LibGuides: Music Research Guide: Voice

The Cambridge Companion to Singing

Diction in Context: Singing in English, Italian, German, and French

The Art of the Song Recital

The Singer's Guide to Complete Health

Acting for Singers

The Singer's Repertoire, Volumes 1-5

Quick Resources for Voice Students

Databases

IPA Source
The web’s largest library of International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) transcriptions & literal translations of aria and art song texts.

I can't copy the text in my PDF. Why is it locked?
The files are indeed protected from copying and pasting and have been since IPA Source went public in the mid 2000’s. We, unlike other companies, allow download of the PDF product and printing. This allows you to create a study document both electronically and in paper form.
Unfortunately, piracy is a big problem. Every month we search and remove illegal copies of our work from the web. Between illegal postings and direct file sharing, our financial loss is not insignificant.
We restrict cutting and pasting – a step fully endorsed by teachers. Future versions of IPA Source will employ additional document security practices.
One last point, all our files use a non-True Type IPA font which would most likely read as gibberish when placed in another document.
See the publisher's FAQs: https://www.ipasource.com/faqs/
Oxford Music Online
Authoritative background information for Music research. Home of Grove Music Online.

Note: Only one UMSL user at a time can access the Oxford Music Online database. Please close out of Oxford Music Online when you are finished using it.
Naxos Music Library
Streaming music. Focuses on classical, but also includes jazz, world, and pop/rock. Please LOG OUT when done - access limited to 5 users at a time.
Resources include:
- Liner notes for many recordings
- Audio book transcriptions about the history of classical music and opera with listening examples
- Libretti and synopses of over 700 operas
- A pronunciation guide for composer and artist names
- A glossary
- An overview of important musical terms
- Work analyses
- Work details with instrumentation, publishers, duration, other information and available recordings
- Classical music podcasts
Please see the Naxos FAQ if you have any questions: https://umsl-nml3-naxosmusiclibrary-com.ezproxy.umsl.edu/faqs

Library Support

Quick Tips for New Students
A PDF handout which reviews the basics of where to search, how to search, and how to get research help from the library.

Beginner Research Tutorials
5 minute & under review videos on basic source types and search strategies.
Chicago Manual of Style Quick Guide
Brief information and sample citations for both author-date and notes & bibliography formats.

Slides from Library Presentation Sep. 10 2025

Databases and Online Resources

Art Song Central
Archive/directory of free, printable, public domain sheet music for singers and voice teachers. IPA transcriptions available for German, French, Italian, and Latin songs.

IMSLP/Petrucci Music Library
Primarily public domain music scores and thousands of recordings, mostly from the Western classical canon.
Art Song Transpositions

Digital sheet music database with 13,000+ art songs and Baroque aria PDFs transposed to any key.

The Opera Database
Background information and downloadable PDFs for opera arias and full scores, Zarzuela arias/operas, and art song.
LOC Performing Arts Resources
Guides and links to performing arts resources from the Library of Congress, including scores & sheet music, audio recordings, digitized primary sources, web presentations, and articles & biographical essays.

Song of America
Background information about American composers/librettists and individual songs, plus song recordings. The site offers additional resources like a radio series, essays, and a timeline of American music.
Song Helix
Art song database searchable by themes, language, composer identity, keywords, and other criteria. Good for building recital sets.
Oxford Song
Database of song texts and translations, video and audio from performances, and concert programs performed at the Oxford International Song Festival. Searchable by event, artist, category, and date.
LOC Performing Arts Resources
Guides and links to performing arts resources from the Library of Congress, including scores & sheet music, audio recordings, digitized primary sources, web presentations, and articles & biographical essays.

Naxos Music Library
Streaming music. Focuses on classical, but also includes jazz, world, and pop/rock. Please LOG OUT when done - access limited to 5 users at a time.
Resources include:
- Liner notes for many recordings
- Audio book transcriptions about the history of classical music and opera with listening examples
- Libretti and synopses of over 700 operas
- A pronunciation guide for composer and artist names
- A glossary
- An overview of important musical terms
- Work analyses
- Work details with instrumentation, publishers, duration, other information and available recordings
- Classical music podcasts
Please see the Naxos FAQ if you have any questions: https://umsl-nml3-naxosmusiclibrary-com.ezproxy.umsl.edu/faqs
IMSLP/Petrucci Music Library
Primarily public domain music scores in addition to thousands of recordings, mostly from the Western classical canon.
Academic Video Online
A multidisciplinary streaming video database. Resources include performances, interviews, documentaries, feature films, news programs and newsreels, and demonstrations.

AVON includes a variety of video material available with curricular relevance: documentaries, interviews, feature films, performances, news programs and newsreels, and demonstrations. It contains thousands of award-winning films, including Academy®, Emmy®, and Peabody® winners as well as frequently used films for classroom instruction, newly released films and previously unavailable archival material oriented toward academic institutions.
Help with AVON Videos (finding, sharing, playing videos, etc.)
https://proquest.libguides.com/academicvideoonline
https://alexanderstreet.com/products/academic-video-online

Song of America
Background information about American composers/librettists and individual songs, plus song recordings and scores for download. The site offers additional resources like a radio series, essays, and a timeline of American music.
LOC Performing Arts Resources
Guides and links to performing arts resources from the Library of Congress, including scores & sheet music, audio recordings, digitized primary sources, web presentations, and articles & biographical essays.

Oxford Music Online
With over 60,000 articles written by over 6,000 music scholars, Grove Music Online (GMO) is an authoritative resource for music research.

Note: Only one UMSL user at a time can access the Oxford Music Online database. Please close out of Oxford Music Online when you are finished using it.
IPA Source

IPA Source benefits singers, teachers, and all those interested in the correct and knowledgeable performance of vocal literature. To further the comprehension and correct pronunciation of foreign language texts, IPA Source provides IPA transcriptions and literal translations for download.

I can't copy the text in my PDF. Why is it locked?
The files are indeed protected from copying and pasting and have been since IPA Source went public in the mid 2000’s. We, unlike other companies, allow download of the PDF product and printing. This allows you to create a study document both electronically and in paper form.
Unfortunately, piracy is a big problem. Every month we search and remove illegal copies of our work from the web. Between illegal postings and direct file sharing, our financial loss is not insignificant.
We restrict cutting and pasting – a step fully endorsed by teachers. Future versions of IPA Source will employ additional document security practices.
One last point, all our files use a non-True Type IPA font which would most likely read as gibberish when placed in another document.
See the publisher's FAQs: https://www.ipasource.com/faqs/
JSTOR
Articles, books, and primary sources in many disciplines including Music. Articles are usually 3-5 years old.

Journal Collections
Arts & Sciences I – XV
Life Sciences
Business IV
Hebrew Journals
Ireland
Public Health
Lives of Literature

Reports & Research
Security Studies
Sustainability

Primary Sources
19th Century British Pamphlets (Bristol Selected Pamphlets, Cowen Tracts, Earl Grey Pamphlets Collection, Foreign and Commonwealth Office Collection, Hume Tracts, Knowsley Pamphlet Collection, LSE Selected Pamphlets, Manchester Selected Pamphlets, Wilson Anti-Slavery Collection)
World Heritage Sites: Africa (Reference)
Struggle for Freedom: Southern Africa (Reference)
Global Plants (Reference)
Music Index
Indexing and abstracts of articles about music, musicians, and the music industry for more than 475 periodicals, as well as book reviews, obituaries, news, and selective coverage for more than 230 periodicals.
Academic Search Complete
Scholarly, multidisciplinary full-text database, with several thousand full-text periodicals, most of which are peer-reviewed journals. In addition to full text, this database offers indexing and abstracts for many more journals, monographs, reports, conference proceedings, etc.

The database features PDF content going back as far as 1887, with the majority of full-text titles in native (searchable) PDF format.

This resource is partially funded by MOREnet, the Missouri Research and Education Network.

Vocal Music from Underrepresented Groups

African American Art Song Alliance
"The home of interchange between performers and scholars interested in art song by African-American composers. Here you will find information and links to assist with your discovery of our contribution to song."
Kassia
"A resource for musicians to aid in the discovery and celebration of art song by women composers."
Institute for Composer Diversity: Art Song Database
"The Institute for Composer Diversity is dedicated to the celebration, education, and advocacy of music created by composers from historically excluded groups through database resources and programming analysis."
African Diasporic Music Project
"Founded as a research tool to help singers find art songs for performance and The George Shirley Vocal Competition." A searchable repository that now includes art songs as well as orchestral scores and more.

Finding Vocal Scores & Literature

Books, Articles, and Print Scores

Visit the following pages for guidance on using the Discover@UMSL search tool to find materials:

Books (both print and online)
Articles
Scores

Browsing the Shelf

Music scores and literature live on Level 4 of TJ Library.

M1495 - 2199: Vocal Music

M1495: Collections
M1497 - 1998: Secular vocal music
- M1497: Collections
- M1500 - 1527.8: Dramatic music
  - M1500: Operas/musicals (full)
  - M1503: Operas/musicals (piano/vocal)
  - M1507: Operas/musicals anthologies/selections
- M1528 - 1529.5: Two or more solo voices
- M1530 - 1609: Choruses
- M1611 - 1624.8: One solo voice
- M1625 - 1626: Recitations with music
- M1627 - 1853: Folk, national and ethnic music
  - M1630/18 Popular music
- M1900 - 1985: Songs of specific groups or on specific topics
- M1990 - 1998: Secular vocal music for children
M1999 - 2199: Sacred vocal music
- M1999: Collections
- M2000 - 2007: Dramatic music
- M2010 - 2017.6: Choral services, etc.
- M2018 - 2019.5: Two or more solo voice
- M2020 - 2101.5: Choruses
- M2102 - 2114.8: One solo voice
- M2115 - 2146: Hymnals. Hymn collections
- M2147 - 2188: Liturgy and ritual
- M2190 - 2196: Sacred vocal music for children
- M2198 - 2199: Popular religious and devotional music
M5000: Unidentified compositions

ML1 - 3930: Literature on music

ML47 - 54.8: Librettos. Texts. Scenarios
ML159 - 3785: History and criticism
- ML1400 - 3275: Vocal music

LOC Class M: Music
Music classification outline in more detail.