Education

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Music Theory and History | Music Notation | Copyright | Song Research

Music Theory and History

BasicMusicTheory.com – Scales, chords, intervals, and other music theory topics.
Exploring Theory with Practica Musica – from Ars Nova Software. An online textbook with excellent discussions of music history and theory. Also available as a free iBook for Apple devices.
Jim Fleser, The Chord Wheel – Helpful book for learning the Circle of Fifths. Also available as an iPhone app.
Happy Birthday, Well Tempered Clavier – from JSTOR Daily, November 9, 2022. Has an interesting and concise discussion about tuning systems.
Thomas Forrest Kelly, Capturing Music: The Story of Notation – About early music and how music notation evolved during the Middle Ages. Written for a non-academic, nicely illustrated. Print book has a companion CD; Kindle edition includes audio.
Music Printing History – Cool site about technologies that have been used to get music on the page.
MusicTheory.net – Free online theory course and paid apps for iPhone and iPad (Tenuto and Music Lessons)
Teoria – Tutorials for note reading, intervals, scales, chords, and harmony
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Music Notation

Scoring Notes – Blog and podcast covering music notation software and related technology. Includes news, tips, and tutorials about all the major notation programs. From NYC Music Services, in New York City
Blank staff paper for barbershop – SSAA – free download
Blank staff paper for barbershop – TTBB – free download

Finale

Finale
Finale Blog
Conquering Finale – Excellent and extensive series of video tutorials covering all aspects of Finale
Finale Quick Reference — Windows | Mac
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Dorico

Dorico
Dorico Blog
Dorico YouTube Channel
Dorico Quick Reference Card – Covers both Windows and Mac
Leo Nicholson, Dorico Basics: Notation Tools and Techniques – Excellent introduction to Dorico, also available as an app for iPhone and iPad
Dorico templates – Barbershop SSAA and TTBB, based on guidelines from the BHS. Free download
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Sibelius

Copyright

I’m not an attorney and this is not legal advice. The links below are for educational purposes and focused on US law. Questions about copyright should be addressed to a qualified attorney in your US state or home country.

ASCAP – American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (performing rights organization in the US.)
BMI – Broadcast Music Incorporated (performing rights organization in the US.)
Copyright Books from Nolo Press – Nolo publishes law-related books aimed at the consumer market.
Copyright and Fair Use – From Stanford University
Copyright Term Lengths by Country – from Wikipedia
Copyright Term and Public Domain in the US – From Cornell University
Dear Rich: An Intellectual Property Blog – Answers to questions in all areas of intellectual property (copyright, trademark, patent) written by a practicing attorney.
The Evolution of Copyright in Music – from Northwestern University, Pritzker School of Law. Discusses how technology has affected copyright, from piano rolls to today’s digital streaming.
Evolution of Copyright Law – Online exhibit from the Library of Congress
Performing Rights Organizations Around the World – from Wikipedia
Public Domain Information Project – Helpful guide to public domain in the US
Public Domain Sherpa – Helpful guide to copyright and public domain written by a practicing attorney
The Rights Stuff – Podcast from Scoring Notes. The hosts discuss copyright with a practicing attorney. Has an excellent discussion of Fair Use.
SESAC – Society of European Stage Authors and Composers (performing rights organization; has both American artists and European ones)
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Song Research

If you’re doing research for the Sweet Adelines Song Assessment Tool, these links will help.

American History and Popular Song

African American roots of barbershop – From the Barbershop Harmony Society
American Civil War Museum
Joe Bebco, “Reconsidering Dixieland Jazz” – Syncopated Times, July 2021
Brief history of Tin Pan Alley – From acousticmusic.org
Brief history of Vaudeville – From acousticmusic.org
Cafe Songbook – Songs, songwriters, and performers of the Great American Songbook. Not comprehensive, but a good source for the songs it covers. Includes information on composers and lyricists, origins of songs (i.e. written for a particular show, etc), song background, and links to performances.
Rebecca Hersher, “Why You Probably Shouldn’t Say ‘Eskimo'” – from National Public Radio, April 24, 2016
History of Blackface – Covers the history of Blackface and racist Black stereotypes in minstrel shows, Vaudeville, Broadway, radio, film, and television.
How the term “Dixie” came to define the South – Story from CNN, June 27, 2020
Internet Broadway Database – Excellent resource for Broadway shows and people connected with them, including songwriters.
Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia – Ferris State University
Mason and Dixon Draw a Line – From the History Channel. So many songs about the South mention the Mason-Dixon Line. But where was it and who were Mason and Dixon? This is a good, short summary of the history behind the Mason-Dixon Line.
Musicals 101.com – “Cyber-Encyclopedia of Musical Theater, Film, and Television”
Carla M. Ponti, The Musical Representation of Asian Characters in the Musicals of Richard Rodgers. Ph.D. dissertation in Music from UC San Diego. From ProQuest, published as open access.
Alyssa Taubin, The American Musical in Black and White: How Race Relations in the United States Directory Affected the Development of Musical Theater – from Howlround Theatre Commons
Sabina Thalheim, A Hundred Million Messages: Reflections on Representation in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Flower Drum Song. M.A. thesis, Ohio State University, 2013
“Three Documentaries You Should Watch About the Tulsa Race Massacre” – Story from National Public Radio, May 30, 2021
John W. Work, American Negro Songs and Spirituals – Digital copy from the New York Public Library. Helpful book for researching Negro spirituals.
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Songwriters

Irving Berlin – official site
Cole Wide Web – Cole Porter official site
George and Ira Gershwin – Official site
Great American Songbook Foundation, Hall of Fame Honorees
Songwriters Hall of Fame
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Selected Sheet Music Collections

Sheet Music Consortium – Hosted by the UCLA Library; provides access to sheet music collections at more than 30 libraries all over the world
Library of Congress online sheet music collections
Archive of Popular American Music – UCLA Library
IN Harmony: Sheet Music from Indiana – Created by Indiana University; includes collections from Indiana University Lilly Library, Indiana State Library, Indiana State Museum, and Indiana Historical Society
Lester Levy Sheet Music Collection – Johns Hopkins University Library
Vocal Sheet Music Collection – Digital Commons, University of Maine
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Historic Recordings

African American Band Music and Recordings, 1883-1923 – Library of Congress
Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project – UC Santa Barbara, Davidson Library. Historic recordings from the era of Edison wax cylinders. Many pre-1938 barbershop quartets are in this collection, digitized and freely available.
The Great 78 Project – Community project for the preservation, research, and discovery of 78rpm records. Part of the Internet Archive
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