grove Dictionary of Jazz (also available in print)
  Call number ML102.J3 N482002, 3 vols. (Reference)
• New Grove Dictionary of Opera, 1992 (also available in print)
  Call number ML102.O6 N393, 4 vols. (Reference)

Note: All three of these Grove titles are searched when you select "Grove Music Online." It is not possible to search just the jazz or opera volumes.

The New Grove (NGII) is the major English-language music encyclopedia. It was first published in 1879-89 in four volumes under the title Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians. The 29 volume set found on the Index/Encyclopedia table in the Reference desk area is the 2nd edition with the title New Grove (but the 7th edition of the encyclopedia overall) and was published in 2001.

More than half of the entries are on composers. Particularly for major composers, these give both biographical data and musical analysis and extensive work lists. Other people given individual entries include performers, scholars, writers, librettists, dancers, patrons, printers, instrument makers and others significant in the history of music. Numerous entries cover a variety of geographical areas--cities, countries, and regions of the world.  The New Grove also includes hundreds of terminological and survey articles on music other than Western European art music including popular music and world music (ethnomusicology).

The New Grove is the most inclusive reference source for music in the English language and is the primary English-language resource for the world's music.

2. Oxford Companion to Music (Alison Latham, 2002)

3. Oxford Dictionary of Music (Michael Kennedy, 2006)

4. Encyclopedia of Popular Music, 4th ed., ed. Colin Larkin
Also in print: Call Number: ML102.P66 G842006, 10 vols. (Reference)

The Encyclopedia of Popular Music is the most comprehensive and scholarly encyclopedia devoted to popular music. International scope, entries primarily from 1900 forward.

Harvard Dictionary of Music, 4th ed., ed. Don Michael Randel

Also in print: Call Number: ML100 A63H272003 (Ready Reference)

The Harvard Dictionary follows the lead of other reference works (such as The New Grove, and The New Oxford Companion) which have broadened the scope of previous editions to encompass non-Western and popular forms of music. The biggest difference in content between The New Harvard Dictionary and the others is its omission of entries for composers and other individuals. Entries include musical forms, instruments, terms, dances, individual works with distinctive titles, countries, regions of the world, ethnic groups, and periods in the history of Western music. Far more than a "dictionary" which briefly defines terms, this is a broad-based reference work which adjusts the length of its entries to the topic at hand. For example, "Fork fingering" is allotted one sentence; "Opera" occupies seven pages. Most entries are signed by members of a team of scholarly contributors, and many include bibliographies. Musical examples are not plentiful, but are put to good use. Illustrations consist of line drawings of instruments.

World Music

Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, ed. Bruno Nettl and Ruth M. Stone
Call Number: ML100 G27, 10 vols and 10 compact discs (Reference) (ask for CDs at Circulation Desk)

Promoted as the "first comprehensive survey of the world’s music," the encyclopedia emphasizes music in its cultural context. Its multidisciplinary scholarship encompasses the related fields of dance, folklore, poetry, religion, and politics. The first nine volumes divide the world’s music into nine regions (Africa; South America, Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean; The United States and Canada; Southeast Asia; South Asia: The Indian Subcontinent; The Middle East; East Asia: China, Japan, and Korea; Europe; and Australia and the Pacific Islands). The final volume is comprised of articles on the discipline of world music, on musical instruments and on methodologies as well as a general index to entire series, plus all bibliographies, discographies, and videographies from the regional volumes. Because this is a print resource, the bibliographies, discographies, and videographies will only be as current as when that volume was published.

Coverage for each region includes an introductory overview; a review of the region’s music heritage and scholarship; and, regional case studies of musical forms, practices, theories, techniques, genres, and influences. These case studies may include specific styles and genres of popular music, music theory and notation, musical influences and acculturation, music and folklore, gender and music, and the rural-urban interchange. Western art music is treated from the ethnomusicological perspective. Each volume is accompanied by an audio compact disc which illustrates the region’s music and is keyed to the text. Supplementary information for each volume includes discographies, film- and videographies, musical examples, numerous black and white illustrations, an index and glossary.

Popular Music

See The Encyclopedia of Popular Music under "Oxford Music Online" above.

Encyclopedia of punk music and culture, Brian Cogan
Call Number: ML102.R6 C64 (Reference)

Encyclopedia of rap and hip-hop culture, Yvonne Bynoe.
Call Number: ML102.R27 B96 (Reference)

The Rolling stone encyclopedia of rock & roll, ed. Holly George-Warren and Patricia Romanowski
Call Number: ML102.R6 R642001 (Reference)

Biographical Dictionaries

In addition to Oxford Music Online, which is a very good place to start when looking for biographical information, you may also want to try these sources.

Baker's biographical dictionary of musicians - ed. Nicholas Slonimsky
Call Number: ML105 B16 B5 1992 (Ready Reference)

First published in 1900, Baker’s has become music's standard biographical dictionary.  In all, it includes nearly thirteen thousand entries for composers, performers, publishers, and others from all historical periods and all parts of the world. Most entries are short, but those for major composers extend to several pages. Entries include citations to other biographical sources and lists of compositions or written works.

Slonimsky was adept at using anecdotes to portray a subject's personality, compositional characteristics, or performing style. He made no attempt to hide his opinions and often distilled cogent and wry evaluations into introductory epithets for his subjects: Berlioz was "a great French composer," Caruso "a celebrated Italian tenor," Gershwin "an immensely gifted American composer." The entertaining style and abundance of not only biographical but historical and musicological information give Baker's primary importance in the literature.

Guides to Research and Bio-bibliographies

There are also book-length biographical tools called bio-bibliographies. A bio-bibliography is a bibliography devoted to one composer that also contains biographical information. In addition to works lists and information about performances and sometimes recordings, they list books, journal articles, and other information about a composer. Sometimes these books are called "guides to research." They are typically located in the ML134s in the Reference collection.

Contemporary Composers, Musicians, and Performing Groups

Finding information about living musicians can be challenging. Sometimes the internet is the best source, but make sure you can trust the information source (see the "Evaluating Web Sites" box on the "Resources Beyond the Library" tab). Sources like publisher's websites, AllMusic Guide, Art of the States, and others are really good for finding information about contemporary subjects, especially those who may not yet have made their way into print or online academic reference sources yet.

Works Lists

Grove Music Online (through Oxford Music Online) is the best place to find works lists for many classical composers. These lists can often tell you something about when and where the work premiered and where to find it in the composer's collected works edition (a set of scores dedicated to music by one composer) or other collection. Guides to research also usually contain works lists. For more contemporary composers or popular groups, you may need to rely on trusted web sites like the band's personal site, their record label's site, or their publisher's site for this information (see the "Resources Beyond the Library" tab).

Discographies

Discographies, or lists of recordings, can be found in various places in print and online for classical and popular musicians. Some encyclopedias like Garland Encyclopedia of World Music and the Encyclopedia of Popular Music offer discographies, but they will only be as current as the printing of the encyclopedia (even for the online version of the Encyclopedia of Popular Music). One really good place to start is Allmusic.com, which not only supplies biographical information about composers/performers, but includes discographies and even awards/Billboard ranking information.

Histories are very useful for providing the context of a particular composer or piece. They can give you background on the development of a particular type of music or composer in a particular time and/or place.

The Oxford history of western music, ed. Taruskin, Richard
Call Number: ML160 T37, 6 vols (Reference and Stacks)

v. 1. The earliest notations to the sixteenth century -- v. 2. The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries -- v. 3. The nineteenth century -- v. 4. The early twentieth century -- v. 5. The late twentieth century -- v. 6. Resources : chronology, bibliography, master index.

Don't let the names of these two sets confuse you, they are different, and the "New" title is older than the other.

New Oxford history of music
Call Number: ML160 N39, 10 vols (Reference)

v. 1. Ancient and oriental music -- v. 2. Early medieval music up to 1300 -- v. 3. Ars Nova and the Renaissance, 1300-1540 -- v. 4. The Age of Humanism, 1540-1630 -- v. 5. Opera and church music, 1630-1750 --v. 6. Concert music, 1630-1750 -- v. 7. The Age of Enlightenment, 1745-1790 -- v. 8. The Age of Beethoven, 1790-1830 -- v. 9. Romanicism, 1830-1890 --v. 10. The modern age, 1890-1960.