Music Resources at North Park

Reference Sources Databases and Web Resources Online Catalog/Books, Scores, Media

WHERE DO I GO TO FIND . . . ?

Books about musicians and music that I can check out of the library?

2^nd floor in the M’s (use online catalog to find a call number)

Journal articles about music?

· 1^st floor for journals 1990 to the present (east end of library)

· Compact shelving for pre-1990 journals

· RILM Music Abstracts (index to music literature)

· General online database such as Academic Search Premier

· Serials Solutions (at the top of the list of databases) tells you if a journal is available full-text in one of the databases we get.

Musical scores

Lower level – in compact shelving (use online catalog to find a call number)

CD’s or records

Lower level – in media services area

Background Information and More - 1^st floor Reference Collection

The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2^nd. ed. (29 vols.) (Ref. ML 100 .N48) 2001

This is an excellent reference source for beginning your research. You can look up a composer (Puccini); a period of music (Baroque); the music of a particular group or country (Arab music); a kind of song (madrigal); an instrument (piano); an opera (Tosca). Bibliographies follow articles. You will also find excerpts of scores, illustrations/photos of opera sets, composers, musicians, instruments and so forth. For example, you can find an essay on the elements of baroque music, including some examples.

The New Grove is also available online through the library’s website under Databases.

The New Oxford History of Music 10 vols. 1990. (Ref. ML 160 .N44)

From Ancient to the Modern Age, this set of histories will provide a good background to any major period of music you might be researching. You can find information about church music in the 17^th century, for example.

Slonimsky, Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of Musicians 6 vols. 2001. (Ref. ML 105 .B16)

You can find the answers to the questions, “Who was cellist Jacqueline DuPre, who was her husband, and of what illness did she die?” and “Who are the Barenaked Ladies?”

International Dictionary of Black Composers 2 vols. 1999. (Ref. ML 105 .I5)

Here you can find answers to such questions as “Who was Billy Strayhorn, and who really composed Ellington’s “Take the A Train”?

Garland Encyclopedia of World Music 10 vols. 2002. (Ref. ML 100 .G16)

If you wanted to know some of the musical instruments commonly found in the Sudan and Ethiopia, or if you wanted to know about Silk Road Music, this is the source you could use.

New Grove Dictionary of Opera 4 vols. 1992 (Ref. ML 102 .O6 N5)

Here, you could find extensive information about Tosca, Don Giovanni and A Wedding. You could read about each opera before you attend the performance at the Lyric.

Word by Word Translations of Songs and Arias (2 vols.) 1966. (Ref. ML 54.6 .W65)

This is a selective collection with several representative songs and arias by many composers. For example, you can find a translation of Schubert’s “Die Schone Mullerin” (The Beautiful Miller’s Daughter) in this source.

A Treasury of Opera Librettos 1962. (Ref. ML 48 .L37 T7)

English translations of 21 of the most popular opera librettos. Included are Verdi’s Aida, Wagner’s Siegfried, and Puccini’s Tosca, all of which the Lyric Opera is presenting this year (2004).

All of the above books (and many more) are in the first floor Reference Collection. You can find authors, titles, subjects and call numbers for all of our reference and circulating books of music in our online catalog.

There are also many reference works and bibliographies on individual composers and specific types of music. Browse the ML section of the Reference area. Here are a few examples:

Guide to the Pianist’s Repertoire 1979. (Ref. ML 128 .P3 H5)

Listing of solo piano works, arranged by composer.

A Dictionary of Vocal Themes 1950. (Ref. ML 128 .V7 B3)

Composer, first line, title, and notation indexes to help identify vocal pieces. (A Dictionary of Musical Themes is at Ref. ML 128 .I65 B3)

This is the book you would consult if you had running through your head the beginning of Tosca’s aria just before she jumps, but whose title you couldn’t remember.

Hinson, Music for more than one Piano 1983. (Ref. ML 128 .P3 H52)

Do you need to know the names of some piano pieces for four hands? You might find what you need in this source.

Catalogue of Choral Music Arranged in Biblical Order 1996. (Ref. ML 128 .C54 L4)

Can you find any music about Naomi and Ruth? Samuel? or themes such as “Bless the Lord my soul,” or “Create in me a clean heart,” or “I will lift up my eyes,” or Psalms set to music?

· All of the above books (and many more) are in the first floor Reference Collection. To search for books, scores, and media in the North Park Library and 65 other libraries in our network, use the Illinet Online Catalog. For instructions on using this database and for requesting books from other libraries, see our help sheet.

Databases to find journal literature in music

• To access the se databases, go to www.northpark.edu/library and click on Databases/Articles in the column

on the left.

• Click on Databases A-Z and select one of the following databases:

RILM Abstracts of Music Literature (Répertoire International de Littérature Musicale)

RILM Instructions

Grove Music Online

This is an online version of the comprehensive Grove Music Dictionary (which is also in print in the reference section of the library).

Music Web Sites

There are thousands of useful music web sites. Below are two to get you started:

Internet Public Library Music Resources Site:

http://www.ipl.org/div/subject/browse/hum20.60.00/

This is a metasite with annotated links to about 30 sites.

Texts of Lieder/Art Songs http://www.recmusic.org/lieder

Archive of thousands of public domain classical art song texts in 25 different languages. Be sure to read the Introduction to this site for information about coverage and access.

Finding Books, Scores, Media at North Park Library (Online Catalog)

Online Catalog Instructions:

• Go to the library website and click on Catalog/Books. Then click on North Park University Library Catalog.
• Open the Quick Limit box to limit your search to Music Recordings, Music Scores, or Films/Videos
• Try the Guided Keyword Search to combine search terms, such as a composer and a type of music.
• To search other libraries in Illinois click on ILCSO Libraries tab at the top of the online catalog screen.