Objectives

Required Texts

Class Structure and Outline

Communications and Discussion (archive of email messages)

Class List

send email to class

Writing about Music: a Style Sheet from the Editors of 19th-Century Music / D. Kern Holoman. Berkeley : University of California Press, c1988.

"Music Library Association Guidelines for the Preparation of Music Reference Works"/ David Hunter et al. Notes 50, no. 4 (June 1994), 1329-1338.

CLASS STRUCTURE

Classes will be conducted as seminar discussions--i.e., all class members will be expected to participate in each session. Some classes, as indicated below, may be primarily either lectures by the instructor or presentations completely the responsibility of one or more members of the class, but each person will be expected to participate to some degree in each class.

The outline includes a number of assignments. These must be completed as described by the time indicated, unless a different arrangement is made in advance. All written materials will be evaluated not only for content but also for the manner of presentation--grammar, style, appropriate citation, etc.

A final project will consist of a comprehensive bibliography (including, as appropriate, books, articles, scores, films, recordings, cd-roms, websites, etc.) and a short essay concerning the preparation of the bibliography. The essay can be a consideration of either (1) the methodology used in working on the topic and the appropriateness of reference and bibliographic sources to the topic, or (2) a comparison of the three specific sources of bibliography--one print, one cd-rom, one online--with regard to how appropriate they were for the topic and how the format effected the preparation of the bibliography. The topic for this paper is your choice, but it should be of sufficient magnitude to be worthy of a major research project. A statement of the topic is due on October 12.

Grades for the course will be determined on the basis of 40 percent for the final project and 30 percent each for class participation and assignments.

TENATIVE OUTLINE OF COURSE

NOTE: The following is a guide to the structure and assignments for this course. We may move a little slower or faster than planned, but all of the topics and assignments will be covered in approximately the order and facets described below.

22 August: Class 1. (Lecture and some discussion)

Introduction to the course.
Musical formats: printed texts about music, printed music, recorded music, bibliography
Which is "the music"?--scores, parts, editions, arrangements, manuscripts, recordings, videos
Music vs. printed text: differences in the use caused by the format "music" vs. "music literature" vs. "musical literature"
Libraries: what should they contain? How should access be provided? A library "catalog" vs. an "index" or an "inventory"

Assignment: Select any book, any score, and any recording from the library collection. Make a list of the aspects of each that ought to be described in order to properly include this item in the library catalog.

II. ORGANIZATION OF MUSIC IN LIBRARIES

24 August: Class 2. (Discussion)

Discuss what ought to be included in a library catalog. How can these be described (generalization, standardization, specificity)? Are there differences between books and music that must be reflected in the catalog (theoretical and realistically)? Between private and recorded music? Can a means be found to make them "look" alike (using the same terms, formats, etc.) and still preserve the differences?

Assignment: Study the Library of Congress Classification M (on reserve in the Audio Center). What are the premises of this scheme? Is there a single basis for the classification or are there several? How consistent is the classification internally?

29 August: Class 3. (Discussion and some lecture)

The Library of Congress M classification system: is the system internally and externally consistent? Are there other bases for developing a system? Might they be better for a musician?
What is the purpose of a classification system?
Details of the system, special features.

Assignment: You will be given a set of descriptions of a number of pieces of music, books, etc. Using the M classification system, assign an appropriate classification number to each. Be prepared to discuss the appropriateness of each.

31 August: Class 4 (Discussion)

Discuss the assignment and continue the discussion of the M schedule.

Due: Classification assignment
Assignment: Review the parts of the assignment not covered in class. Consider how an alternative music classification might be constructed.

5 September: Class 5. (Discussion and some lecture)

Continue discussion of classification assignment. Examine some aspects of alternative modes of classifying music.
Introduction to "uniform titles"

Assignment: Read Anglo-American Cataloging Rules, 2nd ed. (on reserve in the Audio Center), chapter 25, especially beginning at 25.25

7 September: Class 6. (Discussion)

The theoretical basis of a uniform system for titles; AACR-2. Is this appropriate? Are uniform titles guides for ordering a list or established standards for identifying a piece of music? Assigning uniform titles (examples); collective uniform titles.

Assignment: You will be given a list of musical works (with all appropriate information) and asked to develop an AACR-2 uniform title for each. Be prepared to discuss the appropriateness of each title, how you arrived at that conclusion, etc.

12 September: Class 7. (Discussion and presentations)

Each member of the class will be asked to explain fully the uniform title for one or more of the works and justify the solution. Others will be asked to criticize. What problems are encountered in assigning uniform titles? What problems are encountered in using them as a patron? Collective uniform titles vs. individual ones; works and excerpts; analytic cataloging

Due: Uniform title assignment.
Assignment: Reconsider the solutions to the previous assignment. When you are satisfied with the answers, make notes on what kinds of "subject access" you would like to have to them.

14 September: Class 8. (Discussion)

Complete discussion of uniform titles.
What is the "subject" of a piece of music? Form, genre, orchestration, words, writers/composers, meaning? Which aspects can be described? Which aspects ought to be described?
Introduction to the LC subject headings.

Assignment: Study the Subject Headings in Music (on reserve in the Audio Center). Assign appropriate subject headings to the works on your uniform title list.

19 September: Class (Discussion)

LC Subject Headings: are they useful? What is the theoretical basis for the system? Are they systematic? Can you predict what subject heading will be used for any particular work or group of works?
Review of assignment.
Introduction of online searching (formalized searching, call number searching, keyword searching)

Due: Uniform title assignment with subject headings assigned.
Assignment: You will be given three topics or interests to explore in ALEPH. Devise the best strategy for each to find all of the relevant items in the online catalog (and none of the irrelevant ones).

21 September: Class 10. (Discussion and lecture)

Discuss the relative merits of formalized and keyword searching. Review the assignment. What works and what does not?
Coded searches

Assignment: Reconsider the strategies for your assigned searches. Do a similar search of the online catalog for the topic you are considering for your project. Repeat the searches using the Indiana University online catalog and one other library catalog. Be prepared to discuss the value of various methods of searching.

26 September: Class 11. (Discussion)

Relative values of different methods of searching online. How does being online change the research paradigm? Does it? What ought to be possible in an online environment that is not now possible?

Assignment: Write a short essay on the nature of Library of Congress-style classification and subject headings and AACR-2 uniform titles considering their relative value, appropriateness for a musician, and usefulness. Where appropriate, use examples form UNLOC. (Due at class 13)

Read reviews of the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians and Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart. Review the MLA guidelines for reference works and the specific guidelines for "Dictionaries" and "Encyclopedias." From your experience and the reviews, do these works meet, exceed, or fail to meet the guidelines?

28 September: NO CLASS: Annual meeting of the Midwest Chapter of the Music Library Association.

III. REFERENCE AND RESEARCH MATERIALS

3 October: Class 12. (Discussion)

Discuss the standards. Are they appropriate? Are the adequate? Are they too strenuous? What is the value of "guidelines"? Discuss New Grove and MGG in terms of the guidelines and in comparison to each other.

Due: Topic for the final project.
Assignment: Each person will be assigned to examine several additional music dictionaries and encyclopediae. Select several topics: e.g., 2 persons (one from the art music world, one from the popular world), an instrument, a subject (type of music, style, form, etc.), and a term. Determine how these topics are treated in the works assigned and in N G and MGG. Be prepared to make a class presentation on these topics.

5 October: Class 13 - 14. (Class presentations)

Each member of the class will have 10-15 minutes to discuss the sources investigated: how did the sources compare? Are the guidelines applicable? Are there some things that are valuable about one but not about the others? Are some better for types of questions? Anything else that seems appropriate to such a discussion should be added. Save a little time to draw a conclusion about musical dictionaries and encyclopediae.
Data vs. Information vs. Knowledge.

Assignment: Examine Music Index (printed and online), RILM Abstracts of Music Literature (printed and online), and Humanities Index (online). Consider especially the organization, type(s) of materials included, information presented, currency, etc. Examine each in terms of the topics you selected for the previous assignment.

10 October: Class 15. (Discussion)

Discuss the value of indexing and abstracting services. How much value does the abstract add? How do paper and electronic format vary? How does the use vary? Is electronic always better? General services vs. very specific indices. What information must be included? What would be "nice" to have included?

Due: Essay on LC-based classification and subject headings and AACR-2 uniform titles.
Assignment: Write a set of guidelines (in the manner of the MLA guidelines) for indexing and abstracting services. What types of literature(s) should be covered? How should they be organized? What information should be included? How should they be compiled? etc. This may be in essay form or outline form, as you think appropriate.

12 October: Class 16. (Discussion)

Discuss the guidelines you have written. Could an indexing service for music be of any value?
Introduction to thematic and melodic indices.

Due: Topic for final research project
Due: "Guidelines for Indexing and Abstracting Services"
Assignment: Read MLA guidelines for "Thematic Catalogs" "Thematic Catalogs" in New Grove , and introduction to Thematic Catalogs in Music: an Annotated Bibliography / Barry S. Brook (in Reference).

14-22 October: NO CLASS: Mid-semester Break

24 October: Class 17. (Discussion)

Are the MLA guidelines appropriate? Is there any value to these catalogs/indexes? Are they "catalogs" or "indexes"? How can they be used? "Thematic" vs. "Melodic" indices.

Assignment: Each member of the class will be assigned three thematic catalogs to examine. In addition, several works will be assigned for all to examine. Write a short essay discussing how well the works assigned meet the guidelines, how they differ from one another, what shortcomings and strengths each may have, etc. (Due class 18).

26 October: Class 18 (Presentation)

Each member of the class will present a 20 - 25 minute presentation on any one of the items he/she was assigned to examine--or on all three. This should include shortcomings vs. strengths, information included, usefulness, etc. Other class members should be prepared to question conclusions.
Methods of organization; alternative means of access.
Melodic indexes: methods of organization?

Assignment: You will be given a photocopy of the first page of several works of music by different composers. Locate the entry in an appropriate melodic index and trace the work back to the appropriate thematic index. NOTE: One work may not be in any melodic index; what do you do now?

31 October: Class 19 (Discussion)

Relative value of methods of organizing melodic indexes. Is there a "best" method? What information ought to be included in a melodic index? How do the systems compare with each other for ease of use?

Due: Essay on thematic catalogs.
Assignment: Select a recent issue of (1) Notes and (2) the Journal of the American Musicological Society or the Journal of Musicology. From the longer reviews of books and music, select one review of each type of literature (book, music) and read the reviews several times (for overall impression, for style, for content, for presentation). If ND owns the item being reviewed, compare your own ideas about the item to the review. Send an email to the class with the title of the items being reviewed and the author of the review. Be prepared to discuss the qualifications of the author to perform the review, the quality of the review, and the helpfulness of the review to a musician.

2 November: Class 20 (Discussion)

Each member of the class will present a 10-15 discussion of the reviews selected. Most of the presentation should focus on one of the four, but contrasts among the four reviews are appropriate. Bring the class the issues containing the reviews and the items being reviewed (if we have them).

Assignment: Read the MLA guidelines for "Bibliographies and Catalogs." Each member of the class will be assigned several bibliographic works to examine in terms of the guidelines. Be prepared to discuss these in comparison to each other and in terms of the guidelines.

7 November: Class 21. (Presentations)

Each member of the class will present a 10-12 minute discussion of the works assigned, including, but not limited to, the nature of each work, the self-imposed limitations of the compiler, the information included, the information that is missing, the method of organization, alternative methods of access, etc. Summarize with a discussion of the guidelines and their appropriateness to the works you examined.

Assignment: Each member of the class will be assigned to examine several online bibliographic sources. Be prepared to present these in the same manner, but also to include the question of the relative value of online vs. in-print formats.

9 November: Class 22. (Discussion and presentations)

Online vs. print formats: Are there differences in presentation, usefulness, standards?

Assignment: "Surf the net" until you discover another "bibliographic" website about music that interests you. Be prepared to compare it to the others you have studied and heard about.

14 November: Class 23. (Presentations and discussion)

Each class member will discuss the websites examined. How do they differ from printed works? What is their currency? reliability? organizations? Have the electronic address available.
Bibliography vs. Discography vs. Filmography vs. Catalogs: are there differences in meaning, uses, information to be included?

Assignment: Each person will be asked to examine one print and one electronic source of discographical or video information. Examine them with the same thoughts in mind. Write a short essay discussing the relative merits of each type of work, types of information, organization, access, etc., and compare and contrast electronic and print formats.

16 November: Class 24. (Discussion)

Discographies, filmographies, etc. : discussion and presentations.
Catalogs--library, publishers, composers, etc.

Assignment: You will be asked to examine several online library catalogs and several printed library catalogs. Consider how they could be used to deal with the topic you have selected for your final project. Reconsider the online vs. the printed aspects. Is there a reason to have a printed version?

Read Leslie Troutman, "An Internet Primer for Music Librarians: Tools, sources, Current Awareness," Notes 51, no. 1 (September 1994), 22-41, and Richard AmRheim, "Internet Resources for Music," College & Research Libraries News 56, no. 11 (December 1995), 760-763.

21 November: Class 25. (Discussion)

Discuss relative values of various types of catalogs. Does "catalog" include a definable class of materials? Is there any value to printed versions when online resources are available?

Assignment: Examine the Chicago Manual of Style and Writing about Music. Find one other printed and one online style manual and compare and contrast each with the two models.

23 November: NO CLASS: Thanksgiving Break

IV. STYLE MANUALS AND SUMMARY

28 November: Class 26. (Discussion)

Why style manuals? Do they make any difference?
Arbitrariness vs. "the best" way.
Choosing a style manual.

 

How can one evaluate a new reference or bibliographic source of data, information, or knowledge quickly? Are there ways to predict whether a source will provide necessary information on a particular subject? How trustworthy can a source be?

30 November-5 December: Class 27-28. (Presentations)

Each member of the class will make a presentation on the basic approach to his/her final project. This is the opportunity to ask any final questions about the project, about the course, about your own studies, etc.

Examination date & time:

Due: Final projects are due in written form by the end of this examination period.