Westfield State University Ely Library

Music Web Sites

General Jazz Voice: Including Lyrics & Songsheets
Music Theory Classical American Music
Western Instruments Opera Teaching Related Sites
Global Music & World Instruments

General

Worldwide Internet Music Resources (Emma I. Dederick)
http://library.music.indiana.edu/music_resources/
This is a service of the Indiana University Music Library, connecting to many sites relating to the world of performance, research, and biographies covering all types of music.

Art.Net Links: Music and Audio References(sponsored by Art On the Net)
http://www.art.net/Links/musicref.html Included here are links to both commercial and informational sites about all types of music. Sound clips are available with headphones or speakers, but don't get too excited as they tend to take a long time to load and are very short due to copyright restrictions.

Eyeneer Music Archives
http://www.eyeneer.org/
Although this site represents a commercial enterprise, there are links to substantial information sources (including sound bytes if you have the proper software). Sections include International, Contemporary Classical, American, and New Jazz.

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Music Theory

MusicTheory.net
http://www.musictheory.net/
This amazing training tool provides lessons on staves, note duration, time signatures, major, minor and other scales, key signatures, chords and more, as well as providing trainers on intervals, notes, scales, as well as on the keyboard, guitar, and brass instruments. With sound. It even has a staff paper generator. Try it out!

Music Theory Online: A Journal of Criticism, Commentary, Research, and Scholarship
http://mto.societymusictheory.org/
"Music Theory Online is the refereed, electronic journal of the Society for Music Theory, Inc. Published several times each year, each issue includes features such as articles, book reviews, and reports from a distinguished panel of International Correspondents."

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Classical

Classical Composers Database (Jos Smeets)
http://www.classical-composers.org/
This site provides information on many classical composers but is difficult to browse. If you have a composer in mind, try a search. Many helpful links are provided to flesh out the information given. For tips scroll down the first screen.

Classical Composer Biographies (Michael Norrish)
http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mn200/music/composers.html
This somewhat anecdotal site does provide dates and interesting observations on some of the best known classical composers. Read the disclaimer. Click on Edit then find in page to locate a composer or scroll down the screen.

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Opera

Operabase
http://www.operabase.com/index.cgi?lang=en
Here find performance reviews, information on artists and performances, links to opera houses and festivals, and links to opera resources on the Web.

The Aria Database
http://www.aria-database.com/index2.html
This database holds information on the complete operatic aria collections of Mozart, Verdi, Berlioz, Wagner, and Puccini as well as the partial collections of over 50 other composers. Use simple searches for best results. It is not necessary to select a choice in each of the advanced search categories in order to retrieve records.

Operissimo Concertissimo
http://www.operissimo.com
This colorful page has information on composers, performers, operas, and opera houses. It is very well organized. Once your search is complete, watch for the British flag to access text in English. The default is for German.

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American Music

The Music of Americans (Library of Congress)
http://www.loc.gov/rr/perform/guide/musamer.html
This site contains wonderful annecdotes about the variations in lyrics over the lifetime of some of the classic American songs. Other information on music in the Library of Congress collection is also available.

The Lester S. Levy Sheet Music Collection
http://levysheetmusic.mse.jhu.edu/
Here find "[indexing and descriptions] for over 29,000 pieces of music [focusing] on popular American music spanning the period 1780 to 1960....An image of the cover and each page of music will also be retrieved if the music was published before 1923 and is in the public domain."

See also America Singing Nineteenth Century Song Sheets (Library of Congress)

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Jazz

The Red Hot Jazz Archive: A history of jazz before 1930(Scott Alexander)
http://www.redhotjazz.com/
This excellent site includes a bibliography, information on bands, films, musicians, and essays about the pre-30's music era. Use the bottom bar for navigation buttons: Bands, Films, Essays, Musicians, and a Search feature. It is a frames environment so be sure to click in the frame you want to print or save before using the print command.

The Jazz Resource Center (Christiaan van Hemert, Leon Kerkstra, Willem Hijmans)
http://www.jazzcenter.org/
"Your guide to jazz theories, transcriptions, cd-reviews and more..."

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Western Instruments

MHN Instrument Encyclopedia (Musical Heritage Network)
http://www.si.umich.edu/chico/instrument/
Select "Browse" and then "Browse General Reference" for easiest site navigation. This web site contains mostly brief information on 140 instruments from the Stearns Collection of Musical Instruments at the University of Michigan. The instruments are indexed by name, geographic region, material, and a specialized classification scheme.

A Guide to Medieval and Renaissance Instruments
http://www.music.iastate.edu/antiqua/instrumt.html

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Global Music & World Instruments

NIU World Music Instrument Collection
http://www.neng.usu.edu/ece/faculty/wheeler/NIU/World.htm

MHN Instrument Encyclopedia (Musical Heritage Network)
http://www.si.umich.edu/chico/instrument/
Select "Browse" and then "Browse General Reference" for easiest site navigation. This web site contains mostly brief information on 140 instruments from the Stearns Collection of Musical Instruments at the University of Michigan. The instruments are indexed by name, geographic region, material, and a specialized classification scheme.

Smithsonian Folkways
http://www.folkways.si.edu/index.aspx
This site is excellent for watching videos and for obtaining inexpensive sound clips (+/- .99).

Ethnomusicology, Folk Music, and World Music
http://guides.lib.washington.edu/ethnomusicology

World Instrument Gallary
http://www.asza.com/ihm.shtml

World Music Central
http://worldmusiccentral.org/staticpages/index.php/instruments_m.htm

National Geographic Music
http://worldmusic.nationalgeographic.com/

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Voice: Including Lyrics and Song Sheets

Popular Lyrics Search Engine
http://lyrics.astraweb.com/

America Singing: Nineteenth Century Song Sheets (Library of Congress)
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/amsshtml/
Look at Yankee Doodle, The Star-Spangled Banner, and Battle Hymn of the Republic, to name a few of the song sheets available on this site.

The Aria Database
http://www.aria-database.com/index2.html
This database holds information on the complete operatic aria collections of Mozart, Verdi, Berlioz, Wagner, and Puccini as well as the partial collections of over 50 other composers. Use simple searches for best results. It is not necessary to select a choice in each of the advanced search categories in order to retrieve records.

The Cyber Hymnal
http://www.hymntime.com/tch
This site contains lyrics, background information, photos, links, MIDI sound files (not available in the library), and scores for downloading.

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Teaching Related Sites

Opportunity-to-Learn Standards for Music Instruction:  Grades PreK-12
http://www.menc.org/resources/view/opportunity-to-learn-standards-for-music-instruction-grades-prek-12
This link provides the full text of standards developed by the National Association of Music Education at the Music Educator's Conference in 1994. Scroll down to access the recommendations including Curriculum and Scheduling, Staffing, Materials and Equipment, and Facilities, for the following grade levels: PreK & K; Elementary; Middle School & Junior High; and High School.

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URL: http://lib.westfield.ma.edu/music.htm
Page maintained by Corinne Ebbs
Last updated April 5, 2010/ph