MUHL 362:

Popular Music Research

Carolyn Doi
Music Liaison Librarian
Marvin Duchow Music Library

http://www.mcgill.ca/library/library-assistance/five-steps/

Research Process
(Start early!)

Subject Overview Places to Start

Subject Guide
http://www.mcgill.ca/library/library-findinfo/subjects/music/
popular/

Subject Encyclopedia or Dictionary

The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music
[REF ML102 P66 G84 1995]

Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the

World
[REF ML102 P66 C66 2003]

Allmusic.com
Wikipedia?

http://allmusic.com

Scores & Sound Recordings

McGill collection
Scores and sound recordings
Check anthologies
Fake Book Index
http://www.seventhstring.co.uk/fbindex.html/

BANQ collection
Large collection of popular music
Scores/recordings/dvds

McGill Scores & Recordings

Classic Catalogue
>Advanced Search
http://catalogue.mcgill
.ca

Title or Artist
+
Limit Type of
Material to
Recorded Music or
Score

BANQ Scores & Recordings

http://iris.banq.qc.ca/iris.aspx

Check the Catalogue - I

Gather relevant subject headings:

Subject Headings:
Vocal music - Quebec
Popular music - Quebec
Songs, French-Canadian - History
and criticism
Music - social aspects - Quebec

Check the Catalogue - II

Combine subjects and subdivisions to get more specific results:
Subject

Subdivisions

Popular music
Punk rock music
Rock music
Folk music
Rap (Music)
Soul music
Country music
World music

social aspects
political aspects
history and criticism
criticism and interpretation

E.g.: Punk rock music - history and criticism

See the Subject Guide to Pop Music for more subject headings

Bibliographies & Discographies - I

Bibliographies on musical topics:
Bibliographies on popular music
REF ML128 P63
Search by subject heading: popular music bibliography

Bibliographies on rock music

REF ML128 R6
Search by subject heading: rock music bibliography

Bio-bibliographies
Contemporary musicians series [ML385 C6]

Bibliographies & Discographies - II

Billboard Top 1000 Singles, 19551986: The 1000 Biggest Hits of the
Rock Era
REF ML156.4 P6 W454 1986 (4th floor)

The Great Rock Discography, 7th ed.

ML156.4 R6 S8 2004

Journal Articles Music Lit.

Use music literature
databases & indexes
to look for: articles,
reviews,
interviews
Rocks Backpages
http://www.rocksbackpages.com/library
.html

IIMP
RILM
Music
Index
http://www.mcgill.ca/library/library-findinfo/subjects/music/musicdatabases/

Journal Articles - Interdisciplinary

Look beyond
music
Newspapers
Humanities
Social Sciences
Womens Studies
Gender Studies
Communications &
Media Studies
Etc.
Try Google Scholar
http://scholar.google.ca /

Billboard
Catalogue print and
electronic versions
(-present)
Google Books (40s2009)
http://books.google.com/

Microfilm (1920s-)

Research Process (Review):

Get an overview of the subject
Find Scores & Sound Recordings
Check the Catalogue
Find Bibliographies
Search Indexes & Periodical
Databases

16

Documenting Sources - I
Citations are needed to quote, paraphrase, summarize
or refer to another work within your own.

Footnote:
Used to identify the source within the text of the
paper
[1. Daniel Mendelsohn, But Enough about Me,New
Yorker,
January 25,
2010, 68.]

References/ Works Cited/ Bibliography:

A list of the works consulted, located at the end
of the paper
[Smith, Nelson. Public opinion research. Oxford: Oxford
University
Press, 2005. ]

Documenting Sources - II
Why is proper citation practice important?
Academic/Professional:
Identifying source used (give credit to the author)
Locating you in the scholarly community
Giving your work authority
Its fair: shows who owns the research

Practical:
Retracing the steps of your research
Help the reader: where to go for more information

Legal:
Checking your facts
17

Citation Examples
Book
Womack, Kenneth, ed. The Cambridge companion to theBeatles. New
York:Cambridge
University Press,2009.

Article
Duff, S. L. Extreme Bass!: Five Masters of Thrash &Death Metal. Bass
Player 7:8
(1996): 58-66.

CD
Pink Floyd.Atom Heart Mother. Capitol CDP 7 46381 2, 1990, compact
disc. Originally
released in 1970.

Electronic resource
Mitchell, Gail. The Love Revolution: DeVaughn Aims For R&B Elite On
Sophmore
Album. Billboard Magazine, January 12, 2008. Accessed
Sept 29, 2010.
http://books.google.ca/books?
id=LRMEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA1&dq=billboard&pg=
PA35#v=onepage&q&f=false.

19

Documenting Sources - III

Chicago Manual of Style Online (16th ed.)
http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/16/contents.html

Chicago-Style Citation Quick Guide

http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html

Roberge, Marc-Andr. Chicago style en franais

http://www.mus.ulaval.ca/roberge/gdrm/07-prese.htm

Music Research: A Handbook /Laurie Sampsel

Appendix E: Chicago Style at Your Fingertips
REF ML113 S28 2009
Writing about Music: A Style Sheet / D. Kern Holoman
Chapter 3: Citations, p. 42
REF ML3797 W75 2008

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