Research Guides: World Music: Find Books

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Selected Subject Headings

This list is intended to be a starting point for recognizing patterns in related subject headings. Here are some that might help get you started when looking for ethnomusicological information:

Those can then be followed by specific country names and/or word and phrases like:

-- Africa

-- Bibliography

-- Encyclopedias

-- History and criticism

-- Instruction and Study

Example:

Folk Music -- Africa -- History and Criticism

Selected General Reference Books

Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World
Includes bibliographical references, discographies, and index.
v. 1. Media, industry and society -- v. 2. Performance and production -- v.3 Caribbean and Latin America -- v.4 Locations: North America -- v.5 Asia and Oceana -- v.6 Africa and the Middle East -- v.7 Europe -- v.8 Genres: North America.

African American Music Reference This link opens in a new window
Showcases all facets of African American music, including folk, religious, concert, and popular styles of today. Illuminates the profound role that African American music has plays in American cultural history.

Encyclopedia of Popular Music
"This encyclopedia's 30,000 entries cover all genres and periods of popular music from 1900 to the present day, including jazz, country, folk, rap, reggae, techno, musicals, and world music."

Music Online Garland Encyclopedia of World Music This link opens in a new window
The first comprehensive online resource devoted to music research of all the world's peoples. More than 9,000 pages of material, combined with entries by more than 700 expert contributors from all over the world, make this the most complete body of work focused on world music.
Oxford Music Online This link opens in a new window
Entries and essays from specialist dictionaries such as Grove Music Online, the Oxford Companion to Music, the Oxford Dictionary of Music, and The Encyclopedia of Popular Music.

Library Smart Search

Classification Numbers

ML128 .E8	Ethnomusicology - Bibliography
ML3549 - 3370	North America
ML3572 - 3575	Central and South America
ML3580 - 3730	Europe
ML3740 - 3758	Asia
ML3760 - 3769	Africa
ML3770 - 3774	Australia, Oceania, etc.
ML3776	Secular Music of the Jews in all countries
ML3796 - 3799	Ethnomusicology

Because keyword searching in any search tool is imperfect, another useful way to find related books that you might otherwise miss is to browse the shelves or use the browse feature in Smart Search with your selected call number(s). Use these call number ranges to browse for books on music in these regions. See below for an example of browsing by Library of Congress call numbers in Smart Search.

If you need assistance figuring out which call numbers are best to browse for your topic, please contact me with your topic and question. I can help!

Browse by call numbers beginning with ML3650

Selected Research Guides/Bibliographies

Nettl, Bruno. Reference Materials in Ethnomusicology,1967.
This book is from the late 1960s; however, it has good information for historical research and many of the contents are still valid. Part of the Routledge Music Bibliographies series.
Post, Jennifer C. Ethnomusicology: A Research and Information Guide, 2011.
Contains resources and information for use on the early stages of ethnomusicological research and on specific geographic areas.
Schuursma, Ann Briegleb. Ethnomusicology Research: A Select Annotated Bibliography, 1992.
Part of the Garland Reference Library of the Humanities series.

Subject Librarian

Katie Edmiston

she/her/hers

Email Me

Contact:

Park Library 218

989-774-3835

Subjects: Art, Communication, Fashion Merchandising & Design, Interior Design, Journalism, Media Arts, Music

Book Series

Global Music Series
Oxford University Press publishes the Global Music Series that includes 26 books on music from different geographic regions.
Focus on World Music
Routledge Music's series Focus on World Music includes books on specific musical genres and regions.
Garland Handbooks of World Music
Routledge also publishes the Garland Handbooks of World Music that include three books with articles and essays from the Garland Encyclopedia of World Music.
SOAS Musicology Series
Ashgate publishes the SOAS Musicology Series that includes books on interdisciplinary and collaborative ethnomusicology topics.
ABC-CLIO World Music Series
The ABC-CLIO World Music Series includes books with accompanying CDs and provides an overview of music in particular regions.