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Music Appreciation: Exploring Music Genres

Finding Library Resources

Useful terminology for searching in the library catalog or research databases:

Genre terminology like rock music, jazz, blues, hip-hop, country music, etc. + any of the following:
History
Theory
History and criticism or history & criticism
Genres & styles
Social aspects
Criticism and interpretation

Searching for Books

(Choose the books & more tab on the library home page, then click on the SVCC Library Catalog link.)

 In general, books about specific music genres can be found with the call numbers listed below:

Music Reference: ML 100-109

Musical Theatre & Opera: ML 1700-1727

Popular Music: ML 3470-3479

Jazz: ML 3500-3509

Blues: ML 3521

Country Music: ML 3524, ML 3561

Hip Hop & Rap: ML 3531

Reggae: ML 3532

Rock Music: ML 3534, ML 3918

Folk Music: ML 3550-3559

Cajun/Zydeco: ML 3560

Music Reference eBooks

(These are general reference eBooks. A catalog search about your genre may reveal more eBook titles.)

Music in American life: an encyclopedia of the songs, styles, stars, and stories that shaped our culture

I-Share Catalog

SVCC belongs to a consortium of more than 80 academic and research libraries in Illinois – CARLI. If you can’t find what you need in our library, expand your search to the I-Share catalog. 

Searching for Articles

 

CREDO Reference

Click on the Advanced Search link. Type your one-word search terms in the With all of the words search box, but use the With the exact phrase search box for terms like Country music. Also, expand the Select Subjects or Titles menu, then expand Arts & Leisure as well, to limit to Music topics.

Academic Search Complete

Click on the Advanced Search link. Search for your music genre as Subject Terms and another keyword in All Text. Limit your results to Full Text articles in Scholarly Journals. Expand the Subject limiter menu and click on Show More. Limit to another subject such as history & criticism.

JSTOR

Click the Advanced Search link under the basic search box. Try searching for your genre in Item Title and another keyword in Full-Text. Choose Article for your Item Type. Filter by Discipline > Music.

Online Music Clips

Library of Congress Sound Recordings

Use your genre as search terminology. Some links lead to resources housed at the Library of Congress, but others are playable. These recordings can’t be downloaded and must be streamed from the website.

Library of Congress American Jukebox

Search for Blues, Musical Theater, Jazz, Country & more. As above, music is streamed.

CC Mixter

Subject to Creative Commons license, most only requires acknowledgment of creator for noncommercial use. Search for you genre and choose from a list of matching results.

Copyright Guidelines for Music

 Up to 10% of a copyrighted musical composition (maximum of 30 seconds) can be included in a multimedia presentation by a student or teacher for educational purposes.

 Linking to online streaming music is not prohibited by copyright law.

Citation Guidelines

The bibliographic format for this assignment was developed by Kate L. Turabian and published by the University of Chicago. The style is referred to variously as Turabian or Chicago Style.

Style manuals held on reserve at the library circulation desk:

The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th ed. 


A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations: Chicago Style for Students and Researchers, 8th ed.

Online resources for Chicago Style include the following:

The Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) – Chicago Manual of Style 16th Edition