Research Guide: Early & Renaissance Music

For tips on citation format, please see Diana Hacker's Humanities: Documenting Sources (www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/humanities.html) or MLA Style via Yahoo!

Reference books are shelved by Library of Congress call number in the reference stacks on the first floor of the Ruth Haas Library. They may not be checked out, but photocopiers are available for student use on the first and third floors of the Haas Library.

CONSULS catalog workstations are located in the Reference Area on the first floor, and on each of the other floors of the Haas Library. You may logon to CONSULS via the WCSU Libraries Homepage at library.wcsu.edu/web or directly at www.consuls.org. For more detailed instructions on searching, please see the yellow CONSULS flyer on the display rack on the first floor.

Please Note: CONSULS ignores upper and lower case, and you may omit punctuation, except the hyphen which must be replaced by a space.

TO FIND WORKS WRITTEN ABOUT A SPECIFIC COMPOSER OR PERFORMER:

Select Subject at the CONSULS main menu, then type the writer's name last-name-first. Correct spelling is important. To limit results to items owned by WCSU, click Limit/Sort and then select WCSU under "Where Item Is Located."

Example: guillaume de machaut (press RETURN or ENTER)

Or just: guillaume de m (RETURN)

CONSULS will retrieve a list of Library of Congress Subject Headings which begin with the words you typed:

Guillaume de Machaut Ca 1300 1377 (main heading is subdivided)

Guillaume de Machaut Ca 1300 1377--Influence

Guillaume de Machaut Ca 1300 1377--Translations into English

PLEASE NOTE: Personal name headings may also be subdivided by the titles of individual works, for example:

Guillaume de Machaut Ca 1300 1377--Messe de Nostre Dame

To find videorecordings or DVDs about a composer or musician, type the person's name last-name-first as the SUBJECT. At the resulting headings display, click Limit/Sort and then select either DVD or VIDEO under "Material Type."

TO FIND WORKS BY A SPECIFIC COMPOSER OR PERFORMER:

Select Author at the CONSULS main menu, then type the writer's name last-name-first. Correct spelling is important.

Example: josquin des prez (press RETURN)

Or just: josquin (RETURN)

To limit search results to items owned by WCSU, click on Limit/Sort and then select WCSU under "Where Item Is Located." To limit results to music scores, select Printed Music under "Material Type" and to limit results to recorded music (CDs and LPs), select Sound Record under "Material Type."

TO FIND WORKS WITH A SPECIFIC TITLE:

Select Title at the CONSULS main menu, then type as much of the title as you remember in correct word order. In CONSULS, you may omit "a," "an," or "the" at the beginning of a title.

Example: missa se la face ay pale (press RETURN)

Or just: missa se la (RETURN)

If your TITLE search does not retrieve an entry for a separately published edition of the work, click on Word Search in the top toolbar to re-execute the search as a keywords search (example: quant je sui mis). Then scan the CONTENTS field of each entry for the title of the work you need.

TO FIND INFORMATION ABOUT A SPECIFIC TOPIC BY SUBJECT HEADING:

Select Subject at the CONSULS main menu, then type the Library of Congress subject heading that best describes your topic. Correct spelling and word order are important. The complete list of Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) is published in a set of big red books available in the Reference Area on the first floor.

Example: Music--16th century--History and criticism (press RETURN)

Or just: music--16th century (RETURN)

Example: Motets--400-1400--History and criticism (press RETURN)

Or just: motets (RETURN)

TO FIND INFORMATION ABOUT A SPECIFIC TOPIC BY KEYWORD(S):

Select Keyword(s) at the CONSULS main menu, then type the words which best describe your topic, in any order.

Example: dufay and chansons (press RETURN)

Broader: dufay and (chanson* or motet* or song*) (RETURN)

Example: ars nova and renaissance (press RETURN)

Narrower: ars nova and northern europe (RETURN)

Use the * (asterisk) as a truncation symbol to retrieve variant forms of a word root. Use the Boolean OR to expand your search by including synonyms and related terms. When using two different Boolean commands in the same search statement ("and" and "or" in the preceding examples) you must include parentheses to indicate which command is to be performed first.

TO REQUEST MATERIALS FROM THE OTHER CSU LIBRARIES:

If the item you need is owned by one of the other CSU Libraries (CCSU, SCSU, or ECSU) but not by WCSU, or if the WCSU copy is checked out, you may order the item electronically via Inter-Campus Loan. Select the Request option at the full record display in CONSULS, then type your student ID# and your library PIN. Be sure to specify a pickup location (Haas or Young Library) before clicking on the gray bar to initiate your request. If you need assistance with your library PIN, please contact the librarian at the Reference Desk at (203) 837-9110.

There is a limit of ten (10) Inter-Campus Loan requests per person. Videos are available via Inter-Campus Loan. Please allow 4-5 days for delivery to the Haas Circulation Desk. Items borrowed via Inter-Campus Loan may be renewed for an additional borrowing period if no one has placed a HOLD on the item.

Computerized Databases

Grove Music Online

Coverage: Contents of the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (29 volumes), New Grove Dictionary of Opera (4 volumes), and New Grove Dictionary of Jazz (3 volumes).

Location: Under Find Articles at the WCSU Libraries Homepage.

Scope: Full-text articles on music by period, form, and genre; composers and performers; and musical instruments, with musical examples and extensive bibliographies.

JSTOR

Coverage: Issue number one to within 1-3 years of present

Location: Under Find Articles on the WCSU Libraries Homepage.

Scope: Full-text of over 400 core scholarly journals in more than 25 disciplines, including music (complete backfiles).

WorldCat via OCLC FirstSearch

Location: Select OCLC FirstSearch under Find Articles at the WCSU Libraries Homepage.

Scope: Indexes 60+ million books, manuscripts, theses, and non-print items in all fields. If the item is not owned by WCSU, you may use Interlibrary Loan.

Classical Music Library (CML)

Coverage: Streaming audiofiles of over 50,000 tracks on over 30 different labels (22 kbps and 64 kbps sound quality). Files are not downloadable.

Location: Under Find Articles at the WCSU Libraries Homepage.

Scope: Classical music only. Searchable by keywords and browsable by composer, artist, conductor, ensemble, instrument, genre and subgenre, period, and recording date (year).

Naxos Music Library (NML)

Coverage: Recorded classical, jazz, world, and folk music.

Location: Under Find Articles at the WCSU Libraries Homepage.

Scope: Streaming audiofiles for over 15,000 CDs.

Printed Indexes

The Music Index

Coverage: 1949-1967, 1976-1982, 1985-present

Location: Index shelves in Haas reference area (near the atrium).

Scope: Subject-author index to articles, reviews, obituaries, and news published in over 400 periodicals covering all styles and genres of music, musicians, and the music industry.

To find out if WCSU subscribes to a specific periodical:

1. Select Journal Title at the CONSULS main menu, then type the name of the periodical (example: musical quarterly) and press RETURN. If a title list appears on the screen, select the desired title, then look inside the box to find WCSU holdings. Be sure to scroll to the bottom of the page to see if WCSU owns backfiles on microfilm or microfiche.

2. Or, use the printed WCSU Serials List, available in multiple copies in the Reference Area (first floor) and on the third floor of the Haas Library, which lists all the newspapers, magazines, and journals owned by WCSU in alphabetical order by title. If WCSU subscribes to the periodical you need, you will find it on the third floor. Print volumes are shelved alphabetically by periodical title. Microfilm and microfiche backfiles are stored alphabetically by title in the metal filing cabinets. Reader/printer machines are available on the third floor for viewing and making copies of microforms.

3. To find out if a specific periodical is available in online full-text in one of our electronic journal databases (example: early music in JSTOR), you may use the A-to-Z Journal Title Locator at library.wcsu.edu/web/resources/journals or under "Quick Links" on the WCSU Libraries Homepage (library.wcsu.edu).

If the CSU Libraries do not own the book you need, or if WCSU does not subscribe to the periodical you need, you may request delivery of the item via Interlibrary Loan using the online ILLiad system available at: library.wcsu.edu/web/services/ill.

There is a limit of 5 Interlibrary Loan requests per person per day. Videos are not available via Interlibrary Loan. Under most circumstances, Interlibrary Loan is a free service, but please allow at least ten working days for delivery. You will be notified as soon as the material arrives. Faster document delivery service is available for a reasonable fee. Please see the librarian at the Reference Desk or call the Interlibrary Loan Desk at (203) 837-9114 for more information.

The Reference Desk on the first floor of the Haas Library is staffed by a professional librarian who is trained to assist in your research, or you may contact Joan Reitz, Instruction Librarian, at 837-8308 or reitzj@wcsu.edu. My office is located in Room 402 on the fourth floor of the Haas Library (near the glass elevator).