Indexing and Abstracting Service

The most useful way of finding periodical articles is to use an Indexing and Abstracting service. Indexing services provide complete indices for a large number of periodicals, allowing you to find articles related to your topic. (NB the Library Catalogue only lists the title of journal holdings, and not the articles within the journals.) Some indexes (such as RILM) also provide useful information on books, symposia and other forms of literature on music.

RILM

One of the most useful indexes to general music periodical literature is RILM (Répertoire Internationale de Littèrature Musicale), which is available in hardcopy and online.

Begun in 1967 and published quarterly, RILM is a comprehensive index to all musical literature. Citations often contain abstracts that summarize the reference in a short paragraph. All abstracts are given in English and foreign language titles are translated. RILM indexes not only periodical titles, but also books, dissertations, symposia, prefaces to editions, and sound recordings.

The library also holds a hardcopy version of RILM, but for most general searches, the computerised versions are quicker and easier.

Tips on Using RILM

JSTOR

A number of full-text music journals are now available online at JSTOR. This is a particularly convenient resource, allowing searches of the complete text of the articles and immediate online access to the articles themselves.

The list of journals available is, however, more limited than that covered by an index such as RILM, and the most recent volumes are rarely available. You should not, therefore, rely solely upon this resource.

A word of warning about JSTOR

JSTOR is a fabulous tool if you want to find out what people thought about Tallis in 1910 (for example!), because it accesses long runs of journals going back, in some cases, over a century. However, as an undergraduate, you should concentrate of more recent scholarship. Any source earlier than about 1980s should only be used if it is particularly influential or it there has been nothing else published since.

The default sort order for JSTOR is, however, by 'relevance'. This seems to be caclucated on the frequency with which the search term appears in the article. Short articles therefore tend to be ranked quite highly (because there aren't so many other words), even if they are old and out of date.

'Most Recent to Oldest' may well help you find more useful articles.

Music Index

Begun in 1949, issued monthly with annual cumulations, Music Index is comprehensive, international in scope, and indexes more than 600 music periodicals by subject and author. The period from 1979 is covered online, but earlier material must be accessed via the hardcopy. Much of this older material will be also be listed in other bibliographies, such as those found in the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Please note that this index on covers periodical literature; books, theses, etc are not included.

A list of the periodicals indexed can be found at http://www.harmonieparkpress.com/Mindex.asp

A guide to Music Index online is available on the Library website.