Robinson Music Library provides access to many significant online resources related to the study of music. A comprehensive list of research databases is maintained on the Virtual Library Commons. Online databases and other subscription resources can be accessed remotely by those enrolled in CIM classes or employed by CIM through Single Sign On with CIM credentials. Visitor access is also available on Library computers. 

CIM partners with Kelvin Smith Library at Case Western Reserve University, which maintains an alphabetical list of electronic resources that can be accessed remotely by those enrolled in CWRU classes or employed by CWRU through Single Sign On with CWRU credentials. Visitor access is also available on Library computers near the first-floor information desk. 

Northeast Ohio is also rich with significant public library systems, such as the Cleveland Public Library (CPL), one of the largest public research libraries in the United States. All Ohio residents are currently eligible to get library cards with both the Cleveland Public Library and Cuyahoga County Public Library. Additionally, students living in Ohio for most of the year while attending school in-state, those who own property in Ohio, and those who work in Ohio permanently are eligible for a Cleveland Public Library card. CPL A-Z Research Databases can be accessed for free with a library card barcode and PIN. The newly renovated CPL Martin Luther King Jr. Branch in University Circle is within walking distance of CIM.  

See Library Staff for assistance.

Music Research Databases

IPA Source

IPA Source offers a collection of transcriptions and literal translations of opera aria, art song, and Latin liturgical texts. The resource features recordings of selected texts and a guide to resources for the vocal performer. 

Music Index

Music Index database provides cover-to-cover indexing and abstracts covering every aspect of classical and popular music.

Orchestral Music Online

Orchestral Music Online provides information about the instrumentation of over 15,800 works by more than 2,400 composers, and offers details about composers, names of individual movements, and more. See Library staff for the off-campus access code.

Oxford music online

Oxford Music Online, home of Grove Music Online, is an online music encyclopedia, offering coverage of music, musicians, music-making, and music scholarship. Grove Music Online offers over 52,000 articles written by over 9,000 scholars charting the diverse history, theory and cultures of music around the globe.

RILM Abstracts of Music Literature

RILM is an international bibliography of scholarly writings on music and related disciplines. All scholarly works are indexed (articles, books, bibliographies, catalogues, dissertations, Festschriften, etc.). 

The Diction Police

Diction Police provides singers with a comprehensive set of tools for the study and application of lyric diction. Their philosophy centers on hearing the sounds of foreign languages delivered by native speakers who are also professional singers or coaches with a practical understanding of the intricacies of singing language.

Streaming Music/Video Databases

DRAM (Database of Recorded American Music)

DRAM offers a collection of sound recordings documenting American music. Works can be browsed by work, album or track titles, as well as by artist roles, and date of recording and composition.

Met Opera on Demand

This is an online streaming resource of the Metropolitan Opera, featuring more than 750 full-length Met performances. Features current HD broadcasts as well as historic audio recordings.

music video collection

Music Video Collection is the largest and most comprehensive resource for the study of music. Users experience music through thousands of performances, masterclasses, documentaries, and interviews.

NAXOS Music Library

Naxos Music offers catalogues or selected recordings of over 950 labels, standard and specialist repertoire, over 900 aural training exercises, a Musicology platform for music scholarship, guided tours on classical music eras, audio book transcriptions about the history of classical music and opera with listening examples, libretti and synopses of over 700 operas, a pronunciation guide on composer and artist names as well as musical terms, In-depth analyses of selected works, and more.

Digital Sheet Music

Art Song Transpositions

Explore music for voice and piano (mainly art songs and arias from operas and oratorios), transposed to any key and available for download. If a work is not available on the site or not in the key you desire, you may make up to five new requests per year. On demand publishing of new repertoire is also available during certain times of the year. Learn more.

Henle Library App CAMPUS EDITION

Find digitized scores and parts. The latest cloud-based technology, including easy-to-use annotation tools combined with G. Henle Publisher’s reliable urtext for your tablet computer. Download or share to online storage to create your personal, curated library. The ‘Henle Library’ app runs on iPads, on iPhones (iOS 13 and higher) and on Mac computers that contain the Apple silicon chip (M1-M4). The app also runs on Android tablets and smartphones (Android 5.0 and higher) as well as on Chromebooks. Moreover, you can use the app on Windows 11 computers (using the Windows subsystem for Android and the Amazon App store) and Microsoft Surface tablets (Windows 11). See instructions for users.