Skip to Main Content

MUS 110: Music Appreciation

Keywords & Themes

Here's some keywords to use in your searches. Remember to use terms that will narrow your search!

  • Acappella
  • Accompaniment
  • Acoustics
  • Alto
  • Aria
  • Arrangement
  • Ballad
  • Bar
  • Blue note
  • Blues
  • Cadenza
  • Clef 
  • Ensemble
  • Finale
  • Genre
  • Harmonic
  • Hip Hop
  • Hymn
  • Jazz
  • Key
  • Libretto
  • Liturgical drama
  • Major scale
  • March
  • Melody
  • MIDI or "musical instrument digital interface"
  • Musical theater
  • Neumatic
  • Octave
  • Opus
  • Overture
  • PCM or "Pulse-code modulation"
  • Percussion
  • Period
  • Polka
  • Popular music
  • Punk
  • Ragtime
  • Rang
  • Rap
  • Register 
  • RnB or "Rhythm and Blues"
  • Rhythm
  • Sampling 
  • Scale
  • Tango
  • Tempo
  • Theme
  • Tune
  • Upbeat
  • Vibrato
  • Virtuoso
  • Waltz
  • White noise
  • Woodwinds

Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Sources

What the difference between a primary, secondary, and tertiary source?

  • Primary sources are created as close to the original event or phenomenon as it is possible to be. For example, a photograph or video of an event is a primary source. Data from an experiment is a primary source.
  • Secondary sources are one step removed from that. Secondary sources are based on or about the primary sources. For example, articles and books in which authors interpret data from another research team's experiment or archival footage of an event are usually considered secondary sources.
  • Tertiary sources are one further step removed from that. Tertiary sources summarize or synthesize the research in secondary sources. For example, textbooks and reference books are tertiary sources (Text in this section is from Suny Empire College's guide: Research Skills Tutorial).

Why is this important?

  • For your research assignments, you are asked to find primary, secondary, and tertiary sources. You'll need to be able to recognize the difference between all three. Remember primary sources are about the event. Secondary sources analyze the event and interpret another author's work. Tertiary sources summarize events from other authors after the event has occurred. 

Library Resources

Journals & Magazines

Tutorial & Disability Services

Discovery Video