The Library of Congress > Teachers > Additional Resources > Resources from Outside the Library > Humanities

Music

  • Aaron Copland and the American Sound — The San Francisco Symphony provides this site exploring how Aaron Copland’s music helped to define a uniquely American sound.
    http://www.keepingscore.org/flash/copland/index.html
  • African Music on the Internet — Nice set of links from Stanford University.
    http://www-sul.stanford.edu/depts/ssrg/africa/music.html
  • American Roots Music — This site from PBS presents oral histories, background on folk music and the musicians and instruments that create it, and lesson plans.
    http://www.pbs.org/americanrootsmusic/
  • America's Irreplaceable Dance Treasures — Brief biographies of 100 American dancers from the Dance Heritage Coalition.
    http://www.danceheritage.org/publications/dance_treasures.html
  • Arts Education Curriculum Guides — The Saskatchewan Department of Education provides grade-level specific curriculum guides that include units of instruction on dance and music.
    http://www.sasked.gov.sk.ca/docs/artsed/
  • Atomic Platters — This site presents background on and lyrics of popular songs of the early Cold War era, songs that were influenced by the news of the day.
    http://www.atomicplatters.com/
  • Ballet Dictionary — Definitions of terms from the American Ballet Theatre.
    http://www.abt.org/education/dictionary/index.html
  • Blues Foundation — Background on the blues, plus resources for teachers, from the Blues Foundation, an organization dedicated to preserving this American musical form.
    http://www.blues.org/
  • Boston Symphony Orchestra: Education — The Boston Symphony Orchestra provides rich print and audio resources for learning about classical music.
    http://www.bso.org/bso/mods/toc.jsp;jsessionid=
    V23G1FQVJT3CUCTFQMGCFEQ?id=bcat5220010
  • Broadway: The American Musical — Lesson plans and background information on Broadway musicals and their relationship to events in history.
    http://www.pbs.org/wnet/broadway/
  • Carnegie Hall Listening Adventures — Interactive explorations provide a tour of Carnegie Hall, an introduction to the orchestra (with Benjamin Britten’s help), and an in-depth look at Dvorak’s “New World Symphony.”
    http://www.carnegiehall.org/article/explore_and_learn/
    art_online_resources_listening_adventures.html
  • Classics for Kids — A weekly radio program on classical music, games, lessons, a musical dictionary, and more; from radio station WGUC.
    http://www.classicsforkids.com/
  • Consider Classical Music — The Kennedy Center provides lesson plans on composers, performers, instruments, and such themes as “stormy weather.”
    http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/content/3061/
  • Country Music Hall of Fame — Among the resources on this site are a history of country music, an overview of instruments used, and biographies of inductees to the hall.
    http://www.countrymusichalloffame.com/site/
  • Dance Topics — The Librarians’ Internet Index presents links on ballet, ballroom dancing, folk dancing, Indian dance, modern dance, swing dance, and tap dancing.
    http://lii.org/pub/topic/dance
  • Digital Scores Collection — The Loeb Music Library at Harvard provides scanned images of rare classical music scores.
    http://hcl.harvard.edu/libraries/loebmusic/collections/digital.html
  • Down Beat's Jazz 101 — An introduction to the musical form and its many variations from the popular jazz journal.
    http://www.downbeat.com/default.asp?sect=education&subsect=jazz
  • Drummerworld — A comprehensive site on drumming from Swiss drummer Bernhard Castiglioni.
    http://www.drummerworld.com/index2.html
  • Ethnomusicology, Folk Music, and World Music — Extensive and well-organized set of links on the folk music of every world region. Maintained by the University of Washington Music Library.
    http://www.lib.washington.edu/music/world.html
  • Going Down the Crooked Road — A six-part series by Ralph Berrier, Jr., of the Roanoke (VA) Times, about his experiences traveling the Virginia Heritage Music Trail, learning about local bluegrass music.
    http://www.roanoke.com/multimedia/crooked/franklin.html
  • Great Performances — PBS provides educational support materials to accompany many of the programs in the Great Performances series, plus a “Degas and the Dance” timeline and an introduction to “Opera Basics.”
    http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/index.html
  • Institute of Sacred Music — This Yale University center presents audio clips and in-depth articles on sacred music.
    http://www.yale.edu/ism/
  • Interactive Gateway: Dance — Arizona State University presents a timeline of 1960s history, along with interviews with key figures in dance in that era; an eight-lesson unit on dance in the 1960s is also provided.
    http://artswork.asu.edu/ig2/
  • Invention of the Electric Guitar — The Smithsonian presents an exhibition on the invention and development of the core instrument of rock music—the electric guitar.
    http://invention.smithsonian.org/centerpieces/electricguitar/index.htm
  • Jazz Appreciation Series — WGBH presents a data base of lectures on jazz.
    http://forum.wgbh.org/wgbh/forum.php?lecture_id=107
  • Jazz for Young People — An online curriculum that introduces jazz, its history, and the musicians who have shaped it. From Jazz at Lincoln Center.
    http://www.jalc.org/jazzED/j4yp_curr/launcher.html
  • Jazz in Time — The Kennedy Center provides this annotated timeline of the history of jazz.
    http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/jazzintime/timeline.html
  • Latin American Music Center Online Resources — Substantial list of links from Indiana University.
    http://www.music.indiana.edu/som/lamc/links/
  • Mississippi State University Libraries: The Sheet Music Collection — This site features approximately 6,000 pieces of sheet music from a wide variety of genres.
    http://library.msstate.edu/content/templates/?a=1496&z=392
  • Music History 102 — The Internet Public Library provides this overview well-described by its subtitle: “A Guide to Western Composers and Their Music.”
    http://www.ipl.org/div/mushist/
  • Music in Latin America — The Latin American Network Information Center at the University of Texas provides this list of links.
    http://lanic.utexas.edu/la/region/music/
  • Musictheory.net — Numerous lessons and trainers related to music theory, from computer scientist Ricci Adams.
    http://www.musictheory.net/index.html
  • National Association for Music Education — Information about standards, resources for music education, special projects, and research on the effects of music education.
    http://www.menc.org/
  • National Geographic World Music — Users can read about musicians around the world, hear samples of world music, and subscribe to a newsletter at this informative site.
    http://worldmusic.nationalgeographic.com/worldmusic/view/page.basic/home
  • One More Once — Subtitled “A Centennial Celebration of the Life and Music of Count Basie,” this informative site is provided by Rutgers University.
    http://newarkwww.rutgers.edu/ijs/cb/
  • Opera Is a Class Act — Education World presents this article about how teachers incorporate opera into their instruction about language and culture, as well as music.
    http://www.education-world.com/a_curr/curr380.shtml
  • A Passion for Jazz — A timeline, history, and glossary of jazz, along with information on jazz festivals.
    http://www.apassion4jazz.net/index.html
  • Pennsylvania Ballet: Outreach and Education — Interviews with artists, information about creating a ballet, and worksheets for students are provided.
    http://www.paballet.org/outreach/kids.aspx
  • Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum — Exhibitions on the history of rock and roll, plus lesson plans and other resources for teachers.
    http://www.rockhall.com/
  • The Science of Music — Engaging interactive exhibits help young people explore how music is created and perceived. From the Exploratorium in San Francisco.
    http://www.exploratorium.edu/music/
  • Smithsonian Jazz — A web site with oral histories from notable jazz musicians, a “This Day in Jazz History” feature, and an exhibit on the music of Duke Ellington.
    http://www.smithsonianjazz.org/start.asp
  • Sound Junction — An excellent site introducing music of a variety of genres and presenting tools for creating music yourself. From the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music.
    http://www.soundjunction.org/default.aspa
  • South African Music — This site provides artist biographies, tour information for South African artists, and articles about South African music.
    http://www.music.org.za/
  • Strange Fruit: Protest Music — A companion to a film on the Billie Holiday song “Strange Fruit,” this site provides a history of protest music.
    http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/strangefruit/protest.html
  • Sweet Chariot: The Story of the Spirituals — Comprehensive historical information and song samples related to the spirituals sung by African American slaves and their role in the 20th century as protest songs. From the University of Denver.
    http://ctl.du.edu/spirituals/
  • World of Opera — National Public Radio provides performances of operas, each accompanied by an introductory article and interviews with professionals involved in staging the opera.
    http://www.npr.org/templates/rundowns/rundown.php?prgId=36&agg+1

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