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A Guide for Music Citation - Chicago/Turabian Style

This guide supports music students by providing examples and tips for Chicago/Turabian style citation. It covers all types of music sources, including texts, scores, and recordings.

Journals that originally existed in print (most journals)

F:

1. First Name Last Name, "Title of Article Using Capitalized Words," Name of Journal in Italics volume number, issue(s) (see below for using "no." before the number) (Month Year): page(s).

1. Mary Rasmussen, “The Case of Flutes in Holbein’s The Ambassadors,” Early Music 23, no. 1 (February 1995): 115.

2. Colin Matthews, “Tempo Relationships in the Adagio of Mahler’s Tenth Symphony; and Two Wrong Notes,” The Musical Times 151, no. 1910 (Spring 2010): 7.
B:

Last Name, First. "Title of Article Using Capitalized Words." Name of Journal in Italics volume number (do not use "vol."), issue(s) (see below for using "no." before the number) (Month Year): page(s).

Rasmussen, Mary. “The Case of Flutes in Holbein’s The Ambassadors.” Early Music 23, no. 1 (February 1995): 114–23.

Matthews, Colin. “Tempo Relationships in the Adagio of Mahler’s Tenth Symphony; and Two Wrong Notes.” The Musical Times 151, nos. 1910-1911 (Spring 2010): 3–8.

Tips:

  • Most journal articles were originally published in print, so you do NOT need to include the database URL in the citation.
  • Spell out the full month.
  • Enter only the number of the volume--no "vol." necessary
  • The issue is referred to with the abbreviation "no." followed by the number itself. Multiple issues = "nos."
  • If you don't have a volume number, just insert a comma after the title and then give the issue number. ex: Journal of Music, no. 8 (February 2004)...
  • Never insert punctuation before the parentheses ()
  • Don't forget your period at the end of the citation!
  • Remember: the way that JSTOR and other databases render citations will not necessarily reflect the Turabian style!

 

How to cite from RILM from IUCookMusicLibrary on Vimeo.

Online

If your article exists in both print and online, typically one formats the citation in the print article style. However, some professors will want to see an access date, URL, and/or database used. Consider asking your professor if these extra elements should be included in your citations.

F:

1. David Schulenberg, “Some Problems of Text, Attribution, and Performance in Early Italian Baroque Keyboard Music,” Journal of Seventeenth-Century Music 4, no. 1 (1998), accessed June 29, 2016, http://sscm-jscm.org/v4/no1/schulenberg.html.
B:

Schulenberg, David. “Some Problems of Text, Attribution, and Performance in Early Italian Baroque Keyboard Music.” Journal of Seventeenth-Century Music 4, no. 1 (1998). Accessed June 29, 2016. http://sscm-jscm.org/.