Links to the Library
Search Our Databases
Search our databases to locate music appreciation articles from journals and magazines.
- Academic Search Complete
A multi-disciplinary database with more than 5,300 full text periodicals, including 4,400 peer-reviewed journals. Go to a "publication search" for the subject of music for targeted results. - Biography Resource Center In-depth biographical information on important musicians and composers in all musical genres throughout music history. Also included are images and links to relevant web sites.
Helpful Guide Books
Reviews of thousands of recordings. Covers all rock styles. Includes profiles of major artists and information on the history of the music.
A thorough, informative guide to the important works throughout the history of classical music.
In-depth look at the history of popular song. Includes a discography and list of web sites.
Reviews of thousands of jazz recordings. Coverage spans the music's history. Includes profiles of major artists.
In-depth profiles of Tejano musicians, from the famous to the less well-known. Includes discographies.
World music : the basics - by Richard Nidel
An overview of World Music on all continents. Includes a discography and glossary.
Find Concerts and Festivals
- Festival Finder Find information on over 2,500 music festivals throughout North America. Covers numerous musical venues, including everything from rock to jazz to classical to children's music to barbershop quartet.
- Pollstar - The Concert Hotwire Look here for worldwide concert tour schedules for all styles of popular music, and the latest music industry news.
- Instant Encore Look here for worldwide listings of classical concerts, radio broadcasts, and podcasts. Also included is the latest news in classical music.
Welcome to...
Music Appreciation
Interested in checking out the music of your favorite artists, or learning more about a style of music, musician, or composer, or learning more about music theory or playing a musical instrument? Well, here you can search our catalog, check out our databases, and take a look at some of our favorite online resources.
Favorite Books
A team of 22 leading music critics select 1001 “must hear” classical music recordings. The choices serve as an effective guide for the novice as well as the seasoned listener. Includes 800 photographs.
Author Michael Lydon, first editor of Rolling Stone, was privileged to witness many of the great rock music events of the ‘60’s and ‘70’s, and this is a compilation of his eye-witness accounts of those events. Coverage includes the Beatles’ arrival in America in 1964, Aretha Franklin’s 1971 Fillmore West concert, and a 1974 Bob Dylan tour. There are also profiles of musicians such as Pete Townsend, Jimi Hendrix, and Jim Morrison.
The author’s search for the perfect piano takes her on a literal and philosophical journey. She tries out pianos around the country, meets a piano technician in New York who demonstrates the delicate art of creating just the right sound, and in Germany sees pianos being built and learns why each is distinct. In exploring the question of why a piano crafted in a certain way will result in an irresistible sound quality, she in turn explores what draws us to music and how it changes our consciousness.
The remarkable story of a former classical guitar prodigy’s return to music. He recounts his days as a student, his time in Vienna pursuing his dream of a career as a classical guitar soloist, and his heart-breaking abandonment of that dream. At the time he thinks he has given up music forever. But later in life he returns to music for its own sake. He paints a vivid picture of the practice session, and how it is its own reward. Includes a guide to selected classsical recordings.
Sometimes songs entertain us in ways that were not intended. No one writes more hilariously about such songs than Dave Barry. He ranks them by category, such as “love songs women really hate,” and “songs people get wrong.” He cites his own mishearing of the first line of the Beach Boys’ “Help Me Rhonda": “Well since she put me down/There’s been owls pukin’ in my bed.” Barry’s prize for Worst Song goes to “MacArthur Park,” with its infamous “someone left a cake out in the rain” lyrics.
CDs, DVDs, and Scores
The library has CDs and MP3s for many musical genres, including classical, country, folk, jazz, latin jazz, tejano, conjunto, blues, rap, popular, world, musicals, and movie soundtracks. DVDs include music concerts and music documentaries. Sheet music includes popular songbooks as well as classical scores. The Central Library reference department has an extensive music score collection that includes multiple music genres.
Below are featured a few examples from the library's many CD, MP3, DVD, and music score holdings.
Playing for change - directed by Mark Johnson and Jonathan Walls
This DVD is a documentary featuring street musicians in Los Angeles, New Orleans, and New York. A diverse range of musical styles are captured, and the film takes an in-depth look at the musicians' lives. Won the Best Documentary Award at the American Independent Film Festival.
This songbook covers the span of the 20th century. Features a wide range of popular songs, from tried and true classics such as Stardust and Stormy Weather, to more recent hits such as Beauty and the Beast and Somewhere Out There. Arrangements for voice and piano, includes chord symbols and guitar chord diagrams.
This songbook features over seventy great jazz standards, including such songs as All the Things You Are, God Bless the Child, When Sunny Gets Blue, and much more. Arrangements for voice and piano, includes chord symbols and guitar chord diagrams.
Tex-Mex : music of the Texas Mexican borderlands - directed by Jeremy Marre
This documentary DVD explores the many different styles of Tex-Mex music, such as corrida and norteno. The film also depicts how the music’s lyrics serve as social commentary. Featured performers include Flaco Jimenez, Lydia Mendoza, and Frank Rodarte.
Setting standards: New York sessions - Keith Jarrett trio
25th year anniversary edition of this great jazz trio's first session. A three cd set that features classic standards such as I Fall in Love Too Easily and Never Let Me Go, as well as compositions by Jarrett. The trio is comprised of Keith Jarrett on piano, Gary Peacock on bass, and Jack DeJohnette on drums.
The A to Z of classical music - Various soloists, conductors and orchestras
This downloadable covers a thousand years of classical music, from Gregorian Chants to works by contemporary composers such as Philip Glass. Includes such classics as Debussy's Clair de Lune, Schubert's Ave Maria, and the adagio from Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata.
General Interest Web Sites
- All Music Guide Allmusic content is created by a network of over 900 music writers, editors and critics who review albums and songs and write artist biographies.
- Billboard Web site of the weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry. Here you will find several music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis.
Musical Genre Web Sites
- Classical Net Includes overviews of major works in classical music, composer biographies, and classical CD reviews. Coverage includes music from medieval times to the present.
- Smithsonian Jazz Includes online jazz classes, links to jazz organizations, listings for National Public Radio jazz programs, and the tour schedules for the Smithsonian’s traveling jazz exhibitions.
- Rock music - Britannica Online Encyclopedia A history of rock music from its beginnings in the 1950's to the present. Includes links to sites with the latest rock music news.
- World Music Central Includes a world music event calendar, CD and concert reviews, artist biographies, and current news in world music.
- Hispanic Music & Dance Directory of web resources for multiple genres of Hispanic music, including tejano, conjunto, Latin jazz, and mariachi.
- Musical Theatre Resources A directory of internet resources for multiple aspects of musical theatre, including performing companies, publishers, calendars of upcoming productions, and musical theatre organizations.
Subject Guide |
 Andrew Jung Contact Info Central Library 600 Soledad 207-2500 Links: Profile & Guides |
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Learn Music
Interested in learning to play a musical instrument, or about music theory, or music recording? Check out the many books and DVDs SAPL has on these subjects. Here are just a few examples:
Learn all the basics of guitar playing with this book's easy to follow lessons.
Emphasizes a visual approach to learning piano. Covers all the basics, and includes introductions to various musical styles, including rock 'n' roll, ragtime, boogie-woogie, and country.
An easy to follow approach to theory and harmony through the perspective of popular music. Covers all the basics, including scales, triads, chord progressions, and chord inversions.
Includes guidance on finding the right instrument and teacher, and on how best to instill good music practice habits.
The author skillfully breaks down both the basics and intricacies of this ulitmate musician's recording tool. A useful resource for both beginning and experienced users of Pro Tools.
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