Find great resources for your essay, in the library or at home!
HELP WITH RESOURCES FOR YOUR MUSIC
HISTORY 2 ESSAY
We’ve been looking at the Music History
2 essay questions to see how our online resources could help you. Here
are some general hints, followed by more specific ones:-
A. You need to look in SEVERAL PLACES. First
the catalogue:- Type your search term.
·
Start
with a precise search (eg the composer’s name and perhaps the piece) then
broaden it if you don’t get what you need. If you don’t find the right
information under a composer’s name, try MUSIC HISTORY - and maybe the century
you’re interested in.
·
If
a piece of music has an English title as well as its original title, search
both!
·
There’s
nothing wrong with older literature, if it informs the question you are
answering. (But remember that opinions may have changed, if an article is very
old indeed!!)
Look down the left-side bar in catalogue,
then click on “More” to find other formats eg electronic resources.
B.
Click on the link to the Library Website to check E-resources, E-books
and E-journals. Please come and see us if you need a quick refresher course in finding
e-resources!
C. You can often find a score
online. Use your computer’s snipping tool to copy little excerpts
for examples. We subscribe to Alexander Street Press Classical Scores
Library (accessible online wherever you are), and Library Music Source (accessible
on site) - both at:- http://www.rcs.ac.uk/about_us/libraryandit/databases/
You probably already know about IMSLP (the Petrucci library), too.
D. You can look for information in Oxford
Music Online.
http://www.rcs.ac.uk/about_us/libraryandit/databases/
E. You can find loads of really useful information on JSTOR. (It
can be a good idea to keep a record of the search terms you’ve used, so you don’t
waste time repeating yourself!) Be
clever with your searching – if the essay is asking you to link concepts (eg
Liszt and literature), make sure your search terms reflect that. More
about this later, read on …
·
Don’t
forget we have publishers’ collections of e-books on the e-books page. Try the Cambridge University Press and Oxford
University Press collections.
Now please scroll down
to read further hints about your essay questions!
HIP – Historically Informed
Performance
 |
| Legal public domain image of Liszt (Pixabay) |
If you don’t find what you want, try searching for related
phrases –
·
Historically
informed (a broad term) or Historically informed Baroque (more precise)
·
Historically
appropriate (broad) or Historically appropriate performance (narrow)
·
Modern
instruments
·
Authenticity
Liszt – Try using JSTOR
Advanced Search. Search smart!
Liszt
literature isn’t a very
precise search! Try Liszt Literary
Allusions and scroll
down to the journal filter, to check the Music Box. That way, you only retrieve music journals,
and you don’t just get literature about Liszt. But don’t forget to search our own catalogue
for books on Liszt – we have dozens!
Soviet music –
·
Again, use JSTOR Advanced Search. Socialist realist ideology is a great search, so long as you use the journal filter for music
journals!
·
If you’re searching the e-books collections, remember the
publishers publish on a wide range of disciplines, not just music, and they don’t
give you e-access to EVERYTHING they publish.
(Cambridge University Press only gives books from certain years, for
example.) Experiment with your search
terms. Eg, searching Oxford University
Press Scholarship Online for Socialist realist ideology music may be too
precise, Socialist realist ideology may be too general, but Socialist
music, or Soviet music, might have worthwhile results.
Shostakovich,
Stravinsky, Schoenberg, Boulez, Stockhausen – in our catalogue, entering a composer’s
name then limiting to books, or e-books, is a good start. Similarly, you can’t go wrong searching
publishers’ e-book collections because you know your search term will retrieve
material about the composer!
However, if you’re searching JSTOR,
remember many articles are by specialists on very precise research topics, so
you may need to add extra search terms to your search.
Jazz
culture and gender inequality – in the publishers’ e-book collections on our
website https://www.rcs.ac.uk/about_us/libraryandit/e-books/,
Oxford University Press Scholarship Online is a good place to start. Search jazz
culture gender, for example. The Sage e-book collections also look good. Then try the same search on JSTOR Advanced
Search, making sure you check the Music Journals box.
Berio, Andriessen – Try JSTOR Advanced search for Berio Sinfonia Postmodern – then try
again substituting Postmodernism.
Be sure to check the Music Journals box.
Remember, you can always take words away from a search, so you could
search for Andriessen De Staat Postmodern, or leave off the last
word! This applies in any search. And
just a wee reminder. We have an e-book on Postmodernism, and one on Berio, but
we have several paper books. Don’t forget the “real” books! Also, why not look up the works on Naxos?
There are sleeve notes!
John Cage – JSTOR is a great start, so is our catalogue (limit your search to
books), and so is the Oxford e-book collection we mentioned earlier.
Tips to Take Away!
JSTOR Advanced Search (and select Music Journals)
Experiment with broader or more specific searches
Cite your references with care
Ask the Performing Arts Librarians if you need advice with resources
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Find great resources for your essay, in the library or at home!
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