Guides: Music Research Guide: Articles

Using Databases to Find Articles

SearchBox for Articles is a good place to start for general or interdisciplinary topics. By using the above search tool, you'll find results from a wide variety of publications. After you perform the search, you can limit to scholarly/peer reviewed journals and narrow your results based on subject, date of publication, language, and other criteria.

However, when researching in a specific area such as music, you may want to use a specialized database. Here is a select list of article databases that specialize in music and the performing arts:

RILM Abstracts of Music Literature This link opens in a new window The database covers musicology, ethnomusicology, theory, analysis, composition, instruments and voice, performance practice and notation, liturgy, dance, aesthetics, criticism, music therapy and education, and iconography. Abstracts are drawn from articles, books, conference proceedings, bibliographies, catalogues, dissertations, festchriften, iconographies, critical commentaries to complete works, ethnographic recordings and videos, reviews.
RIPM: Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals This link opens in a new window RIPM Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals with Full Text is a unique collection of primary source periodicals for the study of music and musical life from 1760 to 1966. This product combines RIPM’s Retrospective Index and Online Archive of Music Periodicals, and includes over 260 rare journals, 170 of which are available in full text. The content magnifies its global reach with music periodicals from over twenty countries and spans a period of more than two centuries of musical life in Europe and the Americas.
Music Periodicals Database (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window This database provides indexing and abstracts for several hundred international music periodicals from over 20 countries, plus full text for more than 140 of the indexed journals. The database currently includes over 1.3 million records, the majority from the most recent ten years of publication. Some complete journal runs are included, with indexing back to 1874. Covers the full spectrum of subjects and all aspects of music, including music education, performance, ethnomusicology, musical theatre, theory, popular music forms and composition.
Bibliographie des Musikschrifttums (BMS) This link opens in a new window The Bibliographie des Musikschrifttums online (Bibliography of Music Literature on-line) is an international and interactive bibliography of music literature. BMS includes monographs, articles and reviews from journals, Festschriften, congress proceedings, yearbooks, anthologies and essays from critical reports. Main sources for the BMS editorial staff are national bibliographies, journals, monographs and subject bibliographies. Furthermore, contributions from journals with an interdisciplinary view on music are considered for inclusion. We annually check some 2,500 sources and add approximately 10,000 articles and reviews. Bibliographic records are often amended by a summary. Our analog data from the period 1950-1975 are already revised and converted. BMS is continuously expanded.

All CUA Music Databases
A full list of Music databases databases that Catholic University subscribes to.

Finding Journals

If you would like to see if the University Libraries subscribes to a particular journal, use the Journal Title Search. This tool will allow you to search for journals by title and also browse by subject. You will see how we provide access (print and/or online), as well as what dates of coverage are avaialble. For journals held in print, follow the link to the catalog to find the location and call number. For online journals, links will be provided to the appropriate database--there may be multiple options, so pay attention to coverage dates!

If you need an article from a journal to which CUA does not subscribe, you may submit a request for the article through Interlibrary Loan. For assistance with placing a request, please use Ask a Librarian at the top of this page or call Mullen Library at 202-319-5070.