Wednesday, May 7, 2008

New Music Databases

The library has added four new online music reference collections. These resources will continue to grow as the publisher adds more content.

African American Music Reference
Contains over 2,000 essays coveraging blues, jazz, spirituals, civil rights songs, slave songs, minstrelsy, rhythm and blues, gospel, and other forms of black American musical expression. Content is added on a regular basis. Browse by works, people, subjects, genres, instruments, ensembles, and by material type.

Classical Music Reference Library
Reference materials covering the entire history of Western classical music. Classical Music Reference Library offers comprehensive coverage of all classical genres, spanning music from the Medieval period to the 21st century, including definitions of musical terms and biographical information on the major classical composers and artists. The first release includes the Baker’s resources, as well as biographies, chronologies, primary source readings, and critical texts.

Classical Scores Library
Musical scores of major composers as well as many lesser known composers and works. Content in the database includes in-copyright material from Boosey and Hawkes and selected material from the University Music Editions microfilm series.

Garland Encyclopedia of World Music Online
Ten volume reference set covering music of the world’s peoples. Each volume contains an overview of the region, a survey of its musical heritage, traditions and themes; and a description of specific musical genres, practices, and performances. Articles include detailed photographs that show musicians, musical instrument, and the cultural context of dances, rituals, and ceremonies. Other images include drawings, maps, and musical examples for further study.

This database has recently been upgraded to allow more simultaneous users:

Classical Music Library
More than 20,000 musical selections from a wide range of genres are available through streaming audio.

No comments: