[FAS] Music 189r: Chamber Music Performance

Use this example search to guide you through the steps of an initial search for musical analyses in HOLLIS.

Step 1: Define your resource standards, and create your initial search.

I’m looking for a musical analysis of a Debussy string quartet. A peer-reviewed article, written in the last 25 years, should work best for my assignment based on the syllabus, the assignment description, and my professor’s recommendations.

• The definition of a “reliable source” depends on many factors, including the parameters of your research, an assignment’s instructions, guidelines from a course syllabus, or the scholarly norms for a particular field. If you are still unsure, ask your instructors or reference librarians for guidance.

I’ll start with HOLLIS: I want to see results from all the articles that Harvard Library provides access to, not just what’s in the library catalog. To do that, I select “Catalog & Articles” from the search bar’s drop-down menu.

• "Catalog & Articles" allows you to see items in the Harvard Library catalog, as well as items you can access through outside platforms accessible via HarvardKey.
• "Library Catalog" limits your search to items in the Harvard Library catalog.
• "Reserves (Books & Media)" limits your search to only show items that are on a reading list for specific courses.

Next, I create my search term. I want articles that specifically reference or are original musical analyses of a Debussy string quartet, so I’m using strategies to make sure of that when I search.

• I decided to search using “musical analysis” AND Debussy AND string quartet – Use the strategies outlined in “Searching for Musical Resources” to help craft the right search term for you.
• When searching in HOLLIS, use opus or thematic catalog numbers if you know them (eg. op. 48, BWV 1001, K. 504).

The first resource that comes up in my search results is a great fit for my assignment. 

• It’s a peer-reviewed article in a major journal (19th-Century Music, University of California Press), and was published within the assignment’s time-frame requirements (2007).

 

Step 2: Accessing the resource.

I can access this article in multiple ways.

• Selecting the “View PDF” button sends me to a browser page with a PDF that I can view and/or download.
• Clicking on the “Online Access” button will send me to the article as shown in an online browser.
• If neither of those buttons show for a given resource, scroll down to the bottom of the record to view the information listed under the “Access Options” heading, including information on an item’s physical location and links for options like “Request Pickup,” “Interlibrary Loan”, and/or “Scan and Deliver (Book Chapter).”

Step 3: Options for continuing your search.

If I want to continue browsing for related Debussy musical analyses, there are a few options built into HOLLIS that I can choose from.

• I can use filters on the original list of search results, to narrow my search by date, subject, format, language, and more.
• I can also go back to my original search, and refine the search terms and strategies I chose to amend my search result.
• The subject headings in this HOLLIS record are also links, and I can select one of those subject headings to see more resources with the same subject heading.
• HOLLIS's ‘Related Reading’ sidebar comes up with certain searches, and suggests articles that are recommended by HOLLIS for further reading. If one of those articles looks like it will also help my assignment, or if it could be a better fit than my original result, I can continue searching there.
• If something does not appear to be accessible through HOLLIS, I can apply these search strategies to other databases/search engines, and/or check my options for accessing resources from other libraries through Interlibrary Loan or BorrowDirect.

In addition to searching through HOLLIS, you can explore bibliographies and databases focused on scholarship in music theory and analysis, provided by Harvard Library. In the “Musical Analysis” section of this research guide, there are other databases and bibliographies that serve as great starting points for exploring musical analyses.

Oxford Music Online includes Grove Music, the main English language music encyclopedia. It provides thousands of background articles (and bibliographies) about people, genres, area studies, music history, and music theory.

Useful Features

• Definitions – Oxford Music Online provides thousands of entries offering background and definitions for specific terms - including genres, fields of study, instruments, musical eras, geographical regions, and music-related occupations.
• Biographies – This resource also includes thousands of entries providing biographies on specific figures in music history, written by expert music scholars.
• Works Lists – Oxford Music Online biographical entries often include helpful complied works lists, which list the known pieces in a composer’s body of work.
• Premier Dates – Oxford Music Online entries on a specific work typically include the piece’s original premier date, making it a great resource to verify date-related information.
• Location in Complete Works editions – The works lists included in Oxford Music Online’s biographical entries also include lists of published complete works editions, which include titles, dates, and authors for publications focused on providing a comprehensive list of a composer’s known body of work. In addition to this, entries for specific compositions also often situate where a piece of music falls within a composer’s body of work.

Tips for Using Oxford Music Online

• Use a composer’s first and last name whenever possible.
• Search a result’s bibliography for the works that were used by an expert to create an Oxford/Grove entry. This is a great place to find foundational resources, used by the author to inform their entry, that may also help in your research.
• For additional educational resources, including musical indexes, author/artist interviews, and topical guides, consult Oxford Music Online’s "Subject Guides and Research Resources" page.
• Oxford Music Online/Grove does not directly link to HOLLIS, our library catalog. When searching for a work cited in an Oxford/Grove result’s bibliography, copy its citation from the “Bibliography” section and paste it in the search bar at http://hollis.harvard.edu/.
• Oxford Music Online/Grove does not include every composer and articles, and especially for contemporary composers, can be pretty out of date. However, it serves as a great starting point to search for other books, articles, and databases!