Summer Music Festival! Introducing to Naxos Music Library

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Naxos Music Library (NML) is the major online classical music library in the world. It aims to offer music resources for users, for examples, CD sound tracks and even text sources. Also, it provides nearly one hundred thousand CDs with over 1.4 million sound tracks. You may download NML mobile apps to listen a wide range of music, including Pop, Jazz and Chinese Orchestra. 【中文說明請見此文章：來一場夏日音樂饗宴–Naxos Music Library介紹】

You may use keyword searching to find a specific album by typing the title of the album, name of the composer(s) or artist(s). From the above homepage of Naxos Music Library (NML), the column on the left provides options for users to browse for music resources.

1. Recent Additions

You may browse recent editions and search more precisely by specifying date range. “New releases” could be browse by label and category. You may click the CD cover for more detailed information.

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2. People

For the “People” section, lists of composers and artists arranged in alphabetical order is presented. You may find the personal profiles of composers by clicking the names in the list of composers, and discographic details from the list of artists. You can also search the album by the surname of composers and artists respectively.

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3. Categories

It offers a list of 18 categories for users to choose, including categories like opera, jazz, choral, world music, etc.

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4. Playlist

Users may listen to their favorite music that are stored on playlist (within university campus). After creating an account, you can use the “Add to Playlist” function by clicking the “+” icon.  You may find the music track in your folder. Click image button to listen the track directly. A “Naxos Music Library Media Player” is shown.

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5. Junior section

This section is designed for children and provides educational content about classical music. It is composed of five subsections: The Story of Classical Music, Music for Children, Audiobooks Transcriptions, Stories, and The Universal Children’s Audio Music(UCA Music).

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6. Resources

It provides introductions and fundamental knowledge about music theories, biography of composers, history of music, etc.

  • Dictionary- directs to the “Naxos Dictionary of Music”
  • Musicology-directs to the website “Naxos Musicology International”, an online platform for music scholarship.
  • Guided Tours-introduces the history, representative composer and features of certain era.
  • Study Guide-sort by country,  be used in the classroom by teachers to supplement their resources, and also independently by students to broaden their musical knowledge.
  • Junior Section- as mentioned above, provides educational content of music for children.
  • Opera- provides booklets and synopses of opere.
  • Pronunciation Guides- exemplifies the pronunciation of composers, artists, and musical terms.
  • Other sections containing exercises or explanatory texts like Aural Training, Work Analysis, Graded Music Exam Playlists, etc.

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7. Searching in NML

(1) Keyword search:

To enter a query, type keywords in a search box and click the “Search” button.

* Searching tips:

    • NML is not provided wildcard or word stemming to search, e.g. *.
    • Use quotation mark “” to find an exact phrase, e.g. “Dancing Queen”.

 

(2) Advanced search:

Using advanced search would be effective for you to limit your search and find the exact music tracks. There is an icon of magnifier on the right side of each field, which provides options according to the alphabetical order if you are wondering what information should be filled into the box.

To illustrate the searching in NML, the following is the sample search:

Find Antonin Dvorak’s works

Step1: Select “Advanced search”

Step2: Type in the “Dvořák, Antonin” in the field of composer . Please remember that surname should be placed before forename.

 

Step3:Click one of the works and piece of recording.

 

For more details about the album other than the brief introduction presented on the page, click the info icon or look up to the booklet of the album.

 

Let’s play around with it and discover your favorite music in NML! Enjoy your summer!

 

Written by YoYo Cheung, Intern from The University of Hong Kong.

特別感謝香港大學資訊管理系實習生張楚瑤同學翻譯及撰寫此篇英文文章

Reviesed by Yu-Hung Kao  (2021/8/24)