Reference sources help establish basic information, such as the definition of an unfamiliar music term or the dates of a composer's life. These are not generally considered scholarly sources (with the exception of the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians and the Garland Encyclopedia of World Music) and do not necessarily need to be cited or quoted from in research papers or projects.
Comprehensive online resource devoted to music research of all the world's peoples.
Contains text and liner notes that offer the first comprehensive coverage of blues, jazz, spirituals, civil rights songs, slave songs, minstrelsy, rhythm and blues, gospel, and other forms of black American musical expression.
Routledge has published a series of Research and Information Guides for Music, mostly around individual Genres, Instruments, and Composers. These guides provide excellent background information and describes important scholarship and perspectives for new research. Here are some examples: