Subject Guides: Music: Encyclopedias

Preferred Music Encyclopedias

Oxford Music Online (formerly Grove Music Online) Oxford Music Online is a new gateway that offers users the ability to access and cross-search the vast resources of Oxford's music reference in one location. Includes a completely redesigned Grove Music Online, with new content and functionality. Includes: * Grove Music Online * Encyclopedia of Popular Music * The Oxford Companion to Music * The Oxford Dictionary of Music

Classical Music Reference Library (ASP) This link opens in a new window Classical Music Reference Library brings together more than 30,000 pages of essential reference materials, spanning the entire history of Western classical music, in a unified online database.
Oxford Reference Online - Performing Arts This link opens in a new window Oxford Reference Online brings together language and subject reference works from one of the world's biggest reference publishers into a single cross-searchable resource.
Oxford Bibliographies Online: Music This link opens in a new window Oxford Bibliographies offers exclusive, authoritative research guides, combining the best features of an annotated bibliography and a high-level encyclopedia.

Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Popular Musicians Since 1990 An A-Z biographical reference that focuses on individual 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, bibliographies, a glossary of musical terms, and other information. Also features appendix essays on various topics including the music industry, rap, and grunge.
Garland Encyclopedia of World Music Online The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music Online is the first comprehensive online resource devoted to music research of all the world's peoples. More than 9,000 pages of material, combined with entries by more than 700 expert contributors from all over the
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This release includes 1,210 essays and images from 10 sources and hundreds of audio examples. Includes:

* Volume 1: Africa
* Volume 2: South America, Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean
* Volume 3: The United States and Canada
* Volume 4: Southeast Asia
* Volume 5: South Asia: The Indian Subcontinent
* Volume 6: The Middle East
* Volume 7: East Asia: China, Japan, and Korea
* Volume 8: Europe
* Volume 9: Australia and the Pacific Islands
* Volume 10: The World's Music: General Perspectives and Reference Tools

Oxford History of Western Music This link opens in a new window The Oxford History of Western Music online offers an unmatched account of the evolution of Western classical music by one of the most prominent and provocative musicologists of our time, Richard Taruskin.
African American Music Reference (ASP) This link opens in a new window African American Music Reference will contain 50,000 pages that offers the first comprehensive coverage of blues, jazz, spirituals, civil rights songs, slave songs, minstrelsy, rhythm and blues, gospel, and other forms of black American musical expression

MusRef: An Online Guide to Print and Internet Resources for Music and Dance MusRef is a site devoted to music and dance bibliography and reference.
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The site consists of five main features: An online bibliography of music and dance bibliographies and reference sources (both print and online), A blog devoted to music and dance bibliography and reference, Basic introductions to reference tools intended to help students understand how reference sources can guide them to appropriate research materials, Links to unpublished bibliographies, A corresponding Facebook page designed as a forum for interested librarians, scholars, and students. At present the bibliography includes more than 7,300 bibliographies and reference sources (both print and online), approximately 1,880 of which are annotated with critiques on use, coverage, organization, and pros and cons (click here for guidelines on writing critiques).
St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture Includes more than 2,700 signed essays ranging from 500 to 2,500 words, written by subject experts and edited to form a consistent, readable, and straightforward reference. Entries include subject-specific bibliographies and, where appropriate, photographs and textual cross-references to related essays.

Oxford Handbooks This link opens in a new window
Some performing arts content has been unlocked in this database.

Other Useful (Non-Music) Encyclopedias

Britannica Online This link opens in a new window Welcome to Encyclopædia Britannica Online Academic Edition. Use this powerful resource to search or browse for information in encyclopedias, magazines, videos, and Web sites. Your search results will include Encyclopædia Britannica and Britannica Concise Encyclopedia articles as well as media, Web sites, and videos. Magazine and journals from EBSCO and Proquest are also available. Finally, from Merriam-Webster, you will see results for the dictionary and thesaurus as well as the notable quotations.
Oxford Language Dictionaries Online This link opens in a new window Offers essential language resources online including bilingual dictionaries. Includes fully searchable, completely comprehensive bilingual dictionaries, and unique study materials that provide extra help with learning and using an expanding range of languages. Languages: Chinese, French, German, Italian, Russian, and Spanish.
World Biographical Information System (WBIS) Online This link opens in a new window Provides short biographical information on 5.49 Million people from the 8th century B.C. to the present.

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Music & Dance Help Desk
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Music & Dance Web Page
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Phone: 801.422.1725
E-mail: music_reference@byu.edu

Music & Dance Reference Resources

New resources abstracted in this online bibliography of music and dance reference resouces.

Note: Not all resources found in Music and Dance Reference are available in the BYU HBLL collections. This resource simply indicates the existence of a reference resource. If BYU owns a copy, the record will give a BYU call number for the item.

Music: Encyclopedias

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Preferred Music Encyclopedias

Other Useful (Non-Music) Encyclopedias

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Music & Dance Reference Resources