Christian Music

By Edward Foley.
Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2000.
This book provides over 2,500 entries with concise information on the people, terms, places, and elements of music in the Jewish and Christian traditions. It focuses especially on English-speaking North Americans.

By David Poultney.
Chicago: American Library Association, 1991.
Concise, readable entries about terms, genres, and composers.

By James Robert Davidson.
Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow, 1975.
Brief definitions of terms with suggestions for further reading. Particularly strong for the Anglican and Lutheran traditions.

By Joseph P. Swain.
Lanham, MD: Scarecrow, 2006.
Articles about the music of Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism.

By Anselm Hughes.
Boston: McLaughlin & Reilly, 1972.
A thin book of only 40 pages, it offers paragraph-length descriptions of various liturgical terms encountered by students of music.

By J. Robert Carroll.
Toledo, OH: Gregorian Institute of America, 1964.
Brief definitions of liturgical terms for musicians and of musical terms for liturgists. Now somewhat dated.

Revised and enlarged edition by Carl Schalk.
St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2004.
Essays on over 100 topics including historical periods, types of music, and musical instruments.

Edited by J.R. Watson and Emma Hornby.
Norwich: Canterbury Press, 2013.
Articles about hymn writers and composers, as well as individual hymn titles.