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MUSC 103: Music, Meaning, and Society

Browsing by Call numbers

Browsing by Call Numbers

Browsing call numbers on shelves or online is another strategy for locating books on a topic that can lead to serendipitous discovery.  

Try these useful call numbers for browsing world musics topics or the discipline of ethnomusicology:

   ML460-1380 (instruments & instrumental music – by region or country)
   ML3470-3541 (Popular music – by region or country, special kinds and styles)
   ML3545-3776 (National music: blues, folk, jazz, national, ethnic, etc.) 
   ML3797-3799 (Ethnomusicology)

Finding Books

Boolean is useful to find books on topics or information in other formats. Search by Boolean using AND|OR|NOT to combine terms
Narrow or refine search by adding other terms: 
      tango AND politics AND argentina
      tango AND piazzolla
 
Broaden search using the * symbol to truncate for variable word endings or by using OR between similar terms nested in brackets: 
        tango* AND politic* AND (argentin* or uruguay*)
        tango* AND (disc OR sound OR video*) (for music or dance on LPs, CDs or videorecordings)
 
Use quotes around a phrase or concept
        "tango cancion" (for specific type of tango)
         "adios nonino" (for instrumental or song titles in scores and recordings)
         "world music*" (use ? truncation symbol for concepts expressed in singular or plural form)
 
Limit large result sets by library location or by using "not"
         tango* (limit to Music Collection for music; limit to Stauffer for dance/interdisciplinary materials)
         tango* NOT (disc OR sound OR video*) (to find books and/or scores only)
 
 

Writing Style Guides for Music

Cowdery, James R., ed. How to write about music: the RILM manual of style, 2nd ed. New York: Répertoire International de Littérature Musicale, 2006. Music Ref. ML3797 .H69 2006

Holoman, D. Kern. Writing about music: a style sheet, 3rd ed. Oakland, CA: University of California Press, 2014. Music Ref. ML3797 .W75 2014

Sampsell, Laurie J. Music research: a handbook. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009. Music Ref. ML113 .S28 2009

Wingell, Richard J. Writing about music: an introductory guide, 4th ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Pearson Hall, 2009. Music Ref. ML3797 .W54 2009

Useful books on world musics