Hekman Library: Music: Home

Inside Mahler's Second symphony : a listener's guide

The inconvenient Lonnie Johnson : blues, race, identity

Voices of Vietnam : a century of radio, red music, and revolution

The 100 Most Important People in Musical Theatre

Word-By-Word Translations of Songs and Arias

Cabals and Satires: Mozart's Comic Operas in Vienna

Recommended Research Databases

JSTOR
JSTOR offers scholarly, peer-reviewed journals across numerous disciplines.
Arts & Humanities Citation Index
Arts & Humanities Citation Index covers humanities journal bibliographic data.

The Arts & Humanities Citation Index (1975-present) is accessed through the Web of Science platform, with which more databases can be searched simultaneously. To search the Arts & Humanities Citation index exclusively, use the More Settings option at the bottom of the Web of Science search screen.
Project Muse
600+ scholarly journals in humanities and social sciences; Calvin Alumni access.

Other Recommended Resources

Oxford Music Online
Comprehensive, peer-reviewed music encyclopedia and dictionary; single simultaneous user.

Note: There is a sign-in limit of three simultaneous users. This means that if three people are signed in at once, a fourth user will have to wait in line until at least one person signs out and a log-in becomes available.
Naxos Music Library
Naxos Music Library: Streaming classical and diverse music genres, searchable, 15 users max.
Calvin Choral Music Database
Calvin Choral Music Database catalogs over 5,000 choral music scores.

The Calvin Choral Music Database (CCMD) contains over 5,000 records that describe choral scores. The core of the database is Calvin College's choral music library. The database can be searched in a multitude of ways. Some of the more distinctive and interesting are by program notes, Biblical source, liturgical use, and instrumentation.

Along with the database there are accompanying binders holding single study copies of the scores. They encompass all time periods, styles, and voicing. The CCMD is especially useful for students of choral literature, worship planners, and choir directors.

Selectors have made a special effort to add music from many cultures and countries and in a multitude of languages.

Choral Public Domain Library
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.
Library of Congress: Digital Collections
The Library of Congress houses many musical instruments, sheet music, music recordings, and more related to music--and a lot of it can be viewed or listened to online. This is a great way to find primary sources, or originals, for music research.

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Check out all their collections here, particularly some of these highlights:

National Jukebox (historical sound recordings, music performances and talks of numerous genres)
Musical Instruments at the Library of Congress (information and images of the musical instruments collected by the Library of Congress)
Omaha Indians Music (selections from the American Folklife Center's materials on Omaha music traditions)
Leonard Bernstein (personal papers, musical sketches from the famous composer's life)
Amazing Grace (an audio history of the hymn)
Dayton C. Miller Collection (historical and global collection of flutes and music, books, images of flutes)

Special Resource: Audio Recordings and Sheet Music in the Media Collection

Hekman's Media Collection is on the fourth floor of the library, and houses all of our movies, music, audiobooks and other multimedia items. Here, you can find and check out CDs, DVDs, and even LP records with music of many different genres. Note:

Music CDs are stored in grey file cabinets
Choir sheet music is kept in Choral Music Collection shelves (indexed online in the Calvin Choral Music Database)

Searching and Browsing Tips

Looking to discover more? Try browsing the bookshelves on the 5th floor around these call number sections:

Call Number	Subject
M	Music scores
ML	Literature on music
MT	Music instruction and study

Hekman How-To Video Playlist
Check out the library's Youtube channel for step-by-step visuals on how to find books, articles, and more in our online Primo Search.

Find Music Research

Not Finding What You're Looking For?

Borrow from another library with MeL or ILL when Hekman Library doesn't have it.

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Get Research Help

Sarah McClure Kolk
Head of Research and Instruction Dept., Instruction Librarian

616.526.6014
smk23@calvin.edu
Hekman Library 328
See Library Maps

Responsibilities

Research and instruction, collection development
Liaison to Communication, English, Philosophy, Visual and Performing Arts (Art, Music), Gender Studies

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