These books, monographs, and Internet resources should be considered standard resource materials, familiar to all educators and students who do research in music.
“Single volume dictionaries” would be valuable additions to any musician’s bookshelf. The “Single topic dictionaries and histories” are helpful when studying about the wind band/ensemble in these related subject areas.
Finscher, Ludwig, ed. Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart: Allgemeine Enzyklopädie der Musick. 2nd ed. 29 vols. Kassel, Germany: Bärenreiter, 1994–2007.
Sadie, Stanley, and John Tyrrell, eds. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. 2nd ed. 29 vols. London: Grove’s Dictionaries, 2001. Available online by subscription as part of Oxford Music Online at http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.
Oxford Music Online. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press. Available online by subscription at http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com. Includes full text content from The Oxford Companion to Music (2011), The Oxford Dictionary of Music (2nd ed. rev., 2006), The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (2nd ed., 2001), The New Grove Dictionary of Opera (1992), The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz (2nd ed., 2002), The Grove Dictionary of American Music (2nd ed., 2013), and The Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments (2nd ed., 2014).
Kennedy, Michael, and Joyce Bourne Kennedy. The Oxford Dictionary of Music. 6th ed. Edited by Tim Rutherford-Johnson. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012.
Randel, Don Michael, ed. The Harvard Concise Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2002.
Floyd, Samuel A., Jr. International Dictionary of Black Composers. 2 vols. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn, 1999. Available online by subscription as part of African American Music Reference from Alexander Street Press at http://alexanderstreet.com.
Southern, Eileen. The Music of Black Americans: A History. 3rd ed. New York: W. W. Norton, 1997.
Crawford, Richard. America’s Musical Life: A History. New York: W. W. Norton, 2005.
Garrett, Charles Hiroshi, ed. The Grove Dictionary of American Music. 2nd ed. 8 vols. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. Available online by subscription as part of Oxford Music Online at http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.
Randel, Don Michael, ed. The Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1996.
Slonimsky, Nicolas, ed. emeritus. Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of Musicians. Centennial Edition. [9th ed.] 6 vols. Series advisory editor, Laura Kuhn. New York: Schirmer Books, 2001. Available online by subscription from Alexander Street Press at http://alexanderstreet.com.
Young, Percy M. The Choral Tradition: An Historical and Analytical Survey from the Sixteenth Century to the Present Day. Rev. ed. New York: W. W. Norton, 1981.
Clarke, Mary, and Clement Crisp. The Ballet Goer’s Guide. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1981.
Homans, Jennifer. Apollo’s Angels: A History of Ballet. New York: Random House, 2010.
McDonagh, Don. The Complete Guide to Modern Dance. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1976.
Baines, Anthony. The Oxford Companion to Musical Instruments. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 1992.
Carse, Adam. Musical Wind Instruments. London: Macmillan, 1939. Reprint, Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, 2002.
Libin, Laurence, ed. The Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments. 2nd ed. 5 vols. New York: Oxford University Press, 2014. Available online by subscription as part of Oxford Music Online at http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.
Giddins, Gary, and Scott DeVeaux. Jazz. New York: W. W. Norton, 2009.
Gridley, Mark C. Jazz Styles. 11th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ; Harlow: Pearson, 2012.
Kernfeld, Barry, ed. The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz. 2nd ed. 3 vols. New York: Grove’s Dictionaries, 2002. Available online by subscription as part of Oxford Music Online at http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.
Music History
Burkholder, J. Peter, Donald J. Grout, and Claude V. Palisca. A History of Western Music. 9th ed. New York: W. W. Norton, 2014.
Latham, Alison, ed. The Oxford Companion to Music. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002. Newly revised in 2011 for online access only from Oxford Music Online at http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.
Taruskin, Richard, ed. The Oxford History of Western Music. 6 vols. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. Available online by subscription at http://www.oxfordwesternmusic.com.
Grout, Donald J., and Hermine Weigel Williams. A Short History of Opera. 4th ed. New York: Columbia University Press, 2003.
Parker, Roger, ed. The Oxford Illustrated History of Opera. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.
Sadie, Stanley, ed. The New Grove Dictionary of Opera. 4 vols. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. Available online by subscription as part of Oxford Music Online at http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.
Carse, Adam. The History of Orchestration. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner, 1925. Reprint, New York: Dover Publications, 1964.
Spitzer, John, and Neal Zaslaw. The Birth of the Orchestra: History of an Institution, 1650–1815. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.
Larkin, Colin, ed. The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. 4th ed. 10 vols. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2009. 5th concise ed. available online through the Muze database, http://search.muze.com/html/products/music/epm/index.htm#.
Ammer, Christine. The A to Z of Foreign Musical Terms. Boston: ECS Publishing, 1989.
Randel, Don Michael, ed. The Harvard Dictionary of Music. 4th ed. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2003.
Nettl, Bruno, Ruth Stone, James Porter, and Timothy Rice. The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music. 10 vols. New York: Garland, 1998–2002. Available online by subscription from Alexander Street Press at http://alexanderstreet.com.
Nettl, Bruno, Timothy Rommen, Charles Capwell, Isabel K. F. Wong, Thomas Turino, Philip Bohlman, and Byron Dueck. Excursions in World Music. 6th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson, 2012.