Home - Music Research - Research Guides at UCLA Library

Home - Music Research - Research Guides at UCLA Library
UCLA Library
Research Guides
Music Research
Music Research
Quick links and short descriptions of all internet resources for music available at UCLA.
Goals of this Guide
A to Z List of Music Resources
Articles
Reference Sources
E-books & Dissertations
Audio and Video
Toggle Dropdown
Avalon guide
Scores and Sheet Music
Research Guides for Music
Quick Links
Advanced Research Methods
This link opens in a new window
Research advice for upper division undergraduates and graduates in the social sciences and humanities.
Citing Sources
This link opens in a new window
UCLA guide on citation and avoiding plagiarism.
Music Library Home
This link opens in a new window
Central website for music research at UCLA.
UC Library Search
This link opens in a new window
This link opens in a new window
UC Library Search is the unified discovery and borrowing system for all 10 UC Campuses. Select the
UCLA Library Catalog
scope
to search holdings of materials owned by the UCLA Library and other UCLA collections, whether online or in print. Does not contain full-text articles or article citations. Select the
Articles, books and more
scope
to search for materials in all 10 UC campuses. More information in
the UC Library Search guide
Research Help
Need more research help? We're here for you.
Chat
with us online
Email
us your quick questions
Connect with a
subject specialist
If you need help with writing, schedule an appointment with a peer learning facilitator at the
Undergraduate Writing Center
(UWC) or a writing consultant at the
Graduate Writing Center
Connect from Off-Campus
UCLA students, faculty, and staff can access Library subscription databases from off-campus using either of the following options.
UCLA Virtual Private Network (VPN)
This link opens in a new window
A program you install on your computer. Already built-in on most mobile devices.
UCLA OnLine Proxy Server
This link opens in a new window
A simple browser setting which will automatically divert you to a UCLA logon page when you first access a restricted site.
Blair Black
Blair Black
She/Her(s)
Email Me
Matthew Vest
Matthew Vest
He, him, his
Email Me
Subjects:
Music & Dance
Studio A
UCLA Music Library's Studio A and Music Kits are available for Audio Visual recordings and creation.
Reserve
Studio A or a Music Kit
today!
Goals of this Guide
This is the main guide for all online music-related resources provided by the UCLA Library. Its purpose is to centralize as many music-related resources as possible so researchers can easily find and access databases, repositories, etc.
Resources marked "
Licensed for UCLA
" are available to anyone logged in to the campus network (Eduroam). They are also available to UCLA students, faculty, and staff off campus via the VPN or Proxy server (see Connect from Off-Campus). Resources marked "
Freely Available
" are free to anyone, anywhere.
You may suggest additions to this guide by contacting the author.
This guide was revised by Kate Hamori in 2025.
A to Z List of Music Resources
19th Century American Sheet Music Collection
This link opens in a new window
(University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill) A unique collection of American music material.
19th Century California Sheet Music
This link opens in a new window
(UC Berkeley) A virtual library of some 2,700 pieces of sheet music published in California between 1852 and 1900, and related materials.
Afrocentric Sounds Radio
This link opens in a new window
A free, online radio station featuring classical music written and/or performed by the African diaspora.
American Folklife Center. Library of Congress
This link opens in a new window
American vernacular songs and stories from the Library of Congress collections.
Analysis Index
This link opens in a new window
Index of analyses or program notes for musical compositions in books owned by the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. The call numbers for the books should be the same or similar to those used in the UCLA Music Library.
Opera-Arias Database
This link opens in a new window
Index to arias and songs in opera. Search by composer, role, voice range, etc.
Art Song Transpositions
This link opens in a new window
This link opens in a new window
Art Song Transpositions provides access to over 12,000 art songs and Baroque aria pdfs. Users may find transpositions that have been professionally translated into different keys.
ASCAP
This link opens in a new window
American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP): a not-for-profit performance-rights organization that protects its members' musical copyrights by monitoring public performances of their music. Provides a database of works registered to ASCAP.
Avalon
This link opens in a new window
This link opens in a new window
Avalon houses streaming audio and video collections at UCLA. Content is restricted to UCLA users and requires additional UCLA authentication for use both on and off campus via the "Sign in" link.
Beethovenhaus Bonn. Digital Archives
This link opens in a new window
...contains the unique collections of the Beethoven-Haus: Music manuscripts, first editions, letters and pictures and many recordings.
Belfer Cylinders Digital Connection
This link opens in a new window
(Belfer Audio Laboratory and Archive. Syracuse University) Access to 22,000 cylinder recordings.
Berliner Philharmoniker Digital Concert Hall
This link opens in a new window
This link opens in a new window
The Digital Concert Hall of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra transmits the concerts of the Berlin philharmonic orchestra to the internet for registered users to access on demand.
Users must register as an Institutional User at the site for access
BMI
This link opens in a new window
Database of copyright or license holders of musical compositions registered with BMI. BMI is the bridge between songwriters and the businesses and organizations that want to play their music publicly.
British Library Sound Archive
This link opens in a new window
Sound collections in the British Library.
Cambridge Companions to Music
This link opens in a new window
This link opens in a new window
Introductions to major composers, instruments, or musical topics. Each "companion" contains a collection of commissioned essays, selected to provide a systematic critical overview of, for example, Bach, Ballet, or Brass Instruments.
CHARM: Centre for the History and Analysis of Recorded Music
This link opens in a new window
(Royal Holloway, University of London; King's College, London; University of Sheffield) Library of "ex-copyright recordings," discographies, recording history, and recording analysis tool.
Chopin Early Editions
This link opens in a new window
(University of Chicago) The Chopin collection at the University of Chicago Library includes over 400 first and early printed editions of musical compositions by Frédéric Chopin.
Choral Public Domain Library
This link opens in a new window
Begun in December 1998, CPDL is one of the world's largest free sheet music sites. You can use CPDL to find scores, texts, translations, and information about composers.
Contemporary Music Score Collection, UCLA Music Library
This link opens in a new window
This link opens in a new window
Published by the UCLA Music Library in eScholarship, the
Contemporary Music Score Collection
includes the digital, open access scores from the Contemporary Score Edition series, the first open access edition of new music published by a library, and scores from the Kaleidoscope 2020 Call for Scores, an open access collaboration with the UCLA Music Library.
Contemporary Musicians
This link opens in a new window
Provides short biography, photo, discography and sources for mostly popular musicians.
Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project
This link opens in a new window
(UC Santa Barbara. Davidson Library. Department of Special Collections) Historical recordings before 1923 or music in all genres.
Dance Online: Dance in Video
This link opens in a new window
This link opens in a new window
Video selections cover ballet, tap, jazz, contemporary, experimental, and improvisational dance, as well as forerunners of the forms and the pioneers of modern concert dance. Also included documentaries by and about choreographers; videos on dance training; and other items covering 20th century dance styles. UCLA has access to Volumes I and II of this database.
Daniels' Orchestral Music Online
This link opens in a new window
This link opens in a new window
Daniels' Orchestral Music Online is based on the
David Daniels's Orchestral Music: A Handbook
. You can browse the classical repertoire and find basic information on composers and instrumentation. You can also search opera arias, duets choruses, and more using the opera excerpts finder.
Sound Recording Collections in the Royal Danish Library
This link opens in a new window
(Royal Library of Denmark) Selected works from the sound recording collections in digital form.
Diction Police
This link opens in a new window
Includes text readings of songs and arias, phonetic transcription (IPA), translations into several languages, video tutorials, podcasts, webinars, diction tips, and diction lessons. Look under the "In Depth" tab for free content.
D. K. Wilgus Folksong Collection
This link opens in a new window
(UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive) American folk music, stories, and and field recordings.
DMS: Dissertationsmeldestelle der Gesellschaft für Musikforschung
This link opens in a new window
Musicological and pedagogical theses registered from institutions in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland.
DRAM (Database of Recorded American Music)
This link opens in a new window
This link opens in a new window
Recordings and scholarly resources on modern and contemporary American art music ("new music") and other avant garde genres.
DRM: Digital Resources for Musicology
This link opens in a new window
This website provides links to substantial open-access projects of use to musicians and musicologists.
ebrary
This link opens in a new window
Ebook collection, including many about music.
Entertainment Industry Magazine Archive (EIMA)
This link opens in a new window
This link opens in a new window
EIMA is an historical archive of major trade and consumer magazines in film, television, music, radio, and theater, from their inception to 2000. Includes weekly
Variety
Hollywood Reporter
American Cinematographer
Back Stage
Billboard
Broadcasting
Picturegoer
Screen International
Spin
, and more. UCLA has access to
parts I, II and III
of this database.
Ethnographic Video Online: Foundational Films
This link opens in a new window
This link opens in a new window
Volumes I and II of Ethnographic Video Online. Contains streaming video of documentary footage focused on the study of human culture and behavior. Includes ethnographic films, documentaries, select feature films, interviews, field notes, and study guides. See also volume III,
Indigenous Voices
; and, volume IV,
Festivals and Archives
Filmakers Library
This link opens in a new window
Documentary films, click on Subjects to find films about music.
Folkstreams » The Best of American Folklore Films
This link opens in a new window
A National Preserve of Documentary Films about American Roots Cultures - streamed with essays about the traditions and filmmaking. The site includes transcriptions, study and teaching guides, suggested readings and links to related websites.
Arhoolie Foundation's Strachwitz Frontera Collection of Mexican and Mexican American Recordings
This link opens in a new window
Approximately 40,000 recordings of music from the border regions of Mexico and the United States. These performances document many types of popular lyric songs, including the first recordings of corridos (narrative ballads on topics of the day), canciones, boleros, rancheras, and sones, including the first recordings of norteno and conjunto music.
Global Music Archive
This link opens in a new window
(Vanderbilt University. Wilson Music Library) A multi-media reference archive and resource center for traditional and popular song, music, and dance of Africa and the Americas.
HathiTrust Digital Library
This link opens in a new window
This link opens in a new window
A repository of scanned books contributed from academic institutions across the United States, including UCLA. Books still in copyright are scanned and searchable, but the full text scans will not become available online until their copyright expires.
Hoagy Carmichael Collection
This link opens in a new window
(Indiana University) Digitized materials from the Hoagy Carmichael Collection.
IMSLP: International Music Scores Library
This link opens in a new window
Attempts to create a virtual library containing all public domain musical scores, as well as scores from composers who are willing to share their music with the world without charge.
International Encyclopedia of Dance
This link opens in a new window
From Oxford Reference, this core dance encyclopedia contains articles written by scholars on theatrical, ritual, dance-drama, folk, traditional, ethnic, and social dance.
IPA Source
This link opens in a new window
International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) and literal translations of opera arias and song texts.
Jazz Periodicals (RIPM)
This link opens in a new window
This link opens in a new window
Collection of 105 American (U.S) full-text jazz journals and magazines published from 1914 to roughly the year 2000. Developed in collaboration with the Institute of Jazz Studies (IJS) at Rutgers University and RIPM’s Partner and Participating Libraries, offers access, for the first time, to this essential documentary resource. All journal issues are out-of-print and rarely accessible, with numerous complete publication runs reconstructed by RIPM.
JSTOR
This link opens in a new window
This link opens in a new window
Full text back issues of core scholarly journals, browsable and searchable across multiple disciplines. Coverage starts with first issue, with moving wall for most recent 3-5 years. UCLA has access to
selected
JSTOR e-books only. JSTOR also includes
primary source collections
, including
images from Artstor
The Josquin Research Project
This link opens in a new window
Search, browse, and analyze scores of polyphonic music, ca. 1420 - c. 1520.
Judaica Sound Archives
This link opens in a new window
The Judaica Sound Archives is a major center for the collection, preservation and digitization of Judaica audio recordings. The JSA is located in the Wimberly Library on the Boca Raton campus of Florida Atlantic University.
Kanopy
This link opens in a new window
This link opens in a new window
On-demand streaming video service for educational institutions with thousands of documentaries, training films and theatrical releases across diverse subjects and disciplines. More information on Kanopy access and use is available on
this guide
Medici.tv
This link opens in a new window
This link opens in a new window
Provides access to a high definition video library of performances, concerts, recitals, and documentaries in classical music, opera, dance, and jazz.
Medieval Music Digital Archive
This link opens in a new window
A portal to worldwide collections of medieval polyphonic music manuscripts. The music and the manuscripts date from approx 800 to 1500, and the original documents are kept in libraries and archives around the globe. Access is free to anyone, but you must register.
Met Opera on Demand: Student Edition
This link opens in a new window
This link opens in a new window
Online streaming access to more than 650 full-length Metropolitan Opera performances.
MGG Online - Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart
This link opens in a new window
This link opens in a new window
A general encyclopedia of music. In-depth articles on every aspect of music as well as many related areas such as literature, philosophy, and visual arts. MGG Online contains the second print edition of MGG, published from 1994 to 2008, as well as current, continuous online updates and additions.
Music for the American Nation: Sheet Music 1870-1885
This link opens in a new window
(Library of Congress) Part of the digital collections.
Music ID (Industry Data)
This link opens in a new window
This link opens in a new window
Music ID delivers the narrative of music in its cultural, economic and social context. International sales of all artists across 74 countries for all genres are displayed in vivid graphs and representations.
Music Index
UCLA no longer subscribes to Music Index. Please use RILM Abstracts of Music Literature or International Index to Music Periodicals.
Music Online: African American Music Reference
This link opens in a new window
This link opens in a new window
E-book collection of reference books, biographies, chronologies, sheet music, images, lyrics, liner notes, and discographies which chronicle the history of African American music.
Music Online: American Music
This link opens in a new window
This link opens in a new window
American popular song of all genres, 19th century to the 1960s.
Music Online: Classical Music Library
This link opens in a new window
This link opens in a new window
Provides musical sound recordings and MIDI files, program notes, reference texts (composer biographies, history, and glossary), and images. The music includes vocal and instrumental works from the Middle Ages through to the present. Users navigate through browse lists, a search engine and music track playlists
Music Online: Classical Scores Library
This link opens in a new window
This link opens in a new window
A series of four volumes with a mission to provide a reliable and authoritative source for scores of the classical canon, as well as a resource for the discovery of lesser-known contemporary works. The collections encompass all major classical musical genres and time periods from the Middle Ages to the 21st century. With full, study, piano, and vocal scores, this comprehensive collection will enhance the study of music history, performance, composition and theory for a variety of scholars.
Music Online: Contemporary World Music
This link opens in a new window
This link opens in a new window
Music from all the regions of the world including important genres such as reggae, worldbeat, neo-traditional, world fusion, Balkanic jazz, African film, Bollywood, Arab swing and jazz, and other genres such as traditional music - Indian classical, fado, flamenco, klezmer, zydeco, gospel, gagaku, and more. Complements: Smithsonian Global Sound
, the collection of American traditional musics. Liner notes to the original recordings are available.
Music Online: The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music Online
This link opens in a new window
This link opens in a new window
Contains the full text of the 10 volume print encyclopedia (originally published in 1997). Each volume contains an overview of a geographic region, a survey of its musical heritage, and a description of specific musical genres, practices, and performances. Includes photographs of musicians, musical instruments, and the cultural context of dances, rituals, and ceremonies; drawings; maps; and musical examples for further study.
Music Online: The Qwest TV Collection, Volume I
This link opens in a new window
This link opens in a new window
Offers live music performances, covering the evolution of jazz and beyond - representing funk, soul, hip-hop, folk, indie, electronic, blues, and other world genres.
Music Online: Smithsonian Global Sound
This link opens in a new window
This link opens in a new window
A virtual encyclopedia of the world musical and aural traditions, from the Smithsonian Global Sound for Libraries.
musiconn.search
This link opens in a new window
The musiconn.search portal allows you to search 18 musicology databases simultaneously and offers comprehensive search capabilities across more than 5.5 million individual entries
Music Periodicals Database
This link opens in a new window
This link opens in a new window
Provides indexing and abstracts for several hundred international music periodicals from over 20 countries, plus full text for more than 140 of the indexed journals. Former database title:
International Index to Music Periodicals (IIMP) Full Text
Music Treasures Consortium
This link opens in a new window
(Library of Congress; Harvard University; Juilliard School) Online access to the world's most valued music manuscripts and print materials, held at the most renowned music archives, in order to further research and scholarship.
Musical America
This link opens in a new window
This link opens in a new window
Music industry news, database of artists, performing organizations, artists managers, and music industry contacts.
Musical Theatre Scores
This link opens in a new window
(Univeristy of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) Opera and musical theater scores (G&S, Kern, Sousa, Herbert) via the Internet Archive.
National Juke Box
This link opens in a new window
(Library of Congress) Historical recordings of American music in all genres.
Naxos Music Library
This link opens in a new window
This link opens in a new window
Streaming audio recordings of mostly classical music from Naxos, Marco Polo, Da Capo, and several other major labels.
Naxos Music Library Jazz
This link opens in a new window
This link opens in a new window
Streaming access to jazz recordings from Naxos, Fantasy, and other major labels.
New Mozart Edition: Digital Edition
This link opens in a new window
(Neue Mozart-Ausgabe) The Mozart complete works edition in digital form.
nkoda
This link opens in a new window
This link opens in a new window
The world’s largest digital library of sheet music, with over 30 million pages of music ready to view, annotate and share. Search content, browse curated playlists and discover new music using unique smart technology. New individual users will need to create an account with nkoda to access content and features.
Online Chopin Variorum Edition
This link opens in a new window
An online music edition of Chopin's work with the print and manuscript sources.
Opera and Ballet Sources Online
This link opens in a new window
Scores, libretti, and other original sources for opera, operetta, and ballet. From Brigham Young University.
Oxford Bibliographies Online: Music
This link opens in a new window
This link opens in a new window
Annotated bibliographies for topics in the field of Music. Combines encyclopedia-style introductions with expert recommendations of the most important reference works, books, journals, and primary sources on the topic.
Oxford Handbooks Online
This link opens in a new window
This link opens in a new window
Oxford Handbooks, now a part of Oxford Academic, provide review articles which summarize and analyze current research and trends in a given discipline. UCLA subscribes to most Oxford Handbooks Online, excluding a few individual titles.
Oxford History of Western Music
This link opens in a new window
This link opens in a new window
Full text of the 5 volumes of Richard Taruskin's The Oxford History of Western Music:
Music from the Earliest Notations to the Sixteenth Century
Music In The Seventeenth And Eighteenth Centuries
Music in the Nineteenth Century
Music in the Early Twentieth Century
Music in the Late Twentieth Century
Oxford Music Online
This link opens in a new window
This link opens in a new window
Oxford Music Online is the access point for
Grove Music Online
and other Oxford music reference resources, including The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd Edition (2001), The New Grove Dictionary of Opera (1992), and The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, 2nd Edition (2001) and updates.
Oxford Reference (Music Reference Books)
This link opens in a new window
Access to Oxford Companions, Dictionaries, and other Reference works. See Oxford Music Online for Grove Music.
Phonobase
This link opens in a new window
Early gramophone records and cylinders from France and Europe.
Project Muse
This link opens in a new window
Full text of current issues (from about 1990) of scholarly journals published by university presses, chiefly in the arts, humanities and social sciences. Browsable by discipline and full-text searchable across all disciplines.
ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global
This link opens in a new window
This link opens in a new window
Index to doctoral dissertations from 1637 to the present, with abstracts since 1980. A number of master's theses are also indexed, with abstracts since 1988. Many are available for download in pdf format. UCLA has access to all full text dissertations in the database. Non-UCLA users may use
Dissertations Express
to purchase digital or print copies of individual dissertations.
RILM Abstracts of Music Literature
This link opens in a new window
This link opens in a new window
Indexes scholarly music journals, essay collections, music articles in non-music journals, dissertations, and non-English resources.
RISM: International Inventory of Musical Sources after 1600
This link opens in a new window
A cooperative effort to identify and describe the world's pre-1850 musical sources, to record what primary sources exist and where they can be located.
Rock's Backpages
This link opens in a new window
This link opens in a new window
Full text articles of rock and roll criticism from various publications, 1970's to current.
SCHUBERT Online
This link opens in a new window
Manuscripts, letters, and prints of Franz Schubert from the Austrian Academy of Sciences.
Sheet Music Consortium
This link opens in a new window
Search the digital sheet music and print collections of UCLA, Indiana University, Johns Hopkins University, and Duke University.
Sibley Music Library Digital Scores Online
This link opens in a new window
(Eastman School of Music. Sibley Music Library) "Scores and books in the public domain, many .... unique to the Sibley Music Library collection.
UC Press Ebook Collection (Music)
This link opens in a new window
UC Press books on music published through 2014 available as ebooks.
Victorian Popular Culture: Music Hall, Theatre and Popular Entertainment
This link opens in a new window
Research portal for the study of popular entertainment in the 19th and early 20th centuries. This segment focuses on the variety stage, vaudeville and theatre, and also includes magic lantern shows, early cinema and dioramas.
Virtual Gramophone
This link opens in a new window
From the Library and Archives Canada; early recordings from Canada.
Virtual Music Rare Book Room
This link opens in a new window
(University of North Texas) Digital collection of early opera scores, particularly Lully and other French composers.
Next:
Articles >>
Apr 17, 2026 4:07 PM
URL:
Print Page
Login to LibApps
Report a problem
Subjects:
Music & Dance
Tags:
Music Library