Resources for Piano Pedagogy

Welcome!

We have a wealth of resources available for you through the Warren D. Allen Music Library. Our time together will be focused on finding journal articles, dissertations, and resources appropriate for your work in this class. Please explore the physical resources available in the Allen Music Library (books, scores, recordings, journals, etc.) as well as the databases and streaming resources available through our web page.

Note the column just to the left of this box. It's on each page of this guide, and provides links to relevant resources for music graduate students. I update this information as resources change, and as links change. If you find a dead link, please contact me -- and there's a link for that in the box in the right hand column. 

I'm happy to meet with you one-on-one to help you refine your search strategies, and discuss your research. Feel free to make an appointment, or if it's a quick question, ask for me at the library's circulation desk. An appointment is your best bet for having my full attention, though!

Questions? Ask me!

• Keep track of your searches.
• What was searched, what kind of search (e.g., keyword, subject heading, author), what database was searched.
• Making a printout of the first page of the result set is one method.

• Keep track of your result sets as well.
• For example, how many “hits” you got on a specific search in a specific database.

• Date your information.
• Databases are updated frequently and your counts (and information) will be out of date quickly.

• Think creatively. Think of different terms to broaden, narrow or limit a search.
• You may notice words used in citations that may help focus or expand your search.  Don’t forget to use dictionaries and encyclopedias to help you find more terms.

• Be smart!
• When subject headings, thesaurus terms, etc. are used to categorize a citation, use that subject heading to find other articles, books, etc. on the same topic.

Remember these intersecting circles from High School Geometry? They're BACK! It's a Venn Diagram. Think about the words you search as being in a Venn Diagram. That can help you form effective searches in library resources (pssst, and Google too!).

See the capitalized words (AND, OR, AND NOT)? These are called Boolean operators. In resources like the library databases, the library catalog, and Google, you can use those words to narrow or broaden your search.

Here are a few searches you may want to try:

music AND secondary NOT primary

music AND therapy NOT adults

MORE SEARCH TIPS:

• Use the double quotes to search your words as a phrase: "music education" instead of music AND education. (If you don't believe me, try it!)

• Use the * (that's shift-8) to help with endings on your words.  For example:  sing* will bring up items with the words sing, sings, singing, etc.