ABSTRACT
EASMES is a freely available web site and valuable bibliographic tool that contains a musical database compiled from over 1,200 printed and manuscript secular sources located in libraries and private collections in Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States that cover the first 250 years of the North American settlement. Over 75,000 searchable entries are sorted by text (titles, first lines, chorus, and burden), by musical incipits (represented in scale degrees, stressed notes, and interval sequences), and by composer, arranger, or compiler of the music. Also included are the names of any theater works, performers, or organizations mentioned in the source. Compiled by Robert M. Keller, Raoul F. Camus, Kate Van Winkle Keller, and Susan Cifaldi, EASMES is a consolidation and expansion of The National Tune Index, a project that was originally published on microfiche by University Music Editions in two parts: 18th-Century Secular Music in 1980 and Early American Wind and Ceremonial Music: 1636–1836 in 1989. This chapter briefly outlines the contents of the database and demonstrates through examples the usefulness of its various indexes to anyone working with early American secular music.
