MUSIC RESOURCES IN REFERENCE

RILM Abstracts   (available online - see library subject guide)
Available in print and online, the Repertoire International de Litterature Musicale indexes over 500 scholarly journals, books, bibliographies, catalogues, concert reviews, conference proceedings, discographies, dissertations, festschriften, films, recording notes, pedagogical manuals and videos from 1967 to the present.  The online version is updated monthly.  See also a Guide to Using RILM abstracts Online (requires Microsoft PowerPoint software).  Print volumes are available on the 2nd floor of Ablah Library (ML1.I83).

Music Index  (available online - see library subject guide)
This is an online index to over 640 journals, many from 1979 to the present.  While overlapping somewhat with RILM Abstracts listed above, this indexes different titles with a tendency towards popular music periodicals.  Annual print volumes of the Music Index are available in Ablah Library, 2nd floor (call number  ML118.M84), from 1949 through 1996.  See also a Guide to Using Music Index Online (requires Microsoft PowerPoint software). 

RILM English-Language Thesaurus  REF ML1.I832 
Lists subject headings used in RILM, with cross references.

A Guide to International Congress Reports in Musicology 1900-1975 (Tyrrell/Wise)  REF ML113.T95
This lists congress reports chronologically, but provides indexes by place, title, series, sponsors, authors, editors and subject.

Dictionary of Musical Themes (Barlow & Morgenstern) REF ML128.I65 B3
An index to over 10,000 themes of instrumental music, with musical incepits for identification.  Transpose the theme in question to the key of “C” major or minor and match the letters of the notes to the letter sequence in the back of the book, which acts as an index to the themes listed by composer in the main portion of the book.  Can’t remember that tune, but you can hum it?  This is a good place to look. A second copy is available to check out from Ablah Library, second floor.

An Index to Musical Festschriften  (Gerboth)  REF ML128.M8 G4
This is a particularly useful tool for accessing the contents of non-published festschriften (papers given in honor of a scholar) or festschriften cataloged prior to online cataloging systems, which often has not provided access to table of contents listings. 

Choral Music Reviews Index (Sharp)  REF ML128.C48 C5
In 2 volumes, volume I covers works reviewed from 1983-1985, while volume II covers works reviewed from 1986-1988.  Works are listed by title, with coded information about voicing, level of difficulty, vocal range, language, level of accompaniment, duration, sources for extended reviews, the general nature of the review and etc..  These volumes also contain particularly useful indexes by composer, arranger, editor, use/special purpose, level of difficulty, voicing, and accompanying instruments.

Music in Early America (Hixon)  REF ML120.U5 H6
An index to the seventeenth and eighteenth century music represented in Evans’ American Bibliography, MICROFICHE A6 23496-502. 

Songs in Collections (De Charms & Breed)  REF L128.S3 D37
This is a set of indices bound together in a single volume to art songs and arias, folk songs, carols and sea chanties, found in collections published from approximately 1940-1957.  When looking up the song/aria title, make sure you are looking in the correct index section by consulting the table of contents.A second copy is available to check out from Ablah Library, second floor.

The Song Index of the Enoch Pratt Free Library  REF ML128.S3 L665 1998
This 2 volume work indexes songs in over 2000 collections, of all genres.  The 2^nd volume provides an index by composer and a listing of operas, musicals, movies and etc., with their associated song titles.  This work is handy for its coverage of more recently published collections.

European Musical Instruments on Prints and Drawings  REF ML462.K53
This is an index to images in the collection of the Music Department of the Haags Gemeentemuseum, the Hague, Netherlands, found on Microfiche 1146 in the reserve section of Ablah Library.

Index to Poetry in Music  REF ML128.S3 B68 2003
An index to poetry set in solo songs, covering the work of 125 Western composers.  The index lists titles of poems, of songs, poets, composers and cross-references first lines. 

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Updated: June 06, 2012    Contact: Rachel Crane, Music/Fine Arts Librarian