Song Research

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

American History and Popular Song

• John W. Work, American Negro Songs and Spirituals – Digital copy from the New York Public Library. Helpful book for researching Negro spirituals.
• How the term “Dixie” came to define the South – Story from CNN, June 27, 2020
• Joe Bebco, “Reconsidering Dixieland Jazz” – Syncopated Times, July 2021
• Ben Zimmer, “What Dixie Really Means“. Atlantic, June 2020
• 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.
• Brief history of Tin Pan Alley – From acousticmusic.org
• Brief history of Vaudeville – From acousticmusic.org
• Internet Broadway Database – Excellent resource for Broadway shows and people connected with them, including songwriters.
• 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
• History of Blackface – Covers the history of Blackface and racist Black stereotypes in minstrel shows, Vaudeville, Broadway, radio, film, and television.
• African American roots of barbershop – From the Barbershop Harmony Society
• Musicals 101.com – “Cyber-Encyclopedia of Musical Theater, Film, and Television”
• 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.
• “Three Documentaries You Should Watch About the Tulsa Race Massacre” – Story from National Public Radio, May 30, 2021
• Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia – Ferris State University
• American Civil War Museum
• Rebecca Hersher, “Why You Probably Shouldn’t Say ‘Eskimo'” – from National Public Radio, April 24, 2016
• 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.
• Sabina Thalheim, A Hundred Million Messages: Reflections on Representation in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Flower Drum Song. M.A. thesis, Ohio State University, 2013

Songwriters

• Irving Berlin – official site
• George and Ira Gershwin – Official site
• Cole Wide Web – Cole Porter official site
• Songwriters Hall of Fame – Short biographies of many well-known songwriters

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
  • Early American Sheet Music
  • Music for the Nation: American Sheet Music, ca. 1820 to 1860
  • Civil War Sheet Music
  • Music for the Nation: American Sheet Music, ca. 1870 to 1885
  • World War I Sheet Music
  • Library of Congress Celebrates the Songs of America
• 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
• Archive of Popular American Music – UCLA Library
• Vocal Sheet Music Collection – Digital Commons, University of Maine

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

---

Copyright

Note: I’m not an attorney and I cannot provide legal advice. The links below are for educational purposes and are 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
• BMI – Broadcast Music Incorporated
• SESAC – Society of European Stage Authors and Composers (organization has both American artists and European ones)
• Copyright Term and Public Domain in the US – From Cornell University
• Copyright and Fair Use – From Stanford University
• 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
• Dear Rich: An Intellectual Property Blog – Answers to questions in all areas of intellectual property (copyright, trademark, patent) written by a practicing attorney, Richard Stim
• Copyright Books from Nolo Press – Nolo publishes law-related books aimed at the consumer market.

---

---