Subject guides

Supporting learning & educating for life

This page brings together the most relevant Library resources to support your course. For more help you can Ask a Librarian or have a look at our printable subject guides.

Subject guides -

Music Text only version

Accessing resources from home - check out the How to guides available on the eResources page.

Further help - for help on how to use and search the resources, look at the guides and videos on the How To page.

Study skills - for help on Referencing sources, copyright and study skills look at our Study skills page.

Library Discovery - A one-stop search across the Library's collection of print books, ebooks, journal and newspaper articles and more.
Discovery also provides Research Starters, authoritative summary articles designed to assist with your research. They appear at the top of your search results when available for the topic you are searching. Look out for the Lightbulb icon.

The Library has an online catalogue, MetCat, where you can view all available books, Place a hold and Renew your books.

You can borrow up to 6 books for 2 weeks and they can be renewed 3 times. Some campus libraries have reference books and counter reserve books that can only be used in the library.

Books for your course are shelved at

621.3893	Sound production and recording
777.53	Sound for cinematography
780.23	Music careers
780.68	Music business and management
780.9	World music
781	Music theory
781.11	Music psychology
781.4	Music techniques
782.4213	Song writing
781.5 - 781.8	Music genres
786 - 788	Musical instruments
786.7	Electronic/Computer music
792.02	Sound for the stage

Reading lists - the Library has created Reading lists for your course.

Foundation Degree Music and sound for media

eBooks can be accessed online through MetCat, the library catalogue, through Library Discovery, or through individual eBook providers. Depending on cost and/or publisher licensing, eBooks can be accessed by one, three or multiple users at the same time. If you are trying to access an eBook and you get an 'in use' message you will need to try again later. All the eBooks can be read online and some can be downloaded for a limited time to read offline.

The Library has collated the eBooks in the library catalogue into subject areas. The lists most relevant for your course can be found below.

Music
Music theory & composition
Sound recording & editing

Journals provide access to up to date research, case studies and new information on a subject. They can be published daily (ie newspapers), weekly, monthly, quarterly or even yearly. As journal articles and journals can be produced quicker than the time taken to publish a book, they are more up-to-date than books. Journals allow you to follow the current issues and trends in your subject area.

Journals are comprised of

Volumes - Each publication year will have a volume number
Issues - How many will depend on the frequency of publication
Articles - Each issue will have a number of individual articles

A typical journal reference will look something like this

Wilson, T.E. (2017) ‘Repairing what’s left in social work, or, When knowledge no longer cuts’, The British Journal of Social Work, 47(5), pp. 1310-1325.

The author is T.E. Wilson
The article title is Repairing what’s left in social work, or, When knowledge no longer cuts
The journal title is The British Journal of Social Work
The publication year is 2017, the volume number is 47, the issue number is 5 and the article starts on page 1310

Direct access to some of the most relevant journals for your subject are given below. Alternatively you can search within Library Discovery.

Your campus library may also subscribe to some relevant print journals - ask a member of staff for more information. Print journals cannot be borrowed but can be photocopied within current copyright regulations.

British Journal of Music Therapy
Early Music
Guerrilla Guide to Recording & Music Production (Back issues only)
Journal of General Music Education
Journal of Music Therapy
Music Analysis
Music Educators Journal
Music Quarterly
Music & Science
Music Theory Spectrum
Opera Quarterly
Psychology of Music

A database is a collection of materials which can consist of journal articles, eBooks, newspaper articles, conference proceedings, government publications, technical information and more. The Library subscribes to a number of online databases which you can search for information by keyword, subject, author, title, etc.

For help on searching have a look at Getting started with subject databases from The University of Manchester (Be aware that you may not have access to all the databases mentioned).