Research Paper About Music

As part of your preliminary research to find appropriate resources for your topic, information source and research guides are available at most public and academic libraries and are keyword searchable through your library’s online catalog (to search and locate guides, enter your “subject” followed by these keywords one search at a time: “information sources,” “reference sources,” and “research guide”).

Printed guides available for this subject area include , 4th ed., by Vincent H.

, 2nd ed., by Roger Lax and Frederick Smith, 774 pages (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999) First published in 1984, this revised second edition offers immediate access to information on more than 11,000 American and English songs, alphabetically arranged.

Divided into 10 sections, entries list the composer, lyricist, year of popularity, and recording artists for each song.

Also includes a bibliography, index of album and song titles, and a glossary of terms.

Areas of interest include a list of works for major composers, histories of musical instruments, and coverage of living composers and performers.

Includes selective discography, bibliography, and Web sites. Also provided is an extensive index of song titles for easy reference.

, edited by Nicolas Slonimsky, Laura Kuhn, and Dennis Mc Intire, 1,595 pages (New York: Schirmer, 1997) An important single-volume reference work, this solidly written and researched tome, edited by Nicolas Slonimsky, follows the same format as Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of Musicians but profiles the most influential musicians of the 20th century. (Detroit, Mich.: Gale Group, 2010) With 68 volumes and counting, this cumulative reference series thoroughly profi les more than 4,500 important musicians from all genres of music—blues, classical, country, folk, gospel, jazz, New Age, rap, rock, and more. The series has since been updated in a fi fth concise edition by London’s Omnibus Press.

s, 2nd ed., edited by Stanley Sadie, 29 vols., 25,000 pages (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001) With more than 29,000 entries, this thoroughly updated 29-volume set with index offers comprehensive coverage of world and popular music, packed with information on 20th-century artists, composers, musical history, and much more.

Included are discussions of all styles and forms of music—from jazz to rock—and musical instruments written by more than 70 experts in each field. (New York: Garland, 1997–1978.) This ambitious reference series fully examines the cultural appeal of music around the world by topic, by region, and by ethnic group.