Music
- Getting Started
- All Music Databases A-Z
- Current Journal Subscriptions A-Z
- Collected Works by Composer A-Z (M3)
- Encyclopedias & Reference Resources
- Articles
- Books
- Theses & Dissertations
- Digital Scores
- Audio/Visual Resources
- Rare Manuscripts & Special Collections
- Special Topics: African & Black Diaspora in Music
- Special Topics: Music in Canada
- Special Topics: Piano Pedagogy
- Special Topics: Voice & Opera
- Special Topics: Women Composers
- Special Topics: Francophone song in North America
- UBC Online Music Exhibitions
- Research Write Cite & Copyright
- Associations/Societies
How to use this guide
The UBC Music Research Guide lists print and electronic resources supporting teaching, learning and research at the UBC School of Music.
Searching for a specific music database? Use the All Music Databases A-Z tab to the left.
Starting your music research? Use the Where to begin your research box below.
Expanding your music research? Use the tabs to the left on this guide for enhanced lists of music databases both subscription and open access.
Visiting and browsing the collection? Use the Browsing the physical collection box below to find print music materials by subject category headings.
Need additional help? Please don't hesitate to contact me.
David Haskins
Music Librarian
Email: david.haskins@ubc.ca
Phone: (604) 827-2197
Where to begin your research
Listed below are several key library music resources to help you start your research.
- Oxford Music OnlineAlternate title: Grove Music Online
Foremost English-language scholarly encyclopedia of music and musicians. Holds extensive articles and bibliographies written by subject experts and comprehensive lists of works for select composers. Incorporates access to New Grove Dictionary of Opera, New Grove Dictionary of Jazz (2nd edition), Norton Grove Dictionary of Women Composers, Grove Dictionary of American Music, Grove Dictionary of Music Instruments, the Oxford Dictionary of Music, and the Oxford Companion to Music. - Oxford bibliographies onlineAnnotated bibliography and high-level encyclopedia identifying the best scholarship across a wide variety of subjects including music.
- SummonSummon is the main search tool for UBC Library, combining the library catalogue with a wealth of other databases and online collections.
Note that Summon, while extensive, is not connected to everything UBC Library owns.
Expand your research by using the tabs on the left hand side of this guide.
- RILM Abstracts of Music Literature - Full TextAlternate title: Répertoire International de Littérature Musicale
(EBSCO)
RILM is a comprehensive music bibliography featuring citations, abstracts, and indexes. Provides researchers with immediate access to a global, multidimensional full-text collection of scholarly music research.
Browsing the physical collection
Materials in a music library are assigned unique Library of Congress (LC) call numbers and shelved according to call number range. LC call numbers are alpha-numeric. The letter portion includes one or more capital letters to indicate the general subject area. The number portion includes one or more arabic numbers to subdivide the subject area.
The Library of Congress (LC) Classification Outline for Music provides detailed information regarding the general subject area locations of music materials in an academic music library and serves as a helpful guide for browsing physical collections.
Below is an abbreviated version.
Class M, for music, is subdivided into three main sections:
M notated music (scores)
ML literature on music (books about music, such as biographies, histories, discographies, thematic indexes, etc.)
MT musical instruction and study (method books, pedagogical studies and exercises, treatises, books on music theory, etc.)
Class M
M2: Monuments, sources, reprints, etc.
M3: Complete and collected works of individual composers
M5-M1450: Instrumental music
- M6: one instrument
- M20: piano
- M40: stringed instruments
- M60: wind instruments
- M177: duos
- M300: trios
- M400-900: quartets-nonets
- M1000-1075: orchestra
- M1100-1160: string orchestra
- M1200-1270: band
M1495-M2199: vocal music
- M1495: collections
- M1497-M1998: secular
- M1500: dramatic
- M1530: choral
- M1611: one solo voice
- M1627-M1853: folk, national, ethnic
- M1999-M2199: sacred
- M1999: collections
- M2000: oratorios, masses, services, etc.
- M2018-2019.5: two or more solo voices
- M2020-2105.5: choruses
- M2102-2114.8: one solo voice
- M2115: hymnals
- M2147: liturgy and ritual
Class ML
- ML1-5: periodicals, serials
- ML13: directories, almanacs, etc.
- ML47-54.8: librettos
- ML55: essays, papers, addresses, etc.
- ML93-96.5: manuscript studies
- ML100: dictionaries, encyclopedias
- ML110-11.5: music librarianship
- ML134: bibliography by composer (research guides)
- ML159: history and criticism
- ML162: by chronological period
- ML198: by country
- ML410: biographies of composers
- ML459: instruments and instrumental music
- ML1400: vocal music
- ML3544: folk, national, ethnic
- ML3795: music as a profession, vocational guidance
- ML3800: philosophical and psychological aspects of music
- ML3805: physics, acoustics
- ML3845: aesthetics
- ML3880: criticism
- ML3916: social and political aspects of music
Class MT
- MT3: history and criticism of theory
- MT5.5-7: music theory
- MT9-15: printed pedagogical aids
- MT20-34: systems and methods
- MT40-67: composition
- MT68: improvisation
- MT70-74: instrumentation and orchestration
- MT75: interpretation
- MT85: conducting, score reading and playing
- MT90: analysis and appreciation of musical works
- MT170-810: instrumental techniques
- MT820-915: singing and vocal technique
UBC Music Librarian

1961 East Mall, Room 414
Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1
- Last Updated: March 7, 2025