The Greer Music Library's reference book collection has been integrated with the reference collection in Shain Library.
Online titles are listed first with more information about other print titles following.
THE NEW GROVE DICTIONARY OF MUSIC AND MUSICIANS
Shain Reference: ML100 .N48 2001
The old GROVE dictionary edited by Stanley Sadie was one of the most important books in the library. This resource is often the best place to begin your research on a topic.
Now available online as Grove Music Online, it's updated periodically with graphics, sound clips, additional articles, and corrections. Additional GROVE reference titles have been integrated into the on-line database, such as Grove Opera and Grove Jazz.
THE OXFORD COMPANION TO MUSIC
Edited by Alison Latham – 2002
REF ML 100 S37 2002
A dictionary of music oriented toward the general reader now available online here.
THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF POPULAR MUSIC
Compiled & edited by Colin Larkin. 3rd ed. – 1998 – 8 vols.
REF ML 102 P66 G84 1998
The 4th edition is available online.
THE SAGE HANDBOOK OF POPULAR MUSIC
Edited by Andy Bennett & Steve Waksman – 2015
MUSIC IN THE SOCIAL AND BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES: AN ENCYCLOPEDIA
Edited by William Forde Thompson – 2014
THE SAGE INTERNATIONAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF MUSIC AND CULTURE
Edited by Janet Sturman – 2019
HARVARD DICTIONARY OF MUSIC
Edited by Don Michael Randel – 4th edition - 2003
REF ML 100 H37 2003
BAKER’S BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF MUSICIANS
8th edition – Revised by Nicolas Slonimsky – 1991
REF ML 105 B16 1991
Baker’s and New Harvard complement one another. Harvard covers only terms, the Baker’s only people. Each is probably the best place to go first for a brief introduction to a topic or a person.
OTHER GENERAL MUSIC REFERENCE TITLES:
THE INTERNATIONAL CYCLOPEDIA OF MUSIC AND MUSICIANS
Editor-in-chief, Oscar Thompson – 11th edition, ed. by Bruce Bohle – 1985
REF ML 100 T47 1985
Know as Thompson, this is the largest one-volume music encyclopedia in English. Less scholarly than the NEW GROVE 2, it is very readable.
THE NEW COLLEGE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF MUSIC
J.A. Westrup, F. Ll. Harrison – 1960
REF ML 100 W48
This is one of the few sources that include pronunciations.
SUBJECT-SPECIFIC MUSIC REFERENCE SOURCES:
NEW GROVE DICTIONARY OF AMERICAN MUSIC
Edited by H. Wiley Hitchcock and Stanley Sadie – 1986 – 4 vols.
REF ML 101 U6 N48 1986
Usually called Amerigrove, parts of this dictionary were first published in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (1980). The articles have been updated, and new ones added, resulting in a new mini-encyclopedia. The articles are also being added over time to Grove Music Online (along with the Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments).
The next two titles are also offshoots of the 1980 NEW GROVE. Others not listed here can be found in the reference collection. These have been, or are being incorporated into Grove Music Online.
NEW GROVE DICTIONARY OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
Edited by Stanley Sadie – 1984 – 3 vols.
REF ML 102 I5 N48 1984NEW GROVE DICTIONARY OF JAZZ
2nd edition ; Edited by Barry Kernfeld – 2002 – 3 vols.
REF ML 102 J3 N48 2002
This source is also now integrated into the Grove Music Online.
THE GARLAND ENCYCLOPEDIA OF WORLD MUSIC
Bruno Nettl, Ruth M. Stone, advisory editors – 1998-2002
REF ML 100 G16 1998 ; CD 2565 (+ volume #)
This important source consists of 10 volumes. Each covers a different area of world music, and is edited by scholars with expertise in the field. Each volume has an accompanying compact disc of musical examples.
BAKER’S BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF TWENTIETH-CENTURY CLASSICAL MUSICIANS
Nicolas Slonimsky ; edited by Laura Kuhn – 1997
REF ML 105 S612 1997
The revered Baker’s eighth edition will probably be the last in that format. Due to size considerations, editors plan to bring forth topic-specific volumes, and this is the first. Kuhn’s preface is a great tribute to Slonimsky, who died in 1995.
INTERNATIONAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF WOMEN COMPOSERS
Edited by Aaron I. Cohen – 1987 – 2 vols.
REF ML 105 C7 1987
This source includes brief biographies with lists of works; photographs; bibliographies; and much, much more (for example, see the section on composers influenced by Shakespeare!)
HERITAGE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BAND MUSIC
William H. Rehrig – 1991 – 2 vols.
REF ML 128 B23 R44 1991
Brief biographies with complete (for band) works lists for each composer. The appendices include an extensive bibliography, an overview of American band music, a list of publishers, a list of band journals, a conversion chart for adapting foreign band music to American instruments, and more.
AN IMPORTANT FOREIGN LANGUAGE SOURCE TO REMEMBER:
DIE MUSIK IN GESCHICHTE UND GEGENWART : ALLGEMEINE ENZYKLOPAEDIE DER MUSIK
Friedrich Blume, ed. (1st ed.) ; Ludwig Finscher, ed. (2nd ed.) – 1994+
REF ML 100 M92 1994
Known as MGG. The title can be translated “Music in the Past and Present : General Encyclopedia of Music.” This is the standard comprehensive reference work in German, comparable to our NEW GROVE. The first part, the “Sachteil” (9 vols.), covers terms and music topics, not people. The second part (“Personenteil”) contains biographies .
