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Film Studies Research Guide: Music & Sound in Movies

A guide to conducting research in Film Studies at Yale University, including key resources and crucial search strategies.

Finding Materials on Music & Sound in Movies

The Music Library has most of the books on movie music at Yale.

Here are some examples of subject headings to search in Orbis.

Selected Reference Materials for Music & Sound in Movies

The American musical film song encyclopedia by Thomas S. Hischak
Publication Date: 1999
The complete index to British sound film since 1928 by Alan Goble
Publication Date: c1999
Encyclopedia of motion picture sound by Marty McGee
Publication Date: c2001
Film composers in America: a filmography, 1911-1970 by Clifford McCarty
Publication Date: 2000
Film music collections in the United States: a guide by H. Stephen Wright, Stephen M. Fry
Publication Date: 1996

Film Score Monthly
Film Score Monthly is a magazine about motion picture and television music. It focuses primarily on background music rather than scores. The website provides a supplement to their hardcopy magazine.
Film Score Rundowns
Cue-by-cue musical analysis of classic film and television scores.

Keeping score: film and television music, 1988-1997 by Alvin H. Marill
Publication Date: 1998

Music in the Public Domain
A reference site to help the people identify music and songs in the public domain.

A research guide to film and television music in the United States by Jeannie Gayle Pool, H. Stephen Wright
Publication Date: 2011

SoundtrackNet
SoundtrackNet aims to centralize Internet resources relating to the genre of film and television music.

Soundtracks: an international dictionary of composers for film by Stewart R. Craggs
Publication Date: c1998
Warner Bros. sound effects library [2 CD-ROMs]
Publication Date: c1992

Director, Yale Film Archive

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Subjects: Film Studies