Covers journal literature in Art, Architecture, Design, History, Philosophy, Music, Literature, Theatre and Cultural Studies. It is designed to complement the following indexes: ABM, Avery, BHA, BHI, DAAI, Index Islamicus, MLA, Philosopher's Index and RILM.
This resource is provided by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC) in partnership with the Massachusetts Library System (MLS). The purchase is supported by funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Google search for scholarly literature, including peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, preprints, abstracts and technical reports on all topic areas. Use to find articles from academic publishers, professional societies, prepublication repositories and universities.
The Jazz History Database is an interactive multimedia museum focused on artists deserving of wider recognition and dedicated to the preservation of "at-risk" jazz artifacts. The rare and unique materials on the website have been contributed by individuals, academics, institutions and media from the US and Internationally.
Listen to over 500,000 classical, jazz, and world music selections.
Search full text of The Grove Dictionaries of Music and Musicians, Opera and Jazz. The gateway to Grove Music Online, with access to search The Oxford Dictionary of Music and The Oxford Companion to Music. The authoritative resource for music research with over 52,000 articles written by nearly 9,000 scholars charting the diverse history and cultures of music around the globe
A collection of periodicals supporting pop culture, with articles on popular culture analysis and more. This resource is provided by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC) in partnership with the Massachusetts Library System (MLS). The purchase is supported by funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Access almost 1000 Sage journals spanning the Humanities, Social Sciences, and Science, Technology, and Medicine.
Search and explore the millions of quality, peer-reviewed journal articles published under the Taylor & Francis, Routledge and Dove Medical Press imprints from over 1300 peer-reviewed journals.
Between the tracks: musicians on selected electronic music by 
From jubilee to hip hop: readings in African American music by 
Music As Thought by
Before the nineteenth century, instrumental music was considered inferior to vocal music. Kant described wordless music as "more pleasure than culture," and Rousseau dismissed it for its inability to convey concepts. But by the early 1800s, a dramatic shift was under way. Purely instrumental music was now being hailed as a means to knowledge and embraced precisely because of its independence from the limits of language. What had once been perceived as entertainment was heard increasingly as a vehicle of thought. Listening had become a way of knowing. Music as Thought traces the roots of this fundamental shift in attitudes toward listening in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Focusing on responses to the symphony in the age of Beethoven, Mark Evan Bonds draws on contemporary accounts and a range of sources--philosophical, literary, political, and musical--to reveal how this music was experienced by those who heard it first. Music as Thought is a fascinating reinterpretation of the causes and effects of a revolution in listening.
Musicking by
Acclaimed scholar rethinks the nature and meaning of music. Extending the inquiry of his early groundbreaking books, Christopher Small strikes at the heart of traditional studies of Western music by asserting that music is not a thing, but rather an activity. In this new book, Small outlines a theory of what he terms "musicking," a verb that encompasses all musical activity from composing to performing to listening to a Walkman to singing in the shower. Using Gregory Bateson's philosophy of mind and a Geertzian thick description of a typical concert in a typical symphony hall, Small demonstrates how musicking forms a ritual through which all the participants explore and celebrate the relationships that constitute their social identity. This engaging and deftly written trip through the concert hall will have readers rethinking every aspect of their musical worlds.
Music on the Move by
A dynamic multimedia introduction to the global connections among peoples and their music.
Pop Music History by
This title focuses on the history of pop music and gives detailed information related to its origins and fun facts about superstars spanning from the Beach Boys to Taylor Swift! This hi-lo title is complete with epic and colorful photographs, simple text, glossary, and an index. Aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards. Fly! is an imprint of Abdo Zoom, a division of ABDO.
Principles of Game Audio and Sound Design by
Principles of Game Audio and Sound Design is a comprehensive introduction to the art of sound for games and interactive media using Unity. This accessible guide encompasses both the conceptual challenges of the artform as well as the technical and creative aspects, such as sound design, spatial audio, scripting, implementation and mixing. Beginning with basic techniques, including linear and interactive sound design, before moving on to advanced techniques, such as procedural audio, Principles of Game Audio and Sound Design is supplemented by a host of digital resources, including a library of ready-to-use, adaptable scripts. This thorough introduction provides the reader with the skills and tools to combat the potential challenges of game audio independently. Principles of Game Audio and Sound Design is the perfect primer for beginner- to intermediate-level readers with a basic understanding of audio production and Unity who want to learn how to gain a foothold in the exciting world of game and interactive audio.
The rest is noise: Listening to the twentieth century by
The scandal over modern music has not died--while paintings by Picasso and Pollock sell for millions of dollars, works from Stravinsky's Rite of Spring onward still send ripples of unease through audiences. Yet the influence of modern music can be felt everywhere. Avant-garde sounds populate the soundtracks of Hollywood thrillers. Minimalist music has had a huge effect on rock, pop, and dance music from the Velvet Underground onward. Music critic Alex Ross shines a bright light on this secret world, taking us from Vienna before the First World War to Paris in the twenties, from Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia to New York in the sixties and seventies. We follow the rise of mass culture and mass politics, of new technologies, of hot and cold wars, of experiments, revolutions, and riots. The end result is not so much a history of twentieth-century music as a history of the twentieth century through its music.
The Semantics of Chinese Music by
Music is a widely enjoyed human experience. It is, therefore, natural that we have wanted to describe, document, analyse and, somehow, grasp it in language. This book surveys a representative selection of musical concepts in Chinese language, i.e. words that describe, or refer to, aspects of Chinese music. Important as these musical concepts are in the language, they have been in wide circulation since ancient times without being subjected to any serious semantic analysis. The current study is the first known attempt at analysing these Chinese musical concepts linguistically, adopting the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) approach to formulate semantically and cognitively rigorous explications. Readers will be able to better understand not only these musical concepts but also significant aspects of the Chinese culture which many of these musical concepts represent. This volume contributes to the fields of cognitive linguistics, semantics, music, musicology and Chinese studies, offering readers a fresh account of Chinese ways of thinking, not least Chinese ways of viewing or appreciating music. Ultimately, this study represents trailblazing research on the relationship between language, culture and cognition.
Interlibrary Loan
If there is something you need that the WPI library doesn't have, you can request your item through interlibrary loan. Our Interlibrary Loan (ILL) service allows WPI students and faculty to request items from other libraries free of charge.
Ebooks: Many of Gordon Library's books are available digitally, and you can access these via the links in WPI Library Search. For example:
Print books: Print books in the library are organized by call number. When you find a print book in the WPI Library Search, look for the book's call number:
Call numbers A-N are on the ground floor of the library. Call numbers P-Z are on the 1st floor. (Please note that the main entrance to the library is on the 2nd floor.)
Guide to Library of Congress Call Numbers
You can check books out at the information services desk on the main floor. Your WPI ID is your library card.
