Guides: Music: Home

Welcome!

This website will help you find the best library databases, search tools, and reference sources for Music.

Not sure where to start? Try these databases first!

Oxford Music Online
The new gateway into music research and the access point for new and forthcoming Oxford music reference subscriptions and products. Includes: Grove Dictionary of Music; Encyclopedia of Popular Music; Oxford Companion to Music and Oxford Dictionary of Music.
Garland Encyclopedia of World Music
This is the first comprehensive online resource devoted to music research of all the world's peoples. More than 9,000 pages of material, combined with entries by more than 700 expert contributors from all over the world, make this the most complete body of work focused on world music.
Naxos Music Library
The world´s largest online classical music library. Offers streaming access to more than 52,677 CDs. Over 800 new CDs are added to the library every month. The library offers the complete Naxos and Marco Polo catalogues plus the complete catalogues or selected titles from over 378 classical, jazz and world music labels. In addition, users can create playlists.
DRAM (Database of Recorded American Music)
A database of streaming, CD-quality audio recordings, original liner notes and essays from independent record labels and sound archives. DRAM's primary focus is the preservation and dissemination of important recordings that have been neglected by the commercial marketplace.

Looking for a specific piece of music? Here are some tips to help you find it using MIDCAT.

Start with a KEYWORD search. Enter as much information as you can, including instrumentation, key, work number, etc. For example, "mozart and violin sonata" yields 66 results. "Mozart and violin and sonata and 454" yields 3 results.
If you are looking for a recording (CD, etc.): limit your search from the drop-down menu to "Middlebury music recordings".
If you are looking for a music score (sheet music): after your initial search, click the "Modify search" button near the top left of the screen. Once there, click "Music Scores" in the "Material type" box in the middle fo the page and re-submit the search.
Look carefully at the location of a score once you find one you want: Music Mini Scores are the first aisles of the M section and these are very small print scores, usually for full orchestra. Music Large Scores are oversized scores and are found in the special wooden shelving unit located within the M2 call number range.
Scores with a call number beginning with M2-M3 are available only for in-library use only. These scores do not circulate outside the library.
Watch a quick tutorial on Finding Classical Music in Summon

Try our FAQ page for quick answers.