Music in Words A Guide to Researching and Writing about Music

by Herbert, Trevor

• ISBN13: 9780195373738
• ISBN10: 0195373731
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-02-16
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Music in Words is a compact guide to researching and writing about music, addressing all the issues that anyone who writes about music--from students to professional musicians and critics--may confront when putting together anything from brief program notes to a lengthy thesis. The book is awriting guide and a reference manual in one: the first part, a "how to" section, offers a clear explanation of the purpose of music research and how it is to be done, including basic introductions to the most necessary tools for musical inquiry (with special emphasis on strategic use of theinternet), and how they can be accessed and used. The second part is a compendium of information on style and sources for quick reference, including a straightforward presentation of the purpose and use of citation and reference systems as they are applied to and in music. As a whole, the volumegives readers a clear picture of how to write about music at different levels and for different purposes in a handy, thoroughly cross-referenced format. This American edition has been thoroughly revised and expanded, and features an extensive section on writing for the Internet and new sections on writing for jazz, popular music, world musics, and ethnography. Additionally, a companion website presents a broad range of writing samples and links tokey resources.

Author Biography

Trevor Herbert is Professor of Music at the Open University of the UK. Before entering academic life he played trombone with London's principal orchestras and period instrument groups. He has published widely in academic books, journals, reference works and more popular media. He has broadcast extensively on BBC radio and television.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

A note about academic writing conventions

Introduction

How to write: some basics for shorter writing tasks

Doing research: a basic method for longer projects

Using libraries and the Internet

Scholarly documentation: citing sources

Using illustrations: notated music, pictures, tables, and other visual representations

Language and numbers

Some musical terms and phrases

Sources and research tools

Citations I: The printed word and its electronic equivalents

Citations II: Musical sources

Citations III: Other sources

Glossary

Index

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