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American Music--Music in the United States: A Guide to Research and Resources

Finding Library Books, Scores, and Recordings

Searching Tips

  • Use the truncation symbol * to search multiple forms of the same stem word: america* simultaneously searches America and American.
  • Put quotes around multi-word phrases for more precise results: "united states".
  • Use OR (uppercase essential) to search two or more concepts simultaneously: "united states" OR america*.

Library of Congress Subject Search Terms

Below are some common established subject terms related to American music that are used in the library catalog and many periodical databases. They can help focus your searches with exact subject terms. Click on the links to sample the print and on-line books available in English.from the Mendel Music Library.

Searching Across Multiple Databases for Journal Articles

Multidisciplinary Article Databases

Multidisciplinary databases provide abstracts and indexing with select full text for many core scholarly journals as well as popular press periodicals, magazines, and trade journals. Library of Congress subject search terms often work in these resources. See the next tabs for databases focused on music and the performing arts.