Answered By: Laura Percival
Last Updated: Aug 15, 2018     Views: 164

The main databases for music students are:

  • Oxford Music Online - Online version of The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, and The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz.
  • RILM Abstracts of Music Literature - This is the major source for discovering what journal articles (and other material) have been written about (mainly classical) music.
  • JSTOR (Arts and Sciences III) - This covers around 50 titles full-text but is archival so recent articles are not included. Articles in JSTOR may be effectively searched for though RILM.
  • ZETOC - This is a useful supplement to RILM as it covers music in non-music journals.
  • Rock's Back Pages - An archive of reviews, interviews and features from the early '60s to the present day - please note - this database has its own username and password to log in. Follow the link to see the details.
  • IPA Source - Library of International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) transcriptions and literal translations of opera arias and art song texts.

We also have access to online music and video resources:

  • Classical Music Library - One of the largest online classical music recording collections available for listening, with the main emphasis on the baroque, classical and romantic periods.
  • Jazz Music Library - Online collection of jazz tracks.
  • Naxos Music Library - As well as Naxos recordings, releases from several other labels are now included, covering Jazz, World Music, and a wide range of Classical repertoire. 
  • Naxos Music Library Jazz - List of Jazz recordings
  • Naxos Video Library - Streaming video from Naxos and several labels. - please note - this database has its own username and password to log in. Follow the link to see the details.

For more information, please visit the Music LibGuide. If you would like help using any of these resources you can book a tutorial with Beth Delwiche, the librarian for the Conservatoire or ask at the Library Help Desk.

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