Skip to Main Content

Music: encyclopedias & dictionaries

omni

Search Omni @ YUL

Omni is the library's online catalogue and includes records for both the physical and electronic collections. Article citations are drawn from periodical indexes and fulltext databases and interfiled with other resources in the search results so once you have performed your search it is best to begin narrowing down the results by choosing the available facets in the left hand column.

dictionaries & encyclopedias

Dictionaries and encyclopedias are a great place to start research in music as they provide key definitions, topical overviews, and lists of resources for further research. Although many are available online, items in print are located in the following areas of Scott Library:

  • Larger and more current items: 1st floor Scott Library Reference 
  • Older items: 4th floor Scott Library Book Stacks

It can be useful checking older editions for historical context or when there is no entry on a topic in a current edition. 

Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians (1954 and 1980 editions)

Oxford Music Online 

The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz (2nd ed) has been incorporated into the Grove portion of Oxford Music Online, and entries are generally interfiled with results from Grove Music Online. In some instances, the articles have been renamed and you can only find them through redirection (for example, "Rhythm" is now covered under the heading "Beat"). Grove Dictionary of American Music (2nd ed) and Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments (2nd ed) are in the process of being incorporated.

Alexander Street Music Online

Encyclopedia of Music in Canada (Historica Canada)

Music in the Social and Behavioral Sciences: An Encyclopedia (SAGE Reference)

MGG Online / Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart 

Divided into a Sacthteil (subject) and Personenteil (biographical). York subscribes to the online version, which has Google Translate incorporated into the interface. (Note that to use the translate function you need click on the little world icon at the right side of the page and then select the language in the Google Translate bar on the top left side of the page.)

need help?