Welcome
Using this guide
This guide provides selected resources for students of Composition & creative music technology and Orchestration and Arranging. The Music and Multimedia Collection contains information in a range of formats: music scores, DVDs, vinyl record, 78rpm, cassette tape, DVDs, video tapes, CD-ROMs, microfilms, microfiche and kits. DVDs, CD's, Most books are located on level 4 and scores and audio-visual materials are located on Level 1 of the Matheson Library, and can be most easily found by using Monash Library Search to find a Call Number. You can use the subject headings on the books below to take you to books on the same topic. The Matheson Library has a listening room where vinyl recordings can be played.
Books
The following areas have excellent print resources 781.374 on level 4 and S781.3 on level 1.
Instrumentation and Orchestration by Call Number: 781.374 B644.I 1997Publication Date: 1997An introduction to writing and scoring music for each instrument of the orchestra. Clear explanations, vivid descriptions of various instruments, expert advice, and numerous musical examples to illustrate the concepts being presented. ch. 1. Basics: preparing scores and parts -- ch. 2. Instrumentation: the orchestral strings -- ch. 3. Instrumentation: the woodwinds -- ch. 4. Instrumentation: the brasses -- ch. 5. Instrumentation: the percussion -- ch. 6. Instrumentation: other instruments -- ch. 7. Instrumentation: the voice --
ch. 8. Orchestration: scoring musical elements -- ch. 9. Orchestration: scoring for various ensembles -- ch. 10. Orchestration: techniques of transcribing -- ch. 11. Orchestration: techniques of arranging
The Technique of Orchestration 6th edition by Call Number: 781.374 K34T 2002Publication Date: 2002The practical fundamentals of orchestration. The authors discuss the instruments individually, then by section, and finally in the full orchestral context. The Sixth Edition has been expanded and revised to reflect new developments in instruments and orchestral practice, It also includes a short chapter on scoring for high school orchestras, and information on non orchestral instrumental groups, including the band and the wind ensemble.
The Study of Orchestration by Call Number: 781.374 A237S 2002Publication Date: 2002A really comprehensive treatment of both orchestration and instrumentation.
Behind Bars: The Definitive Guide To Music Notation by Call Number: Online and print at 781.24 G696B 2011Publication Date: 2016Contents -- Introduction -- Acknowledgements -- I General Conventions -- 1 Ground Rules -- 2 Chords - Dotted notes - Ties -- 3 Accidentals and Key Signatures -- 4 Dynamics and Articulation -- 5 Grace Notes, Arpeggiated Chords, Trills, Glissandos and Vibrato -- 6 Metre -- 7 Tuplets -- 8 Repeat Signs -- II Idiomatic Notation -- 9 Woodwind and Brass -- 10 Percussion -- 11 Keyboard -- 12 Harp -- 13 Classical Guitar -- 14 Strings -- 15 Vocal Music -- III Layout and Presentation -- 16 Preparing Materials -- 17 Score Layout -- 18 Part Preparation -- 19 Electroacoustic Music -- 20 Freedom and Choice -- Appendix -- Further Reading
The following books are available as ebooks.
The Art of Digital Orchestration by Publication Date: 2020The Art of Digital Orchestration explores how to replicate traditional orchestration techniques using computer technology, with a focus on respecting the music and understanding when using real performers is still the best choice. Using real-world examples including industry-leading software and actual sounds and scores from films, VR/AR, and games, this book takes readers through the entire orchestration process, from composition to instruments, performance tools, MIDI, mixing, and arranging. It sheds light on the technology and musical instrument foundation required to create realistic orchestrations, drawing on decades of experience working with virtual instruments and MIDI.
Acoustic and MIDI Orchestration for the Contemporary Composer by Publication Date: 2016Acoustic and MIDI Orchestration for the Contemporary Composer, Second Edition provides effective explanations and illustrations to teach you how to integrate traditional approaches to orchestration with the use of the modern sequencing techniques and tools available to today's composer. By covering both approaches, Pejrolo and DeRosa offer a comprehensive and multifaceted learning experience that will develop your orchestration and sequencing skills and enhance your final productions. A leading manual on its subject, the second edition allows experienced composers and producers to be exposed to sequencing techniques applied to traditional writing and arranging styles. The book continues to provide a comprehensive and solid learning experience and has been fully revised to include the latest tools and techniques. The new edition has been updated to include: A new chapter on cover writing and sequencing for vocal ensembles Coverage of writing for different ensemble sizes A new final chapter on writing and production techniques for mixed contemporary ensembles. All new techniques, tools, and sound libraries available to today's composer. A companion website (www.routledge.com/cw/pejrolo) includes a wide selection of audio examples, templates, sounds, and videos showcasing operational processes, allows you the opportunity to listen to the techniques discussed within the book.
How to Write for Percussion: A Comprehensive Guide to Percussion Composition by Publication Date: 2016The author, a percussionist and teacher, looks at all the issues that percussionists and composers encounter, providing practical information about notation, concert production, and much more. His insights are derived from his personal experience as a percussionist and teacher and from his collaborations with other musicians. Solomon includes excerpts and performances as well as interviews with famous percussionists and composers that capture the intricacies of percussion composition. There is an Online Video Companion site with nine hours of videos with demonstrations, performances, interviews, and analysis.
Contemporary Orchestration by Call Number: OnlinePublication Date: 2014Contemporary Orchestration: A Practical Guide to Instruments, Ensembles, and Musicians teaches students how to orchestrate for a wide variety of instruments, ensembles, and genres, while preparing them for various real-world professional settings ranging from the concert hall to the recording studio. Unlike most orchestration texts, it includes coverage of contemporary instruments and ensembles alongside traditional orchestra and chamber ensembles. Features Practical considerations: Practical suggestions for choosing a work to orchestrate, and what to avoid when writing for each instrument. Pedagogical features In the Profession: Professional courtesies, considerations and expectations. Building the Score: Step-by-step construction of an orchestration. Scoring Examples: Multiple scoring examples for each instrument. Exercises: Analyzing, problem solving, and creating orchestration solutions. Critical Thinking: Alternate approaches and solutions.
The Cambridge Guide to Orchestration by Call Number: OnlinePublication Date: 2013A theoretical and practical guide to instrumentation and orchestration with detailed information on all the instruments of the orchestra. It combines discussion of both traditional and modern playing techniques and contains fifty reduced scores to be re-orchestrated and a wide range of exercises, which clarify complex subjects such as multiple stops on stringed instruments, harmonics and trombone glissandi. Systematic analysis reveals the orchestration techniques used in original scores, including seven twentieth-century compositions. This Guide also includes tables and lists for quick reference, providing the ranges of commonly used instruments and the musical names and terminology used in English, German, Italian and French.
Arranging for Horns by Jerry Gates Book/Online Audio by Call Number: OnlinePublication Date: 2015A guide to how to add saxophones and brass to a rhythm section ensemble. This book also explains capabilities and characteristics of the most common instruments, and how to order them effectively. You will read about the different roles that a horn section can serve in your ensemble.
- LinkedIn LearningLinkedIn Learning offers online training courses in Ableton, Pro Tools, GarageBand and Logic Pro.
Ableton
Ableton Live 9 by Publication Date: 2014Includes concepts, definitions, and hundreds of tips, tricks, and hidden features and covers creative techniques for creating, producing, performing. The graphic format, mirrors Ableton Live's structure, terms, and creative features.
Logic Pro
Logic Pro X by Call Number: OnlinePublication Date: 2014Key features include: Production FAQs - Instructional Walkthroughs and Knowledgebases present information clearly and answer common production-specific problems.
Logic Pro for Dummies by Call Number: OnlinePublication Date: 2023A great guide to get you started with Logic Pro.
Pro Tools
Pro Tools 11 by Call Number: OnlinePublication Date: 2014The author has worked with Pro Tools for 30 years. His book is designed for users with basic music production experience or knowledge, but can serve as a quick learning guide for the ambitious novice or as a reference for the advanced user.
The Digital Score by Publication Date: 2019Digital technology is transforming the musical score as a broad array of innovative score systems have become available to musicians. From attempts to mimic the print score, to animated and graphical scores, to artificial intelligence-based options, digital scoring affects the musical process by opening up new possibilities for dynamic interaction between the performer and the music, changing how we understand the boundaries between composition, score, improvisation and performance. The Digital Score: Musicianship, Creativity and Innovation offers a guide into this new landscape, reflecting on what these changes mean for music-making from both theoretical and applied perspectives. Drawing on findings from over a decade's worth of practice-based experimentation in the field, author Craig Vear builds a framework for understanding how digital scores create meaning. He considers the interactions between affect, embodiment and digital scores, offering the first comprehensive and critical consideration of an exciting field with no agreed-upon borders. Featuring insights from interviews with over fifty musicians and composers from across four continents, this book is a valuable resource for music researchers and practitioners alike.
The Digital Musician 3rd edition by Call Number: OnlinePublication Date: 2018An introductory textbook for creative music technology and electronic music courses that examines cultural awareness, artistic identity and musical skills, offering a system-agnostic survey of digital music creation. Each chapter presents creative projects that reinforce concepts, as well as case studies of real musicians and discussion questions for further reflection in an ever-changing musical landscape, most notably the proliferation of mobile technologies, covering topics such as collaborative composition, virtual reality, data sonification and digital scores, while encouraging readers to adapt to continuous technological changes. With an emphasis on discovering your musical voice and identity, and tools and ideas that are relevant in any musical situation. There is a companion website featuring case study interviews, a historical listening list, bibliography and many additional projects Visit the companion website: www.andrewhugill.com/thedigitalmusician
Modern MIDI by Call Number: OnlinePublication Date: 2014In the last five years, the environment in which the Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) specification works and the tools that communicate via MIDI have changed dramatically. Exploring typical workflows and techniques for both the studio and the performing environment, this book helps you navigate the changes that mobile computing has made to the way the music producers and engineers work with MIDI. Modern MIDI also shows you how to implement the necessary components to use MIDI on your iPad, Android phone, or laptop.
Modern MIDI 2nd edition by Call Number: OnlinePublication Date: 2020Modern MIDI equips you with everything you need to use MIDI in your music productions. With a particular focus on practical application and step-by-step explanations, this book does far more than tell you about how MIDI works. Simple explanations and real-world scenarios encourage you to test out the techniques for yourself. The second edition of Modern MIDI builds on the first, making sequencing approachable for absolute beginners, reinforcing the fundamentals of MIDI and expanding the coverage into new mobile technology and vintage gear.
Tele-Improvisation: Intercultural Interaction in the Online Global Music Jam Session by Call Number: OnlinePublication Date: 2019This research monograph explores the rapidly expanding field of networked music making and the ways in which musicians of different cultures improvise together online. It draws on extensive research to uncover the creative and cognitive approaches that geographically dispersed musicians develop to interact in displaced tele-improvisatory collaboration. It presents a multimodal analysis of three tele-improvisatory performances that examine how cross-cultural musician's express and perceive intentionality in these interactions, as well as their experiences of distributed agency and tele-presence.
Evolutionary Computer Music by Call Number: OnlinePublication Date: 2007This book discusses the applications of evolutionary computation to music and the tools needed to create and study such systems. These tools can be combined to create surrogate artificial worlds populated by interacting simulated organisms in which complex musical experiments can be performed. The book demonstrates that evolutionary systems can be used to create and to study musical compositions and cultures in ways that have never before been achieved.
Dawn of the DAW by Call Number: OnlinePublication Date: 2018Dawn ot the DAW tells the story of how the dividing line between the traditional roles of musicians and recording studio personnel (producers, recording engineers, mixing engineers, technicians, etc.) has eroded throughout the latter half of the twentieth century to the present. As audio production skills such as recording, editing, and mixing are increasingly co-opted by musicians teaching themselves in their do-it-yourself (DIY) recording studios, conventions of how music production is taught and practiced are remixed to reflect this reality.
Jazz Composition and Arranging in the Digital Age by Call Number: Print copy also available: 781.6513 S964J 2012Publication Date: 2012Jazz Composition and Arranging In the Digital Age is a comprehensive and practical instructional book and reference guide on the art and craft of jazz composition and arranging for small and large ensembles highlighting how advances in music technology and software may be integrated with traditional compositional concepts.This book builds on material and issues treated in traditional jazz composition and arranging courses, including all the fundamental musical techniques and information associated with jazz arranging and composition instruction. In addition, each chapter of the book also contains specific examples demonstrating the effective utilisation of music software as applied to the realisation of these techniques. Software is employed both as both a learning tool in the form of examples and exercises, and as a practical tool illustrating how many modern day composer/arrangers are utilising these techniques successfully. The extensive companion website provides listening examples for each chapter as well as enhanced software tips, expanded and additional music examples, and appendices of basic principles and an expanded recommended listening list for further study.
Sound and Score by Publication Date: 2013Considering "notation" as the totality of words, signs, and symbols encountered on the road to an accurate and effective performance of music, this book embraces different styles and periods in a comprehensive understanding of the complex relations between invisible sound and mute notation, between aural perception and visual representation, and between the concreteness of sound and the iconic essence of notation. Three main perspectives structure the analysis: a conceptual approach that offers contributions from different fields of enquiry (history, musicology, semiotics), a practical one that takes the skilled body as its point of departure (written by performers), and finally an experimental perspective that challenges state-of-the-art practices, including transdisciplinary approaches in the crossroads to visual arts and dance.
Intermediary spaces = Espaces Intermédiaires by Call Number: 780.92 R129.I 2019Publication Date: 2019Éliane Radigue is considered one of the most innovative and influential contemporary composers, from her early electronic music through to her acoustic work of the last fifteen years. Influenced by musique concrète and shaped by regular sojourns in the United States, where she discovered analogue synthesisers, her work unfolds an intensity which is at once subtle and monumental.
The Memory of Music by Call Number: OnlinePublication Date: 2019Composer and broadcaster Andrew Ford considers the nature and purpose of music in the context of his own life - what it is, why it means so much to us and how it works in our lives. From his early childhood in the Beatles-crazy Liverpool of the 1960s to his evolving work as a composer, choral conductor, concert promoter, critic, university teacher and radio presenter, he shares the vivid musical experiences that have shaped his life. Ford excels at capturing the way different kinds of music affect us - how a piece of religious music can transport us regardless of our beliefs, or how a pop song can call up an instant recollection from the past.
A Geometry of Music by Call Number: OnlinePublication Date: 2011How is the Beatles' "Help!" similar to Stravinsky's "Dance of the Adolescents?" How does Radiohead's "Just" relate to the improvisations of Bill Evans? And how do Chopin's works exploit the non-Euclidean geometry of musical chords?In this groundbreaking work, author Dmitri Tymoczko describes a new framework for thinking about music that emphasizes the commonalities among styles from medieval polyphony to contemporary rock. Tymoczko identifies five basic musical features that jointly contribute to the sense of tonality, and shows how these features recur throughout the history of Western music. He discusses a host of familiar pieces by a wide range of composers, from Bach to the Beatles, Mozart to Miles Davis, and many in between.
Deep Listening by Call Number: 784.1896 O48D 2005Publication Date: 2005Deep Listening is a practice created by composer Pauline Oliveros in order to enhance her own as well as other's listening skills. She taught this practice worldwide in workshops, retreats and in her ground breaking Deep Listening classes at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Mills College. Deep Listening practice is accessible to anyone with an interest in listening. Oliveros is recognized as a pioneer in electronic music and a leader in contemporary music as composer, performer, educator and author. Her works are performed internationally and her improvisational performances are documented extensively on recordings, in the literature and on the internet.
Copland on Music by Call Number: Offsite store 780.1 C784.1Publication Date: 1963Aaron Copland raises and answers questions that are still relevant today. Whose fault is it that the artist counts for so little in the public mind? Is our system of education lacking in its attitude toward the art product? Should our state and federal governments take a more positive stand toward the cultural development of their citizens?
Music and Imagination by Call Number: 780.1 C784MPublication Date: 1952Copland urges more frequent performance and more sensitive hearing of the music of new composers. He discusses sound media, new and old, and looks toward a musical future in which the timbres and intensities developed by the electronic engineer may find their musical shape and meaning.
Creative Music Composition by Call Number: OnlinePublication Date: 2006An introductory textbook that discusses the importance of being in a creative environment, knowledge of compositional structures used by contemporary composers, musical style and language, the use of specific instruments, and composing for traditional ensembles, a monodic instrument, and voices. The author tackles the key ingredients that make for successful composition, including: stimulus to the musical imagination; discussion of a variety of current musical languages; analysis of many examples from contemporary scores; technical exercises; suggestions as to how to start a composition; structures; and examinations of works from particular genres.
- John Cage Unbound: A Living ArchiveTo celebrate John Cage's centenary year in 2012, the New York Public Library launched John Cage Unbound - A Living Archive,
an online multimedia resource devoted to the life and work of one of America's
most influential composers. In partnership with the John Cage Trust and C.F.
Peters, the site featured select digital images of Cage's music manuscripts, correspondence, programs, photographs, and ephemera drawn from the vast holdings of NYPL's Music Division. The centerpiece of
the project, however, was a rich video archive of John Cage interpretation with a special emphasis on the preparation and performance of Cage's work.
Special Sound by Call Number: OnlinePublication Date: 2010Traces the creation and legacy of the BBC's electronic music studio, the Radiophonic Workshop, in the context of other studios in Europe and America. A book about the engineers, composers, directors, and producers behind the studio to trace the shifting perception towards electronic music in Britain, combining historical discussion of the people and instruments in the workshop with analysis of specific works.
Composing Electronic Music by Call Number: EbookPublication Date: 2015Composing Electronic Music outlines a new theory of composition based on the toolkit of electronic music techniques. The theory consists of a framework of concepts and a vocabulary of terms describing musical materials, their transformation, and their organization. Central to this discourse is thenotion of narrative structure in composition-how sounds are born, interact, transform, and die. It presents a guidebook: a tour of facts, history, commentary, opinions, and pointers to interesting ideas and new possibilities to consider and explore.
Ludified by Call Number: 780.07 C568L 2021Publication Date: 2021Comprehensive insight into the artistic research project "GAPPP - Gamified Audiovisual Performance and Performance Practice" which was based at the Institute of Electronic Music and Acoustics of the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz from 2016-2020. A team of artists and researchers set themselves the task of exploring the artistic potential of elements from computer games in the context of audiovisual composition and performance.
Pink Noises by Call Number: Online and print 786.7092 R691P 2010Publication Date: 2010Pink Noises brings together twenty-four interviews with women in electronic music and sound cultures, including club and radio DJs, remixers, composers, improvisers, instrument builders, and installation and performance artists. Interviewees: Maria Chavez, Beth Coleman (M. Singe), Antye Greie (AGF), Jeannie Hopper, Bevin Kelley (Blevin Blectum), Christina Kubisch, Le Tigre, Annea Lockwood, Giulia Loli (DJ Mutamassik), Rekha Malhotra (DJ Rekha), Riz Maslen (Neotropic), Kaffe Matthews, Susan Morabito, Ikue Mori, Pauline Oliveros, Pamela Z, Chantal Passamonte (Mira Calix), Maggi Payne, Eliane Radigue, Jessica Rylan, Carla Scaletti, Laetitia Sonami, Bev Stanton (Arthur Loves Plastic), Keiko Uenishi (o.blaat)
Electronic Music by Call Number: 786.7 C712E 2013Publication Date: 2013An introduction exploring both mainstream and experimental electronic music. From early recording equipment to the most recent multimedia performances, the history of electronic music is full of interesting characters, fascinating and unusual music, and radical technology. Covering many different eras, genres and media, analyses of works appear alongside critical discussion of central ideas and themes, making this an essential guide for anyone approaching the subject for the first time. With lost of illustrations, topics include key topics from synth pop to sound art, from electronic dance music to electrical instruments, and from the expression of pure sound to audio visuals.
The Game Music Handbook by Call Number: OnlinePublication Date: 2020A good exploration of techniques required to being a successful game music composer. The book organizes key game music scoring concepts into an applicable methodology. Topics include designing emotional arc for non-linear timelines, the relationship between music and sound design, discussion of the player's interaction with audio, and more. There is also more advanced discussion of game state and its effect on player interaction, a composer-centric lesson on programming, how to work with version control, information on visual programming languages, emergent audio, procedural audio and advanced reactive music concepts.
Composing Music for Games by Call Number: EbookPublication Date: 2017This book begins with the foundation of scoring principles applicable to all media, and then progresses serially through core methodologies specific to video game music.
A Composer's Guide to Game Music by Call Number: EbookPublication Date: 2014A comprehensive, practical guide to composing video game music, from acquiring the necessary skills to finding work in the field. Composers of video game music must master many specialized skills including the creation of linear loops, music chunks for horizontal resequencing, and compositional fragments for use within a generative framework. Topics cover coverage of essential topics, including musicianship and composition experience; immersion; musical themes; music and game genres; workflow; working with a development team; linear music; interactive music, both rendered and generative; audio technology, from mixers and preamps to software; and running a business.
Unlimited Replays: Video Games and Classical Music by Call Number: EbookPublication Date: 2018Classical music is everywhere in video games. Works by composers like Bach and Mozart fill the soundtracks of games ranging from arcade classics, to indie titles, to major franchises like BioShock, Civilization, and Fallout. Children can learn about classical works and their histories frominteractive iPad games. World-renowned classical orchestras frequently perform concerts of game music to sold-out audiences. But what do such combinations of art and entertainment reveal about the cultural value we place on these media? Can classical music ever be video game music, and can gamemusic ever be classical? Delving into the shifting and often contradictory cultural definitions that emerge when classical music meets video games, Replay Value offers a new perspective on the possibilities and challenges of trying to distinguish between art and pop culture in contemporarysociety.
Also see the songwriting books on the Music Performance subject guide: https://guides.lib.monash.edu/music-performance/PopularVoice
The Songwriting Labyrinth by Call Number: 782.4213 H318S 2015Publication Date: 2015The author, an Australian songwriter and lecturer, observes and codifies patterns of professional practice that have been recognised as successful by audiences and experts in the field, and to organise those observations into generalizable theories that may be applied so as to create more successful song outcomes.
Composing for Voice by Call Number: OnlinePublication Date: 2018Composing for Voice examines the voice across a wide range of musical genres (including pop, jazz, folk, classical, opera and the musical) and explores the fusion of language and music that is unique to song.
Tunesmith by Call Number: 782.4216413 W366T 1998Publication Date: 1999Webb brings his insider's knowledge, experience, and star power to the ultimate guide for aspiring songwriters. With a combination of anecdotes, meditation, and advice, he breaks down the creative process from beginning to end--from coping with writer's block, to song construction, chords, and even self-promotion. Webb also gives readers a glimpse into the professional music world.
The Songwriting Sourcebook by Call Number: 782.4213 R777S 2011Publication Date: 2011This book explains how to write effective chord sequences. For example, how three and four chords can lay the foundation for a simple song, and how to move on to progressions using five and six chords, how to give chord sequences additional colour by adding chords that are not strictly in key, including blues chords, how to write chord sequences for songs in minor keys as well as major keys, and how to change key. It also looks at understanding the emotional potential of sevenths, sixths and ninths. All examples come with easy-to-read guitar chord boxes.
- HM+ the early gurus of electronic music, 1948-1980 (Compact discs and DVD.) byCall Number: C780 EL R592 OHMPublication Date: 2005
- Sisters with transistors (Video) byCall Number: OnlinePublication Date: 2021remarkable untold story of electronic music's female pioneers, composers who embraced machines and their liberating technologies to utterly transform how we produce and listen to music today.
- An anthology of noise & electronic music (volumes 1 - IV) byCall Number: C780 EL R969.2 ANTPublication Date: 2018An extensive anthology representing many decades. Vol. 1 begins in the 1920s, with the Russolo Brothers, and looks at each decade in turn - Varése, Cage, Schaeffer, Xenakis, the great pioneers, and includes Nam June Paik, Paul D. Miller aka dj Spooky That Subliminal Kid, Pauline Oliveros and Ryoji Ikeda.
The Matheson Library holds many works by women composers. This list is just a selection of the many works by women composers across the world on level 1: Amy Beach (USA), Lili Boulanger France), Unsuk Chin (Korea), Mary Finsterer (Australia), Sofia Gubaidulina (Russia), Cat Hope (Australia), Elena Kats-Chernin (Australia), Catherine Likhuta (Ukraine/Australia), Fanny Mendelssohn (Germany), Florence Price (USA), Kaija Saariaho (Finland), Clara Schumann (Germany), Livia Teodorescu-Ciocănea (Romania)
We have a large number of Australian women composers. Many of them are published by the Australian Music Centre and Wirripang.
The Monash University Library also has Australian composer archives with extensive collections of manuscripts by Phyllis Batchelor, Wendy Morrissey, Linda Phillips, Esther Rofe and Margaret Sutherland. Only a few of these manuscripts have been published can be found by searching Library Search.
The Boulanger Initiative Database offers over 8,000 freely available online scores composed by more than 1,200 women and gender-marginalised composers.
Selected Audio links:
Woven Song - Pukumani by Deborah Cheetham AO
A Century of Composition by Women: Music against the Odds by Call Number: OnlinePublication Date: 2022Part I: Creative Work - Then and Now illuminates historical and present-day women's composition and various iterations and conceptions of the "feminine voice"; Part II: The State of the Industry in the Present Day provides solutions from the frontline to sector inequities; and Part III: Creating; Collaborating: Composer and Performer Reflections offers personal stories of current creation in music. This book provides insight into the professional and compositional procedures of creative women in music.
Women's Music for the Screen: Diverse Narratives in Sound by Call Number: OnlinePublication Date: 2021A long-overdue account of the works and lives of female-identifying screen composers that brings together composer profiles, exclusive interview excerpts, and industry case studies. The authors reflect on the systemic gender biases women have faced in an industry that has long excluded them. 16 essays from an international array of contributors present a wealth of research data, biographical content, and musical analysis of film, television, and video game scores to understand how the industry excludes women, the consequences of these deficits, and why such inequities persist. Composers represented include Bebe Barron, Delia Derbyshire, Wendy Carlos, Anne Dudley, Rachel Portman, Hildur Guðnadóttir, Mica Levi, Winifred Phillips, and more.
Music and the Skillful Listener: American women compose the natural world by Call Number: OnlinePublication Date: 2013For Denise Von Glahn, listening is that special quality afforded women who have been fettered for generations by the maxim "be seen and not heard." In Music and the Skillful Listener, Von Glahn explores the relationship between listening and musical composition focusing on nine American women composers inspired by the sounds of the natural world: Amy Beach, Marion Bauer, Louise Talma, Pauline Oliveros, Joan Tower, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, Victoria Bond, Libby Larsen, and Emily Doolittle. Von Glahn situates "nature composing" among the larger tradition of nature writing and argues that, like their literary sisters, works of these women express deeply held spiritual and aesthetic beliefs about nature.
Scores
Classical Scores Llibrary and HathiTrust offer access to many compositions online. Explore the selections below.
Notations 21 by Call Number: OnlinePublication Date: 2009Drawing inspiration from John Cage's 'Notations', this volume features illustrated musical scores from more than 100 composers from every continent, all of whom are innovators in the art of notation. Each score is accompanied by written contributions from the artists, explaining how the music manifested visually.
Study scores are full scores in miniature and contain every part, in one score, for each instrument --- very useful for reading the music while you are listening to it. For example:
Music for 18 Musicians by Steve Reich
There is also a print copy which can be found in the score section at S780 R347 20/M
Australian Scores
You can access e-scores on Classical Scores Library which has a filter for Publishers. Search under Australian Music Centre and Wirripang.
Online score databases
- Australian jazz real book This link opens in a new windowThe Australian Jazz Real Book is a collection of the best Australian jazz tunes. Features over 400 sheets of Australian jazz tunes from Australian composers, artist biographies and some streaming audio clips. The 450+ tunes which are included are categorised into 17 styles. The lead sheets contain the melody in regular musical notation, chords and, where they exist, lyrics. There are also some more involved transcriptions where appropriate, and a few full score reductions where each instrumental part is important, and harmony parts and voicings are included.
- Music AustraliaOlder scores by Australian composers which have been digitised by the National Library of Australia. There are also a number of American and British works that were popular in Australia, published by Australian publishers.
- Hathi Trust Digital LibraryHathiTrust is a partnership of academic & research institutions, based in the United States, offering a collection of millions of titles digitized, including music scores in the public domain, from libraries around the world.
- IMSLP Petrucci LibraryIMSLP, also known as the International Music Score Library Project or Petrucci Music Library, was started in 2006. The logo on the main page is a capital letter A. It was taken from the beginning of the very first printed book of music, the Harmonice Musices Odhecaton. It was published in Venice in 1501 by Ottaviano Petrucci, the library's namesake
- Digital Scores and Librett form the Loeb Library, Harvard University"This digital collection includes manuscripts, first editions, and early editions of music from the 17th to the early 20th century. Many items, such as variant editions and annotated proofs of 19th-century operas and related libretti, are meant to be seen and used together. As a group, they give scholars a window into the study of historical performance practice."
- Boosey, Hawkes Online ScoresTo view works from the Boosey & Hawkes catalogue in digital format please login or fill out the B & H quick and free registration to view scores now.
- Sikorski persusalsHere you will find a selection of scores on perusal and piano reductions which are available as PDF files.
- MusOpenA non-profit organization that provides recordings, sheet music, and textbooks to the public for free, without copyright restrictions
For contemporary scores:
- Contemporary Music Score Collection, UCLA Music LibraryPublished by the UCLA Music Library, the Contemporary Music Score Collection includes the digital, open access scores from the Contemporary Score Edition series, the first open access edition of new music published by a library, and scores from the Kaleidoscope 2020 Call for Scores, an open access collaboration with the UCLA Music Library.
Journals
- Organised Sound: An International Journal of Music TechnologyOrganised Sound is an international peer-reviewed journal which focuses on the rapidly developing methods and issues arising from the use of technology in music today. It concentrates upon the impact which the application of technology is having upon music in a variety of genres, including multimedia, performance art, sound sculpture and music ranging from popular idioms to experimental electroacoustic composition.
- Computer Music JournalCMJ covers a wide range of topics such as digital audio signal processing, electroacoustic composition, new musical controllers, and music information retrieval. Articles include interviews with leading composers and informative reviews of products and publications, Every issue is an indispensable resource for composers, performers, scientists, engineers, and all students interested in computer-generated sound and music.
- Contemporary music reviewThe main focus of this journal is the critical study of music today in all its aspects—its techniques of performance and composition, texts and contexts, aesthetics, technologies, and relationships with other disciplines and currents of thought.
Sound recordings (streamed audio)
- Music online. American music This link opens in a new windowMusic Online: American Music is a history database that allows people to hear and feel the music from America's past. The database includes songs by and about American Indians, miners, immigrants, slaves, children, pioneers and cowboys. Included in the database are the songs of Civil Rights, political campaigns, Prohibition, the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, anti-war protests and more.
- Music online. Classical music library This link opens in a new windowClassical Music Library (CML) is a comprehensive online database of classical music recordings. CML features performers from more than 32 major and independent labels, including BMG and EMI Classics. Classical Music Library provides musical sound recordings, program notes, reference texts (composer biographies, history, and glossary), and images. The music includes vocal and instrumental works from the Middle Ages through to the present. Users navigate through browse lists, a search engine and music track playlists.
- Music online. Contemporary world music This link opens in a new windowMusic Online: Contemporary World Music delivers the sounds of all regions from every continent. The database contains important genres such as reggae, worldbeat, neo-traditional, world fusion, Balkanic jazz, African film, Bollywood, Arab swing and jazz, and other genres such as traditional music - Indian classical, fado, flamenco, klezmer, zydeco, gospel, gagaku, and more.
- Naxos music library This link opens in a new windowNaxos Music Library comprises a vast collection of classical music available in streaming audio format. The library offers the complete Naxos and Marco Polo catalogues plus the complete catalogues or selected titles from hundreds of other record labels, including EMI, Warner Classics and Sony Classical. Along with classical music, jazz, world, and pop/rock are also represented, with over 600 new titles are added each month. Additional resources include music notes, cover artwork, track listings, instrumentation and publisher information, libretti and opera synopses, composer and artist biographies, pronunciation guide for composer and artist names, glossary, guide to musical terms and work analyses.
Freely available Sound Archives (selection) :
- British Library SoundsBritish Library Sounds presents 50,000 recordings and their associated documentation from the Library’s extensive collections of unique sound recordings which come from all over the world and cover the entire range of recorded sound: music, drama and literature, oral history, wildlife and environmental sounds.
- The Great 78 ProjectFrom about 1898 to the 1950s, an estimated 3 million sides (~3 minute recordings) have been made on 78rpm discs. While the commercially viable recordings will have been restored or remastered onto LP’s or CD, there is still research value in the artifacts and usage evidence in the often rare 78rpm discs and recordings.
- National JukeboxHistorical Recordings from the Library of Congress
Selected streamed video
- The Carnegie Hall Collection of Conversations with Composers byEllen Taaffe Zwilich held the first Carnegie Hall Composer’s Chair from 1995 to 1999. One of her many initiatives as chair was to build a video archive of interviews with composers whose works were premiered at Carnegie Hall and whose careers were influenced by