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March 2001
Darwin F. Scott, Creative Arts Librarian
The undergraduate music concentration combines the study of history, theory, composition, and performance. Qualified students may elect to do the Performance Program in addition to the concentration.
Appropriate music courses are options in various interdisciplinary studies concentrations and programs, including:
To support the many and varied aspects of the undergraduate and graduate music curriculum, the Music Collection covers the full spectrum of music materials, including monographs, thesis/dissertations, reference/research materials, serials, microforms, sound recordings, videos, scores, collected editions and monuments, facsimile editions, and rare books.
The purposes of the Music Collection are to support the undergraduate and graduate curriculum, graduate and faculty research, and performance by undergraduates, graduates, and faculty (such as the Lydian String Quartet). The collection also supports music-related courses in various interdisciplinary concentrations and programs.
The scope of the fine arts collection includes all periods of Western music history from antiquity to the present; the interaction of music and high/popular culture; performance practice; repertory to support instrumental and voice instruction and chamber music performing ensembles; jazz, women and music; music theory, analysis, and composition; music aesthetics; and electronic music.
The music of contemporary composers-Boston Library Consortium, Cooperative Collections Committee, Music Group. Formal agreement is for a selected group of non-iconic contemporary composers divided between the participating organizations, with each institution aiming for a comprehensive collection of scores by its selected group of composers.
No restrictions, but emphasis is on the Western tradition (both classical and popular). As much as possible, all geographical areas are considered under the study of ethnomusicology.
No limitations. Music courses deal with all periods of music history, composition and performance; no one historical period is emphasized.
No restrictions. In many areas of musicological research, access to primary and secondary source materials from all periods is a necessity. Subsequent editions, reprints (including facsimile reproductions, microforms, digitized images, and reissues of sound recordings) can often fill this need. While an emphasis is placed on the acquisition of relevant current publications/issues of books, music, and sound recordings (despite the date of composition), a certain level of retrospective acquisition of music materials remains important, since in the literature of music and sound recordings, few books, scores, or recordings ever become really outdated. In addition, a wide spectrum of older editions and sound recordings are essential for the study of performance practice.
English and other Western European languages (French, German, Italian, and Spanish in particular) predominate. Publications in other languages and alphabets are acquired as needed to support the curriculum and research. For scores, however, the language and alphabet of any textual material are relatively unimportant and are usually not a factor in selection.
Current trade, university press, institutional, and government publications acquired, with some acquisition of retrospective materials as lacunae in the collection become evident. Relevant Festschriften and proceedings of congresses and symposia are collected as comprehensively as possible. Biographies should be of scholarly rather than popular nature.
Subscriptions to musicological and theoretical journals in English, German, French, Italian, and Spanish, including numerous annuals. Subscriptions to select, more popularly-oriented monthly music magazines, primarily in English, that support the curriculum
Numerous publications of music and literature on music are acquired via subscriptions or standing orders to series and sets. These include musicological series, monuments and collections of music, complete editions of composers, and numerous sets published over a considerable period of time.
Reference and research materials are a primary component of the music collection. These include encyclopedias, dictionaries, bibliographies, thematic catalogs, library catalogs, iconographies, and discographies. Reference materials concerned with topics outside the scope of the curriculum are purchased selectively.
A variety of electronic resources are collected to support music research, including indexes and abstracts, full-texts of dictionaries and periodicals, and specialized reference works, including those with digitized images of primary resources and scores.
The large music microform collection mostly comprises reproductions of primary resources (music manuscripts and early prints), serials, and dissertations in musicology. Microforms of manuscripts and prints are purchased both in large sets and individually as requested by Ph.D. students and faculty for their research.
Collected broadly in historical musicology, usually on mainstream topics. Selected on the basis of author, subject matter, and/or granting institution. In general, DMA dissertations and master theses are not collected. Preferred medium is microfilm unless the dissertation is a catalog or inventory (in which case paper is preferred).
Representative collection of operas, other dramatic works, and documentaries, driven partially by faculty demand. Preferred medium is now DVD unless only videocassette is available.
Area open to development based on faculty demand and as technology becomes more available in classrooms. Collecting in the area will also increase with the development of the Creative Arts Electronic Research Center.
Scores are generally purchased to parallel the book collections in historical musicology and performance practice. For common repertory, there should be at least two editions by differing publishing houses and editors if available. Works by Kleinmeistern (especially 18th-20th centuries) in performance editions are collected very selectively on the basis of established collections.
Complete editions: all major composers and selective secondary composers that complement existing collections.
Monuments: all sets and editions that complement established collections or add new repertory of historical importance to the collection.
Early music: widely collected, including editions intended for a collegium musicum (with performing materials).
Large ensembles, orchestral, dramatic music: preferred medium is a study score; conducting scores generally not purchased unless no other option is available. Performance parts not acquired.
Solo/chamber music: scores and scores and parts (or parts only) of frequently performed works. Particular emphasis on works for piano, strings, ensembles with piano, and voice.
Arrangements: The following are acquired for the collection: vocal scores of operas, sacred music, etc.; piano reductions of the orchestral accompaniment to commonly studied concerted works; four-hand piano arrangements of frequently studied orchestral or dramatic works; transcriptions that are commonly performed.
Popular music: generally limited to large anthologies of songs or pieces by period, decade, type, etc. or collections of music performed by historically important performers. Musicals are acquired both in complete vocal scores and collections of excepts. Individual sheet music is not purchased.
Ethnic/folk music: generally confined to scholarly, topically focused, or historical collections and anthologies. U.S. and Hebrew/Yiddish-texted music collected broadly; other areas collected selectively-the scope should be as international as possible.
Facsimile reproductions of manuscripts and early prints (including partbooks) through ca. 1850 are widely collected.
Western classical music: All periods collected equally. Areas emphasized include: critically acclaimed recordings of works not well-represented in the collection; collections of complete repertories; historically informed performances; multiple versions of canonical works for performance comparisons; contemporary music; electro-acoustical music; remastered recordings of historically significant performances. Generally not collected: recitals of disparate repertory (assortments of arias, piano pieces, etc.), incomplete works (excerpts, suites, etc.), and transcriptions (unless historically significant).
Popular music/jazz: recordings of works deemed historically important/influential or by performers who had a significant impact on the history of popular music. Particular emphasis on multi-disc collections of different types and styles of popular music or the main body (or complete legacy) of recorded works by significant performers and groups. Development of this collection will follow trends in the ongoing curriculum and histories of popular music. Not collected: new or recent releases(unless curriculum related or reissues of earlier recordings), New Age, muzac, cross-over music, etc. (i.e., mass media music that at the present has limited historical value).
Ethnic and folk music: emphasis on ethnomusicologically based field recordings or professional ensembles preserving folk or classical traditions. Acquisition is selective, depending on region. Particular emphasis is given to sets and ongoing recording projects of various legacies, cultures, etc. Popular ethnic recordings mixing traditions are generally not collected.
Film music: recordings of sound tracks by composers deemed significant in standard studies of film music or music encyclopedias.
Musicals: entire spectrum widely collected to support music theater curriculum and productions of the Theater Arts Department.
Very selectively (an infrequently) purchased to enhance already established collections.
Books and scores are located in the circulating collections. Generally monuments, collected editions, and sets do not circulate. Sound recordings, videos, and multimedia materials are paged on demand at the Listening Desk. More costly facsimile editions (generally $200+) are housed in the cage. The rare book/score collection is located in special collections.
Special collections include music imprints 1501-1650, facsimile editions of manuscripts, 19th-century sheet music, Yiddish sheet music, the music of Victor Young and Reginald DeKoven.
None Specified