Most music students and researchers are well aware that the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians is an indispensable resource, often the first place to begin any hunt for information on music. So when word began to spread among musicians that an updated New Grove was in progress, the sense of anticipation ran very high. And not only would the new version be in paper, but rumors suggested that it would be available online, too.
Oh happy day! New Grove II has arrived, and it is online!
As we have come to expect with online resources, New Grove II offers a Full Text search option. Additionally, there are features which allow searching of just the biographies or bibliographies, and one can Browse through the subjects of the entire dictionary. The Explore feature offers one click access to topics such as Women Composers, Harpsichordists, or Printers and Publishers.
New Grove II is a thorough revision of the previous edition and reflects changes brought about by the latest music scholarship. Consequently, topics that have emerged in recent years such as Postmodernism, Gender and Sexuality, Women in Music, and Nazism, are now covered. Broader geographic coverage is evident as well. For the first time, there are entries for composers from China with expanded composer coverage for eastern and central Europe, the former Soviet Union, Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa.
In prior editions, the focus of Grove was clearly Western classical music, but the scope of New Grove II has broadened dramatically as the number of entries for non-Western and folk music traditions has risen significantly. There are new articles on traditional music from countries around the globe, and greatly expanded sections on jazz, rock and popular music. Discussions of non-Western, folk and popular musical instruments are more far-reaching than in the previous edition, and the range of information on non-Western performers has been expanded as well.
New Grove II is accessible online through any campus library computer or through WiscWorld software from your home computer. There is a link from MadCat, and you always have the option of going directly to: http://www.grovemusic.com/grovemusic/home/index.html.
Other features of the online version include regular updates of factual materials, commissioning of new articles, and links to related resources.
While this brief article has focused on the electronic version of New Grove, we must also note that the print version has arrived in the Music Library, too - twenty-nine hefty volumes. You will find it located on the Index Table.