Research Guides: #Music & Music Appreciation: Research: Scholarly Sources

Accessing the Databases

Access online library materials through the library databases!

To access the databases from off-campus, you will be prompted to enter your 14-digit library barcode.

Don't have one yet? Request a barcode number online.

Browse by subject area
A-Z sortable database list

Discovery Search
Search (nearly) all the library collections from one place, including articles, books and e-books, videos, and more.
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You can search without signing in, but once you click to access something, you'll be prompted to use your library barcode number or your LSC username/password.

Related Guides

Journals & Periodicals: Identifying Scholarly Sources
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ILL - Interlibrary Loan Requests
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Google Scholar Guide
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Search Google Scholar

Before You Research

Scholarly articles are not the place to start your research. First, you need to get familiar enough with your topic that you can start to narrow it down, and for that you need more general information. This will help you develop context for your topic as well as get to know the specialized terms used by experts.

Oxford Music Online This link opens in a new window
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Online music reference source includes articles from the Oxford Companion to Music, Grove dictionaries of American music, jazz , opera, and musical instruments, and the Encyclopedia of Popular Music.
Encyclopedia of Popular Music This link opens in a new window
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Features articles on popular music genres such as jazz, country, folk, rap, reggae, techno, musicals, and world music from 1900 to the present. Also includes information on trends, styles, record labels, venues, and music festivals.
Credo Reference This link opens in a new window
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Useful when you're starting out on a research project. Do simple searches to find topic introductions in a variety of subjects. The mind map tool will help you discover related ideas and terms.

Available to Lone Star College Users

JSTOR This link opens in a new window
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Complete historical full text of all issues of peer-reviewed journals in a wide range of humanities and social science fields. (pronounced jay-store)
Project MUSE This link opens in a new window
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Full text of 285 journals in literature, history, international/cultural studies, and other fields within the humanities and social sciences.
Fine Arts (Gale OneFile) This link opens in a new window
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Search millions of articles about drama, music, art history, and filmmaking. Diverse resource for serious fine arts students.
Search all Gale databases at once with Gale PowerSearch.
Academic Search Complete (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
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Multi-disciplinary database; full text of articles from over 5,300 journals, magazines and newspapers, plus image collections.

Music Online: Classical Music in Video
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1,000 hours of classical music performances and masterclasses captured on video—approximately 1,500 performances in all.
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The collection will contain performances of all forms of classical music, including major orchestral performances by leading orchestras, plus chamber music, oratorio, and solo performances, along with masterclasses and interviews with master teachers from around the world.

Open Access Journals

Music Theory Online
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The peer-reviewed open-access electronic journal of the Society for Music Theory: criticism, commentary, research and scholarship in music theory, music analysis, and related disciplines.
The Journal of Music and Meaning
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JMM: The Journal of Music and Meaning is an online, open access, peer-reviewed journal for multidisciplinary research on music and meaning.
Journal of Music History Pedagogy
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The Journal of Music History Pedagogy is a bi-annual, peer-reviewed, open-access, on-line journal dedicated to the publication of original articles and reviews related to teaching music history of all levels (undergraduate, graduate, or general studies) and disciplines (western, non-western, concert and popular musics).
IASPM@Journal
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IASPM@Journal is the peer-reviewed open-access e-journal of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM).
Journal of Seventeenth-Century Music
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The Journal of Seventeenth-Century Music (JSCM) is published by the Society for Seventeenth-Century Music to provide a refereed forum for scholarly studies of the musical cultures of the seventeenth century. These include historical and archival studies, performance practice, music theory, aesthetics, dance, and theater.
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JSCM also publishes critical reviews and summary listings of recently published books, scores, and electronic media.
Open Music Library (closed May 26)
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Curated by a community of music scholars, students, teachers and librarians, the Open Music Library brings together peer-reviewed journal articles, books and music scores from the world’s digital collections.
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The Open Music Library is an initiative from Alexander Street to build the world’s largest free index of digital resources for the study of music.
Music Therapy Today
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Peer-reviewed journal produced by the World Federation of Music Therapy (WFMT) containing articles related to music therapy theory, education, and practice.