Music Citation Guide (Chicago Style)

As you scroll, you'll find footnote and bibliography entry templates and examples of citations for real sources for the following types of books:

• Figure, diagram, table, or musical example created by the author of the main text
• Figure, diagram, table, or musical example created by someone other than the author of the main text

Notes:

• According to the Chicago Manual of Style Online, Section 14.158: Citing illustrations and tables, the abbreviation for figure - fig. - may be used when citing a figure; for tables, maps, plates, diagrams, and other illustrations, spell out the label (e.g. table 1, diagram 3, etc.).
   
• Does the figure/diagram/table appear in a book? Follow the book citation formatting for the main part of the footnote. Is the figure/diagram/table from a journal article? Format the main part of your footnote using the journal article template!
   
• In footnotes, include the page number on which the figure/diagram/etc. appears, place this before the number of the figure/diagram/etc., and separate these two elements of the footnote with a comma. 
   
• In bibliography entries, cite the main text in which the figure/diagram/etc. appears (do not cite the figure on its own in a bibliography entry).
   

• Label the figure as it appears on the figure/diagram/table/musical example/etc. - remember: you can abbreviate figure as fig., but spell out table, diagram, and other types of labels.

Footnote template:

Figure in a book

1. Author First Name Last Name, Title of Book in which Figure Appears (City of Publication, State or Country: Publisher Name, Year of Publication), page number, fig. number.
 

Figure in a journal article

1. Author First Name Last Name, “Article Title,” Journal Title #, no. # (Month Year): page number, fig. number, URL.
 

Example of a real footnote:

Figure in a book

1. Reginald H. Fink, The Trombonist’s Handbook: A Complete Guide to Playing and Teaching the Trombone (Athens, OH: Accura Music, 1977), 10, fig. 16: High Placement of the Mouthpiece on the Embouchure.

1. Dennis Shrock, Choral Monuments: Studies of Eleven Choral Masterworks (New York: Oxford University Press, 2017), 384, diagram 10.A: Recommended Concert Venue Arrangement of Performers.
 

Figure in a journal article

1. Allan Moore, “Patterns of Harmony,” Popular Music 11, no. 1 (January 1992): 79, example 4, http://www.jstor.org/stable/853228.

Notes:

• This template applies when you need to cite a figure/diagram/table/musical example that has been published elsewhere by an author who is different than the author of the main text in which the item appears.

• If at all possible, cite the original source for the figure/diagram/table/musical example! Include the title, publication info and page number of the source in which the figure/diagram/table/musical example/etc. originally appears, followed by title, author(s), publication info, and page number of resource you’re citing

• According to the Chicago Manual of Style Online, Section 14.158: Citing illustrations and tables, the abbreviation for figure - fig. - may be used when citing a figure; for tables, maps, plates, diagrams, and other illustrations, spell out the label (e.g. table 1, diagram 3, etc.).

• Does the figure/diagram/table appear in a book? Follow the book citation formatting for the main part of the footnote. Is the figure/diagram/table from a journal article? Format the main part of your footnote using the journal article template!
   
• In footnotes, include the page number on which the figure/diagram/etc. appears, place this before the number of the figure/diagram/etc., and separate these two elements of the footnote with a comma. 
   
• In bibliography entries, cite the main text in which the figure/diagram/etc. appears (do not cite the figure in its own in a bibliography entry).

Footnote template:

1. Author of the Figure First Name Last Name, “Title of the Figure,” from Title of Book in which Figure Originally Appeared (City of Publication, State or Country: Publisher Name, Year of Publication), page number in the book where the figure originally appeared, in Title of Book in which Figure Appears, Author(s) or Editor(s) of the Book in which Figure Appears First Name Last Name (City of Publication, State or Country: Publisher Name, Year of Publication), page number.

Example of a real footnote:

1. David Gorman, “Fig. 4-2 The Neck Muscles with the Head in Balance,” from The Body Moveable, 4th ed. (Ontario: Ampersand Press, 2002), 178, in What Every Singer Needs to Know about the Body, Melissa Malde, MaryJean Allen, and Kurt-Alexander Zeller (San Diego, CA: Plural Publishing, 2009), 80.