Welcome!
A quick search of resources in this field of study can be done in the Cast-A-Net box to the right. Otherwise, select from the tabs above.
If you need any type of assistance, do not hesitate to get in touch with the librarian liaison.
Cast-A-Net Combined Search
Music (Audio) searches these databases
· African American Song
· Classical Music Library
· Naxos Music Library
· Naxos Music Library Jazz
· Smithsonian Global Sound
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Music (Indexes) searches these databases
· Bowdoin College Library Catalog
· Grove Music Online
· RILM: Abstracts of Music Literature
· RISM: International Inventory of Musical Sources after 1600
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Advanced Search
Library Catalogs
Bowdoin College Library Catalog
Books, videos, government documents, etc. in Bowdoin's library.
NExpress
A combined catalog containing the library holdings of Bowdoin, Bates, Colby, Wellesley,
Williams, Middlebury, and Northeastern. Requests take 2-3 days.
MaineCat
Includes the holdings of most Maine libraries. Requests take 2-5 days
WorldCat
A combined database of many library catalogs worldwide. Request items found in WorldCat through our Interlibrary Loan service.
Indexes and Databases
Music Databases of Sound Recordings
African American Song
Contains “a diverse range of genres such as jazz, blues, gospel, ragtime, folk songs, and narratives, among others.” The current release “features some 16,000 tracks of great historical recordings...”
Classical Music Library
“Includes recordings of music written from the earliest times (eg Gregorian Chant) to the present, including many contemporary composers. Repertoire ranges from vocal and choral music, to chamber, orchestral, solo instrumental, and opera.” Over 50,000 recordings.
Naxos Music Library
Naxos Music Library has a large collection of classical music. There is also some jazz, world, folk, and Chinese music as well. Information about composers and their works is also included.
Naxos Music Library Jazz
Naxos Music Library Jazz has over 20,000 tracks of jazz with over 500 jazz artists represented.
Smithsonian Global Sound
Includes published recordings of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings label as well as other archival audio collections.
DRAM (Database of Recorded American Music)
Includes the diverse collection of American music recordings of New World Records and several other labels along with liner notes, bibliographies, and discographies.
Periodical Indexes
Music Index 1973–present
A comprehensive guide to music periodical literature from over 350 journals covering the areas of musicology, world music, history of music, musical instruments, computer music, book reviews, discographies, performance reviews, and sound recording reviews.
IIMP: Index of International Musical Periodicals 19th Century–present
Contains citations and abstracts taken from over 400 journal titles from the 19th century to the present.
RILM: Repertoire International de Litterature Musicale
1969–present; citations on international music corresponding to the printed RILM Abstracts of Music Literature.
RIPM [electronic resource] : retrospective index to music periodicals
1800–1950; access to periodicals of international significance from 15 countries.
RISM: International Inventory of Musical Sources after 1600
1600–1850; contains the complete description of each manuscript indexed in Répertoire international des sources musicales.
Index to Printed Music: Collections & Series
“For finding individual pieces of music printed in standard scholarly editions.”
Academic Search Premier
This database includes articles from major music periodicals. Many since 1994 are full text. Contains both performance reviews and book reviews.
Arts and Humanities Search 1980–present
This database also has articles from major music periodicals
JSTOR
You may browse individual titles by selecting theMusic heading or you may search within journals byselecting Advanced Search. Full-text articles fromselected scholarly journals. Coverage begins with a title’s firstissue however the most recent five years are not available.
Music Index 1979–1994
A comprehensive guide to music periodical literature from over 350 journals covering the area of musicology, world music, history of music, musical instruments, computer music, book reviews, discographies, performance reviews & sound recording reviews.
Music Article Guide
1967–present
Popular Song Index
1950–present
Music Article Guide
1967–present (Main Library, Index Sec.)
Music Index
1949–1994 (Main Library, Index Sec.)
Popular Song Index
1950–1996 (Main Library, Ref. ML128 S3H4)
Reference Sources
New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2001
ML100 N48
New Grove Dictionary of Jazz
ML102 J3 N48 2002
New Grove Dictionary of Opera
ML102 O6 N5 1992
Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music
ML102 P66 G84
Historical Sets, Collected Editions and Monuments of Music: a Guide to their Contents
ML113 H52 1980
The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music
ML100 .G16 1998 Also includes CD set: CD Ethno 2154 v.1-9
v.1 Africa
v.2 South America, Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean
v.3 United States and Canada
v.4 Southeast Asia
v.5 South Asia
v.6 Middle East
v.7 East Asia: China, Japan, Korea
v.8 Europe
v.9 Australia and the Pacific Islands
New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
library.bowdoin.edu/erl/ip/grovesm.cgi
Scores & Sound Recordings - Composers & Their Works
Scores & Sound Recordings
Specific composers or works of music may be successfully located by searching under author, title, or keyword (word).
To locate composers and their works
Search under author and browse titles of works; use the limit command to further narrow the search by material type, words in the title or subject, or where the item is located.
Example:
Or choose music format first (e.g., scores or CDs or videos) and choose Beethoven as author, then limit further as neeeded.
Example:
- Beethoven, Ludwig Van (for videos, DVDs only)
Scores and Sound Recordings - Distinct Titles
Scores & Sound Recordings
To locate distinct titles, search for title in original language
Example:
- Eine Kleine nachtmusik (A Little Night Music)
- Nozze di Figaro (Marriage of Figaro)
Scores and Sound Recordings - Generic Titles
Scores & Sound Recordings
To locate generic titles with opus numbers and keys such as concertos, sonatas, symphonies, etc., choose advanced word search and USE QUOTES
Example:

Scores and Sound Recordings - Song Titles
Scores & Sound Recordings
To locate song titles do a word search:
Examples:
- Yellow Rose of Texas -- search yellow rose texas
- Don't Cry for me Argentina -- search cry argentina
Scores and Sound Recordings - CD's
Scores & Sound Recordings
To locate CDs by genre: search alternate call number using search term "CD Jazz"; limit further by words on the author or title.
Examples:
| cd medieval | cd jazz |
| cd renaissance | cd popular |
| cd baroque | cd musical |
| cd classical | cd ethno |
| cd romantic | cd USethno |
| cd modern | cd general (2 or more genres) |
Scores and Sound Recordings - Subject, Keyword & Call Number
Scores & Sound Recordings
Subjector keyword searching can be successfully used to find materials. Subject searching gives the best results when standardized Library of Congress Subject Headings are used.
Some examples follow:
- Bowdoin College -- songs and music
- Chamber Music
- Ethnomusic
- Hymns
- Music -- manuscripts
- Operas
- Orchestral Music
- Quartets
- Songs
- String Quartets
- Thematic Catalogs
- Trios
Browse score and book titles online by call number:
Examples:
Scores and Sound Recordings - LP's
Scores & Sound Recordings
To locate LPs: search alternate call number using search term "LP"; limit further by words in the author or title.
Examples:
Scores and Sound Recordings - Performance Music
Scores & Sound Recordings
To locate performance music (music with parts): search by composer, title, or subject and limit to where item is located - "music performance".
Examples:
Scores and Sound Recordings - Choral Sheet Music
Scores & Sound Recordings
To locate choral sheet music: search alternate call number using search term "choral"; further limit to words in the author or title.
Example:
Scores and Sound Recordings - Faculty Reserves
Scores & Sound Recordings
To locate faculty reserve lists: choose Reserve List at Library Gateway and type course name or instructor. Find item and note call number for desk attendant.
Video Recordings
To locate music videos: search directly under alternate call number using search term "video" or search by subject "videorecording" and use the limit function to where item is located -- "music video". Examples:
To locate laser discs: search under alternate call number using search term "laser". Example:
Periodicals Owned by Bowdoin
To see a list of music periodicals owned by Bowdoin: search by subject Example:
Web Sites
Classical Music Department of the WWW Virtual Library
http://www.gprep.org/classical/
This enormous site covers music from the baroque era through the modern age. Included are biographies of composers with listings of their works and available CDs, classical music resources classified by instrument, academic music departments, artists and ensembles.
Sibelius Academy Music Resources
http://www.siba.fi/Kulttuuripalvelut/music.html
Contains big catalogues of music resources, church music, composers, computer music, early music, ethnomusicology, folk music, world music, Finnish music, instruments, jazz and blues, magazines, music education, music research, music theory, opera, orchestra, rock and pop.
Worldwide Internet Music Resources
http://www.music.indiana.edu/music_resources/
The Music Library of the Indiana University School of Music provides access to all music genres, musicians, ensembles, composers, music research and electronic journals.
Sibley Music Library (Eastman)
http://www.rochester.edu/eastman/sibley
Sibley Music Library of the Eastman School of Music provides many helpful web links to music resources on the Internet
Internet Resources for Music Scholars (Harvard)
http://hcl.harvard.edu/research/guides/music/resources/index.html
Harvard University, Loeb Music Library. See especially "digital music collecitions" and "music information meta-sites."
Music Selection Resources on the WWW
http://www.halcyon.com/aseaberg
Put together by King County librarian in the tate of Washington. Has some interesting sites.
DW3 classical music resources
http://www.lib.duke.edu/music/resources/classical_index.html
A comprehensive collection of links offering scholarly biographical and historical information.
Encyclopedia of music in Canada
http://www.collectionscanada.ca/emc/index-e.html
A web counterpart to The Encyclopedia of Music in Canada.
Performing Arts Online
http://performingarts.net/index.html
Includes artists and companies in music, dance and theater.
Historic American Sheet Music
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/mussmhtml/mussmhome.html
"Contains more than 62,500 pieces of historical sheet music registered for copyright: more than 15,000 registered during the years 1820-1860 and more than 47,000 registered during the years 1870-1885." Library of Congress site.
The Lester S. Levy Sheet Music Collection
http://levysheetmusic.mse.jhu.edu/
Johns Hopkins University archive containing over 29,000 pieces of music and focusing on popular American music spanning the period 1780 to 1960.
Music, theater & dance
http://www.loc.gov/rr/perform/ihas/
Library of Congress's collections of scores, sheet music, audio recordings, films, photographs, maps, and other materials.
Composers
Composers
http://www.music.indiana.edu/music_resources/composer.html
A great listing of composers on the web from Indiana University School of Music Library. Includes biographies, discographies, photos, listing of works, current performances and other interesting information.
Classical Net
http://www.classical.net
Classical Net had a great list of classical composers with biographies, discographies, and listing of works.
J.S. Bach Home Page
http://www.jsbach.org/biography.html
Contains biography, portraits and literature including listing of complete works are included in this great site.
Beethoven Bibliographic Database
http://mill1.sjlibrary.org:83/
The Ira Brilliant Center for Beeethoven Studies at San Jose Sate University has produced this indexed online bibliography of published and unpublished materials of Ludwig Van Beethoven held by the Center's library.
The Leonard Bernstein Collection
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/lbhtml
The Bernstein collection at the Library of Congress provides a complete collection of materials documenting his life and career.
Choral Music
Choral Net
http://www.choralnet.org
Choral Net is the internet center for choral music and choral directors.
Choral Public Domain Library
http://www.cpdl.org
"Begun in December 1998, CPDL is one of the world's largest free sheet music sites. You can use CPDL to find scores, texts, translations, and information about composers."
Contemporary Music
American Music Center
http://www.amc.net/index.html
The Website of the American Music Center in New York is an information and resource center for American contemporary music and jazz.
Jazz
The Red Hot Jazz Archive
http://www.redhotjazz.com/b.html
The Red Hot Jazz Archive contains over 60 early jazz artists and 90 bands with biographies, discographies and photos plus selections of their music in Real Audio format.
Opera
Metropolitan Opera
http://www.metopera.org/home.html
For opera fans here is the web site for the Met. It includes the 1997-1998 season and the radio broadcasts schedule.
Operabase
http://www.operabase.com
This site, available in 5 languages provides monthly performance data on 300 international opera houses. Can search by composers, opera or opera house. A synopsis or libretto may be included.
Opera Glass
http://opera.stanford.edu/opera/
This site lists operas, opera composers, librettists and companies.
World Music
Ethnomusicology, Folkmusic, and World Music
http://www.lib.washington.edu/music/world.html
World music from the University of Washington is organized by geographical regions from around the world and has many great links.
Popular Music
All-Music Guide
http://www.allmusic.com
The AMG is a complete online database of recorded popular music. Includes the following music styles: rock, folk, jazz, reggae, blues, Cajun, etc. Has biographies and discographies of artists and rates recordings.
CDs
CD Connection
http://www.cdconnection.com
This site has good search capabilities and has lists of the highest rated CDs.
CDNOW
http://cdnow.com
CDNOW bills itself as the world's largest music store for CDs. Some categories include classical, jazz, blues, rock/pop, etc. Now links to Amazon.
Arkiv Music
http://www.arkivmusic.com
The source for classical recordings. Excellent substitute for the Schwann Catalog.
Dissertations about Music
Doctoral Dissertations in Musicology
http://www.music.indiana.edu/ddm/index.html
DDM-Online from the Indiana University School of Music is producing an electronic version of the printed source, Doctoral Dissertations in Musicology.
E-Journals
Online Music Journals and Magazines
http://www.music.indiana.edu/music_resources/journals.html
Indiana University School of Music provides web connections to a nearly complete list of electronic journals. Scroll down to see the entire list alphabetically arranged by title.
Copyright/Public Domain
Public Domain Music
http://www.pdinfo.com/
The Public Domain Information Project was started by a folk musician. It explains copyright, public domain and fair use: Over 3500 songs in the Public Domain are included.
Style Guide for Music
Citing Music - Turabian Style
http://www.lib.uwo.ca/music/citemus.html
This site by the University of Western Ontario provides excellent examples of how to cite music