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Music Citations: Turabian/Chicago Style: Bibliography Tips

This guide will assist with formatting music citations using the Turabian/Chicago style. For more info, consult Turabian Manual: MUS REFPN203.T8 2007 or consult Chicago Manual online at: http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/16/contents.html

Formatting your Footnotes: Turabian 15.3.1

  • Insert one horizontal line of space between each footnote
  • Footnote 2 is an example of a discursive footnote
  • Footnote 4 is an example of using Ibid. for repeating the previous source
  • Footnote 5 is an example of the shortened form

You must check with your professor to see if Ibid or shortened form are permitted. Some professors have preferences for shortened form citation formatting.

The Em Dash: Turabian 17.7.2

If your bibliography contains two items by the same author, do not repeat the author's name. Instead, replace the name with three em dashes followed by a period.

For example:

B: Smith, Mary. Everybody Loves Em Dashes, Always. New York: Turabian University Press, 2011.

B: ———. No Seriously, We All Love Em Dashes. New York: Turabian University Press, 2012.

More Tips

  • Use headline style: capitalize all words in a title when it's in English--even if the item itself does not capitalize those words.
  • Always use curly quotation marks, rather than straight. Exercise caution when copying/pasting citations from other sources, as sometimes this changes the type of quotation mark used.
  • If you have a title *within* a journal article title, insert apostrophes outside of the nested title, instead of regular quotation marks.
    • Example: Smith, Toby. "Going the Distance: An Analysis of 'Going For Speed' That Will Blow Your Mind." Journal of Mind Blowing (etc)

Creating and Citing Music Examples + Figures

A music example/figure is a quotation, so you must format and cite the example correctly. Turabian terminology uses "figure" instead of "example." You can insert music figure into your paper by photocopying from a score, or using Finale, Sibelius, or other score-writing programs.

Formatting the music figure:

  • Include the clef(s). If the measures you've copied from the score do not include clefs, then add them yourself on each line of the example.
  • Include measure numbers. Remember to use mm. for multiple measures (ms. means "manuscript"). example: mm. 36-39.
  • Give a title to your figure. Typically: Figure Number. Composer First Name Last, Title of work, measure numbers. Footnote subscript.

Figure 7. Johann Sebastian Bach, Adagio from Toccata, Adagio, and Fugue in C Major, BWV 564, mm. 26-31.3

³ Johann Sebastian Bach, Bach-Gesellschaft Ausgabe, vol. 15, Drei Toccaten für Orgel, ed. Wilhelm Rush (Leipzig: Breitkopf und Härtel, 1867): 258.

  • Insert a superscript at the end of your music example title and supply a corresponding footnote.
  • The footnote gives publication information about the score you used for your example.