Research Guides: Music: Find databases and articles

Databases and Articles Page Summary

This page contains four groups of databases, each with its own focus. The groups include:

To find articles, search within any of the available databases, or use the libraries' main search, Discovery Search, to see an overview of available journals and other periodicals in which you'll find articles. Learn more about how Discovery Search works on the Find electronic and physical books tab.

General and background databases

African Music Database from Africa Knowledge Project
African Music Database provides all types of African music beginning with highlife, traditional cultural groups, popular music, hiplife, and jazz. The growing database will feature music from artists in Africa and the global diaspora. Each work is downloadable in MP3. 2006-present.
Humanities and Performing Arts databases from ProQuest
Search across multiple ProQuest databases for journal and magazine articles, reviews, news reports, and dissertations in the humanities and performing arts.
MLA International Bibliography with Full Text from ESBCOhost
MLA International Bibliography indexes citations and full text of journal articles, books, dissertations, and scholarly web sites in disciplines such as language, literature, folklore, linguistics, literary theory and criticism, and the dramatic arts. Coverage includes literature from all over the world and includes citations to materials in many languages other than English. 1926-present.
Music Index from EBSCOhost
Music Index Online indexes citations and abstracts for journal articles, book and performance reviews, obituaries, and proceedings on music, musicians, and the music industry in both classical and pop music. 1970-present with selective coverage in prior years.
Oxford Music Online
Oxford Music Online is a gateway to Grove Music Online and other Oxford music reference resources (Oxford Dictionary of Music and Oxford Companion to Music) in one location. References are linked via Get VText.
RILM Abstracts of Music Literature (1967-Present) from EBSCOhost
RILM Abstracts of Music Literature (1967-Present only) indexes citations and abstracts from journal articles, collections of essays, conference proceedings, critical editions of music, digital media, dissertations, books, online resources, reference materials, reviews, technical drawings of instruments, sound recordings, and motion pictures in the field of music, music therapy, and music education. 1967-present.

Primary sources and newspapers

Digital Concert Hall from Berliner Philharmoniker
Digital Concert Hall provides streaming audio of hundreds of Berliner Philharmoniker’s concert recordings, live streams, artist interviews, and documentaries. Create a free profile with any email address to view performances.
Entertainment Industry Magazine Archive (EIMA) from ProQuest
The Entertainment Industry Magazine Archive (EIMA) is a digital high-resolution archive of over 40 US and UK trade and consumer magazines covering the broad spectrum of the entertainment industry and media including film, television, popular music, radio, and theatre. Titles include Variety (1905-2000), Billboard (1894-2000), Spin (1985-2000), Broadcasting & Cable (1931-2000), Vibe (1993-2014) and more. Each title includes individual indexing of articles, covers, ads, and reviews.
Ethnomusicology: Global Field Recordings from Adam Matthew Digital
Ethnomusicology priovides digitized audio recordings, videos, interviews, field notebooks, and journals that document musical traditions and how music interacts with different societies and cultures all over the globe, from Alaska to the Pacific Islands, West Africa to Indonesia, including religious music, secular music, celebrations and funerals. Mid 1900s-present.
IPA Source
IPA Source is a library of International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) transcriptions and literal translations of opera arias and art song texts. Promotes the comprehension and accurate pronunciation of foreign language texts in art song and opera in order that the singer may imbue each syllable with the appropriate emotional content. At present, IPA Source offers works in Latin, Italian, German, and French. Transcriptions presented as PDFs. Includes mp3 recordings of some pronunciations.
Library of Congress Digitized Collections
The Library of Congress's digitized American historical materials are organized into more than 100 thematic collections. Original formats include manuscripts, prints, photographs, posters, maps, sound recordings, motion pictures, books, pamphlets, and sheet music. Collections may be browsed individually, searched individually (including full-text searching for many written items), or searched across multiple collections. 1400s-present.

The original formats include manuscripts, prints, photographs, posters, maps, sound recordings, motion pictures, books, pamphlets, and sheet music. Each online collection is accompanied by a set of explanatory features designed to make the materials easy to find, use, and understand. Collections may be browsed individually, searched individually (including full-text searching for many written items), or searched across multiple collections.
Medici.tv
Medici.tv is an online platform providing streaming video recordings of live music performances. The Medici.tv catalog provides approximately 1600 films as well as hundreds of events which are broadcast live each year. This database also hosts a rare and exclusive selection of classical and jazz concerts, operas, ballets, documentaries and master classes.

University Libraries recently added the Jazz module, 400+ jazz concerts with recent performances, archival footage, and documentaries that explore funk, soul, blues, Afrobeats, global grooves, contemporary jazz, bebop, swing, big band, avant-garde, chamber jazz, jazz fusion, hard bop, Latin jazz, Afro-Cuban jazz, and more.
Met Opera On Demand
Met Opera on Demand provides streaming video of over 500 Met performances, each with subtitles in English and other languages. You can search by opera, singer, composer, or conductor. Scroll down for the list of available performances.
Naxos Music Library
Naxos Music Library provides streaming music from classical, jazz, world music, pop, rock, and Chinese orchestral CDs. NML also provides libretti and synopses for operas, a pronunciation guide for composer and artist names, an overview of musical terms, and work analyses and details with instrumentation, publishers, duration, work information and available recordings.

Naxos Music Library (NML) is the world's largest online classical music library. Currently, it offers streaming access to more than 46,000 CDs with more than 653,000 tracks, standard and rare repertoire. Over 800 new CDs are added to the library every month.
Rolling Stone Archive from ProQuest
The backfile of Rolling Stone, from its launch in 1967 to the present. One of the most influential consumer magazines of the 20th-21st centuries, it initially sought to reflect the cultural, social, and political outlook of a generation of students and young adults. It has been a leading vehicle for rock and popular music journalism, as well as covering wider entertainment topics such as film and popular culture.

Online sheet music

Beethoven-Haus Bonn Library Digital Archives

Unique music manuscripts, first editions, letters and pictures from the Beethoven-Haus in Bonn, Germany.

Brahms-Institut Digitale Bestande

First editions of Brahms' works arranged by opus number.The site is in German.

Chopin Music from University of Chicago

Includes over 400 first and early printed editions of musical compositions by Frédéric Chopin. Users can search or browse Chopin Early Editions via a variety of data points, including titles, genres, and plate numbers.

Choral Public Domain Library (CPDL)

Hundreds of choral scores in public domain shared through peer to peer networking.

Computer Mensural Music Editing Project

A complete edition of the manuscript of A Choirbook for Henry VIII and his Sisters of the British Library in London (1516), complete edition of the early 16th-century Occo Codex, MS IV.922 of the Bibliothèque royale de Belgique in Brussels, complete edition of the sacred works of Jachet Berchem (c. 1505-c. 1567), The Bayeux Manuscript- The monophonic chanson repertory preserved in Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, MS Français 9346 (late 15th/early 16th century) and other Miscellaneous editions.

Digital Image Archive of Medieval Music

Worldwide collections of medieval polyphonic music manuscripts from 800 to 1550.Site requires free registration to view the digitized scores.

Digital Mozart Edition

Complete edition of all Mozart works posted by Internationale Stiftung Mozarteum.

International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)

Over 36,000 music scores of all genres and music historical periods.

J.S. Bach Scores from IMSLP

J.S. Bach scores in PDF format arranged alphabetically by title and browsable by BWV number.

Neue Mozart-Ausgabe: Digitized Version

Musical text and the critical commentaries of the entire Neue Mozart-Ausgabe, edited by the Internationale Stiftung Mozart in cooperation with the Mozart cities of Augsburg, Salzburg, and Vienna.

VARIATIONS Online Music Scores

Selected scores from Cook Music Library at Indiana University arranged by genre.