Music Resource Guide: Selected Print & Electronic Resources

REF ML100 .N48
This is a twenty-volume set of information on musical history, composers, artists and more. Contains over 20,000 entries produced by 2,500 experts in the field. Includes images and discographies, and each article is signed and provides a bibliography. An authoritative resource.

This single volume concerns largely the history of concert music in the Western tradition, however it does cover jazz composers and performers and some popular musicians. Articles are concise but packed with information. Includes some bibliographies.

REF ML100 .S37 1983 (print)
A comprehensive, detailed two-volume set of articles covering all aspects of the music field. Covers music history, instruments, terms, musicians, composers, ethnomusicology, and more. Articles are lengthy and include images and bibliographies.

A comprehensive description of the relationship between American culture and music as defined by musicians, scholars, and critics from around the world. Four volumes.

REF ML105 .N66x 1995
A companion to the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (1980), this volume provides biographies of women composers born before 1956. Each article is signed and includes a bibliography. Most offer a list of works.

Online through Gale Virtual Reference
Begun in 1900 by Theodore Baker and continued by Nicolas Slonimsky, this online volume is one of the most complete and reliable sources of biographical information on musical subjects. Covers pop stars as well as recently notable classical performers, composers, and historians. Each biography includes a list of works and a bibliography.

Online through Gale Virtual Reference
Focuses on artists and groups in all popular styles active from 1990 to the present, including those in rock, rhythm and blues, rap, country, electronica, jazz, vocal and classical. Features include select discographies.

REF ML102.J3 N48 1988 3 vols.
This two-volume set provides signed entries by jazz scholars covering everything about jazz and jazz musicians. More specifically, coverage includes individuals, groups and bands, styles, topics and terms, instruments, record companies and labels, and institutions. All articles are signed and include a bibliography.

REF ML101.U6 N48 1986
This four-volume set covers all aspects of American music, including popular, jazz, and folk, and it written by outstanding specialists. There are articles on regional music, American composers and performers, publishing, periodicals, libraries, and American cities. Articles are signed and include bibliographies.

REF ML102.P66 K55
This four-volume set is a comprehensive view of American popular music and jazz. It covers 1,200 film musicals; biographies of singers, composers, bandleaders, actors, musicians, and arrangers; most popular songs year-by year with composers; popular recordings, every known broadway musical; and extensive information on each artist's role in radio and TV. Includes an index/appendix volume.

REF ML105 .S67 1982
Biographies provide education, career, and representative compositions or performances. Does not offer photos. Includes a selected bibliography at the end of the volume.

Includes all genres and periods of popular music from 1900 to the present day, including jazz, country, folk, rap, reggae, techno, musicals, and world music.

REF ML1711.8.N3 N67 2002
This three-volume set provides the program information for every musical, operetta, or other musical play that occured in a major New York City theater from January 1850 through May 2001. It also includes coverage of productions from the previous 100 years, resulting in a chronological record of 4,978 musicals produced on Broadway from 1750 to 2001. Includes casts, song titles, and act summaries.

Online through Oxford Reference
Offers comprehensive information on musicals, performers, composers, lyricists, producers, choreographers, and much more.

REF ML1711 .B67 2001
This single-volume, comprehensive chronology traces the musical from its beginning through 1995 and provides history, criticism, and basic facts. Indexes cover songs, shows, and people.

REF ML102.M88 G3 2001
A comprehensive three-volume encyclopedia which provides biographical information on composers, librettists, actors, producers, directors of musical theatre; and the history of musical theatre productions.

REF ML128.M78 S86 2010
This volume details the shows, songs, and careers of all the major composers of the American musical theater, including Jerome Kern, Gershwin, Rodgers, Porter, Berlin, Bernstein, Kander, Finn, and many more. The revised edition discusses 900 shows and almost 8,000 show tunes. The appendix includes a chronological list of productions and a bibliography.

REF ML102.W67 W67 2006
Arranged alphabetically by country or ethnic group, this two-volume set explains popular folk, and (excluding Western canon) classical music traditions around the world. Discusses each country's music styles in relation to its history, customs, and politics. Provides a discography for each entry.

REF ML105 .F36 1976
A biographical volume of jazz artists from the 1970s. Includes introductory quotes taken from jazz trade magazines, a guide to jazz education and jazz films, and quality photos.

REF MT95 .K52 2000
Arranged both by composer, this volume provides the user with comprehensive, detailed information about the opera (from pre-1800 through the 20th century), including information on composers, performers, and operatic history.

REF MT95 .L97 1991
An anthology of background articles which have appeared in Lyric Opera of Chicago programs since 1970.