Resources by Division
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An Index to African-American Spirituals for the Solo Voice
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Call Number: Con Ref ML128.S4 A27 1999ISBN: 0313305773Publication Date: 1999The spirituals are neatly organized in four indexes: a title index, first line index, alternate title index and a topical index that includes twenty major categories. A bibliography of indexed sources serves as a guide for further research.
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Kassia Database: The Women's Art Song DatabaseThe Kassia Database is a resource geared toward aiding singers, instructors of voice, pianists, researchers, and music lovers to discover and celebrate art song by women composers. The database includes songs from the Baroque period through the 21st century, and have been categorized by level, voice type, language, composer, and composer dates
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Musical Settings of Black Poetry (PDF)Recently Published Musical Settings of Black Poetry is great if you want to learn more about Black poets and Black composers. This list is organized by poet in bold text, then composers and the title of their piece. There is additional information like instrumentation and a link to the OBIS record or publication website. Note, that while all poets in this index are Black, not all composers are.
Adapted from “Music Received” in Notes: Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association, Vol. 79, No. 3, Compiled by Gwen Gemmell and Kathleen A. Abromeit
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Spirituals: A Multidisciplinary Bibliography for Research and Performance
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Call Number: Con Ref ML128.S4 A272 2015ISBN: 0895797992Publication Date: 2015-01-01This annotated bibliography documents articles, books, and dissertations published since 1920. Of those, 150 are books; 80 are chapters within books; 615 are journal articles, and 150 are dissertations, along with a selection of highly significant items published before 1920. The most recent publications included date from early 2014. Disciplines researched include music, literature and poetry, American history, religion, and African American Studies.
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Beyond Elijah Rock: The Non-Idiomatic Choral Music of Black ComposersList of the non-idiomatic choral music of black composers. This refers to the original concert music that is not part of the traditional idiomatic canon associated with black musicians. That canon includes spirituals, gospel, jazz, hip-hop, and rap among others. There will be pieces that may be based on spirituals or gospel tunes but are, at their core, original songs.
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A Catalog of Music Written in Honor of Martin Luther King, Jr
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Call Number: Con Ref ML128.B45 C38 2012ISBN: 9780810881983Publication Date: 2011This third edition contains a considerable number of revisions, updates, and new work and includes entirely new sections devoted to jazz and blues songs, sample programs of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day concerts, and a discography, along with appendixes of works listed by orchestration, subject, and a list of publishers and sources. -
Choral Arrangements of the African-American Spirituals
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Call Number: Con Ref ML128.V7 T75 1998ISBN: 0313302111Publication Date: 1998This book traces the history and cultural roots of the genre from today through its inception. Ensembles that have perpetuated the growth of the spiritual arrangements - from Fisk Jubilee Singers of the 1870s through those currently active - are chronicled also. Arrangements indexed by title, arranger, and subject complement the accompanying biographies and repertoire information. -
Choral Music by African-American Composers
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Call Number: Con Ref ML128.C48 W5 1996ISBN: 081083037XPublication Date: 1996Lists and describes approximately 1,600 published and unpublished choral works by more than 100 African-American composers and arrangers, 600 more works than the first edition.
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Keyboard Music of Black Composers
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Call Number: Con Ref ML128.B45H68 1992ISBN: 031327939XPublication Date: 1992Horne presents work for the piano and related instruments (such as accordion, harpsichord, and organ). Composers from Africa as well as the Diaspora are covered in this volume. Organized in alphabetical order by composer, each of the more than 200 entries provides information, where available, on the composer's life and career, and then details all works that include piano as well as information about commission, premiere, and composer bibliography and discography.
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Organ Music by African American Composers (PDF)Organ Music by African American Composers is a great list for any organist. This spreadsheet shares the name of the composer (alphabetized by last name), the title of the work, and links to either the OBIS record or publisher.
Adapted from “Music Received” in Notes: Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association, Vol. 80, No. 3, Compiled by Kathleen A. Abromeit
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Piano Music by Black Women Composers
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Call Number: Con Ref ML128.P3 W3 1992ISBN: 0313281416Publication Date: 1992The depth of detail in this comprehensive catalog of music composed by African American women required limiting the scope to solo and ensemble piano music, but an introductory overview on the contributions of black women in music and biographical sketches on the 54 composers profiled in the catalog contain broader information. Over 300 piano works are listed, with detailed descriptive information on close to 200 works that Walker-Hill was able to obtain and study. Appendixes list available published music, ensemble instrumentation, music for teaching, and music published before 1920.
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Black Conductors
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Call Number: Con Ref ML402 .H36 1995ISBN: 0810829304Publication Date: 1995The first collective biography of Black American conductors of instrumental ensembles from the early 19th century to the present.
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Brass Music of Black Composers
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Call Number: Con Ref ML128.W5 H62 1996ISBN: 0313298262Publication Date: 1996The main body of the book is divided into sections devoted to African, African American, Afro-European, and Afro-Latino composers. Within each section composers are arranged alphabetically; each entry provides biographical information as well as commission, duration, instrumentation, date of publication, premiere, publisher, discography for each composition. Backmatter includes a Brass Music Index which groups the music by numbers, medium, and ensembles; a title index; discography; and bibliography. -
Woodwind Music of Black Composers
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Call Number: Con Ref ML128.W5H65 1990ISBN: 0313272654Publication Date: 1990This book contains the most current and complete biographical data on 90 African composers, Afro-American composers, Afro-Latin composers, and Afro-European composers, including their education and professional experience and information on their continuing musical influence. A distinctive feature is the music index of both published and unpublished works for solo and chamber ensembles that groups the music by medium that contain some 430 works.
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String Music of Black Composers
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Call Number: Con Ref ML128.B45H7 1991ISBN: 0313279381Publication Date: 1991Organized in alphabetical order by composer, each entry provides information, where available, on the composer's life and career, and then details all works that include strings as well as information about commission, premiere, and composer bibliography and discography. The volume includes a string index, as well as a general discography and bibliography.
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String Quartets by Black Composers (PDF)String Quartets by Black Composers is a great resource for a string quartet. Composers are organized by last name and include the title of their composition. There are links to OBIS records or to the publisher.
Adapted from “Music Received” in Notes: Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association, Vol. 79, No. 1, Compiled by Kathleen A. Abromeit
Digital Resources
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African American Art Song AllianceFounded in 1997, this is the home of interchange between performers and scholars interested in art song by African-American composers.
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Afrocentric Voices in "Classical" MusicAfrocentric Voices focuses on classically trained American singers and composers of African descent and on the vocal music forms they influenced, especially opera and art songs–including Negro spirituals composed for concert performance.
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Archives of African American Music and CultureArchives of African American Music and Culture (AAAMC) is a repository of materials covering a range of African American musical idioms and cultural expressions from the post-World War II era. Our collections highlight popular, religious, and classical music, with genres ranging from blues and gospel to R&B and contemporary hip hop. The AAAMC also houses extensive materials related to the documentation of Black radio.
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Schomburg Center for Research in Black CultureThe Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem is one of the world’s leading cultural institutions devoted to the research, preservation, and exhibition of materials focused on African American, African Diaspora, and African experiences. As a research division of The New York Public Library, the Schomburg Center features diverse programming and collections spanning over 11 million items that illuminate the richness of global Black history, arts, and culture.
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Coalition for African Americans in the Performing ArtsCAAPA's Mission is to help "Bring Color to the Classics!" The vision is to help promote opportunities for Black classical musicians and others in the performing arts through arts performances, education, and outreach.
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National Association of Negro Musicians Inc.Features music composed and/or performed by African-American/Black/Colored/Negro Musicians.
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Edwin A. Fleisher Collection of Orchestral Music: Works by Composers of African Descent (PDF)Large lending library of orchestral performance material. It contains over 22,000 titles and continues to grow. It is known for its many rare and out-of-print works. It is a unique source of 19th- and 20th-century American music, and has a longstanding commitment to promoting new, noteworthy, and overlooked works.
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Expanding the American Canon: A Conductor's Compendium of Black American Orchestral Composers (PDF)This document is part of the dissertation requirement for the Doctor of Musical
Arts degree in Conducting. The compendium’s formatting is modeled after the entry format in David Daniels’ Orchestral Music: A Handbook. -
Orchestra Season AnalysisFor many reasons—popularity, accessibility, and resources among others—professional orchestras get a lot of attention when it comes to diversity in programming. This page contains data analysis of American orchestras in regard to programming works by composers from underrepresented groups.
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Diverse Music Theory ExamplesThe mission of the project to provide resources to teaching faculty and other curious people to produce a more inclusive curriculum by including works of composers who have worked within the common practice who are not normally encountered in music theory courses. These composers include: women composers, LGBTQ composers, composers of color, and non-Western European composers.
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Expanding the Music Theory CanonThe site contains more than 400 examples by women and/or people of color active primarily between c.1600 and 1925, arranged by theory topic. Additionally, there is a composer biography and (when possible) recording of each excerpt.
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Music Theory Examples by BIPOC composersThis repository of examples by composers of color for use in the theory and aural skills curriculum. The music is categorized by unit, topic, and subtopic. The repository is crowdsourced by music theorists.
Useful Subject Headings
Subject headings are labels used by librarians to consistently index or organize their collections. Here are some possible subject headings to search for Africana music resources on Search.Libraries.