*Music Mapping Guide

Starting a research/writing project can be overwhelming, but getting organized is the first step. These tips will help with taking effective notes, creating an outline, formulating a thesis statement, and mroe  - pick and choose the ideas that you feel will work best for you!

• Check individual composer biographies for information about specific pieces; biographies of a single composer are located in the ML410 section of the Music Library. Strategies for finding this content, which may be peppered throughout biographies, include:
  • Consulting the table of contents and index for piece titles, and the names of relevant people and places in the composer's life
  • Looking closely at the sections of the biography that deal with a specific time frame of interest or when your piece was composed
  • Don't forget to read up on the times in the composer's life preceding the composition of your piece - what were their influences? How did they come to write that specific work?
     
• The "analysis and appreciation" resources in the MT90 through the MT146 sections include write-ups of specific pieces:
  • MT 90: General analytical works
  • MT92-MT109: Analytical guides to operas by specific composers
  • MT110: Analytical guides to oratorios, cantatas, etc.
  • MT125-MT139: Analytical guides to orchestral music
  • MT140-MT145: Analytical guides to chamber music
  • MT146: Analytical guides to popular music
     
• Our subscription to the A-R Music Anthology is more than just digital scores - this database includes a growing collection of critical commentaries and articles on genres, styles, and individual composers.
   
• For anyone working on Bach research:
  • Andrew Parrott's The Essential Bach Choir is an excellent resource for learning about history and performance practice
  • Alfred Dürr's The Cantatas of J.S. Bach: With their Librettos in German-English Parallel Text is the go-to resource for scholarly research on Bach's cantatas. This book breaks down the cantatas one by one, includes a translation, and historical context on the composition and performance practice.

Historical newspapers and periodicals can be great ways to explore how a piece was disseminated and received. Concert announcements, performance reviews, record reviews, and even obituaries can provide insight into how contemporary audiences felt about the music they heard and the productions they saw. Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals (RIPM) is a fantastic resource for finding nineteenth-century periodicals may that include writings contemporary with some of the works you'll study in this course:

A few additional ideas and resources for when you're looking for reviews and information about newer music:

• ProQuest Historical Newspapers is a great place to start, since it allows you to search a large number of newspaper archives at one time:

• Find a wider range of resources for reviews and more on the Find Newspapers and Magazine Articles page of the Music-Related databases page.
   
• Exploring primary sources like letters, photographs, and other archival materials might give you more context for the information in concert and record reviews. Check out the resources linked from the Music-Related Databases Guide's Find Primary Sources page, or consider exploring one of our on-campus archives - The University Libraries, the Performing Arts Archive, and the Immigration History Research Center Archive (all located on the Twin Cities campus), as well as digital and physical historical collections made available by other institutions can all be incredible resources to give your program note, term paper, or dissertation depth and richness.
   
• The resources below are just a few suggestions; make an appointment to meet with Jessica to discuss your specific project, and we'll identify a curated group of resources that are right for you: