"One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain"

It's really quite hard to find a good definition for music. Each one usually leaves out something you're deeply passionate about: Whether it's the power of the lyrics, the sensation of the melody, the creativity in the composition. Words are never quite enough.

Here are some resources and freebies available for you to further explore Music at Shake library.

We have CDs at the library. Yep, when searching VU WebCat for a book for your next paper why not try searching to see if we have your favorite band? It just might make your studying easier!

Want Alt Rock? We have: Plastic Beach by Gorillaz [CDM 1304]
Want Country Gospel? We Have: Downtown Church by Patty Griffin. [CDM 1315]
Want Rap? We have: The Stimulus Package by Freeway & Jake One. [CDM 1314]
Want Underground Dance? We have: Heligoland by Massive Attack.  [CDM 1313]
Want Garage Rock? We have: Pictures by The Len Price 3. [CDM 1340]
Want Psychadelic Rock? We have: Valleys of Neptune by Jimi Hendrix. [CDM 1348]
Want Soul? We have: The Sea by Corinne Bailey Rae. [CDM 1370]
and over 1000 more...

When you find a CD you want to checkout, just come up to the Lending Services Desk and give them the call number (it'll start with CDM).

We also have books to help your learn a new instrument. You can always learn how to play a song you like from YouTube videos, but if you want to teach yourself from scratch or just get a bit better why not see if we have a title for you? Something like:

Guitar all-in-one for dummies by Jon Chappell (published in 2009). Available through the library as an ebook! or how about...

Picture yourself drumming: step-by-step instruction for drum kit setup, reading music, learning from the pros, and more by Jon Peckman. (Published in 2007). Also available as an ebook from the library.

Can't get your hands on an instrument that big? well how about...Harmonica playing made easy : a complete step-by-step instruction book for the beginner by the editors of Consumer Guide [Call number: 788.82 H288h 1994]

Learning an instrument or playing one has been shown to increase your intellectual capacity. Many studies have shown that students who play music have generally higher test and IQ scores than students who aren’t musical. Other studies have proven that practicing musicians of any age are more alert, which can lead to better memory retention. Want to learn more about Music and the Brain? Check out our "Find Articles" webpage and use PubMed to search for articles like this one: Brain tuned to music. PubMed is a free digital archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature. It's developed and managed by the National Library of Medicine.

We also provide you with access to Grove Music Online which includes the full text of the 29-volume print edition of the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, the 4-volume New Grove Dictionary of Opera and the 3-volume New Grove Dictionary of Jazz plus specially-commissioned articles only available online. You can access this resource by going to our "Find Articles" webpage and clicking Oxford Music Online.

Want to listen to music for free? Maybe you've already heard of these two, but just in case you haven't:

Grooveshark is an internationally available online music search engine, music streaming service and music recommendation web software application, allowing users to search for, stream, and upload music free of charge that can be played immediately or added to a playlist [Source]

Pandora is an automated music recommendation and Internet radio service created by the Music Genome Project. Users enter a song or artist that they enjoy, and the service responds by playing selections that are musically similar. [Source]

We hope you explore these resource and continue your appreciation of music! Have a suggestion? Leave us a comment.

“Where words fail, music speaks.” - Hans Christian Anderson

PS: The title of the blog post comes from a Bob Marley Song