General Reference
(not necessarily on horn or music, just interesting sources of information on practically everything you can think of and some things you can’t...)
ChaCha - The answers to everything. Try their mobile app too.
Replace Your Vital Documents - Links to replacing important stuff like birth certificates, drivers’ licenses, passports, military service records, Social Security cards, tax returns, etc.
Public Domain Sherpa - How do you know if a creative work (photo, book, music, software, etc.) is in the public domain? This site will save time, save money, and keep you out of trouble. It provides information and links to more information on how to find out if something is in the public domain. Be safe, not sorry, and respect copyright - by using this site.
Just Answer: Legal. Need a definitive legal answer on that public domain question quick and cheap? This site has a couple dozen lawyers connected to it at all times. The site is a little coy about the cost; it only says “name your price - Place a refundable good faith deposit.” This site also has links to other ask-an-expert sites online: medical, mechanical, etc.
Arts & Letters Daily - Not a reference site per se, but a terrific sampler of fascinating current articles from all over the web on many, many arts topics.
Open Culture - “The best free cultural & educational media on the web.” Links to free: audio books (550), online courses (1,100), MOOCs (1000+), movies (700), language study (300 lessons), textbooks (200), eBooks (700), business courses (150), K-12 education, art & images, music. Such a dea
fiverr - “The world’s largest marketplace for small services, starting at $5”. Everyone has too much to do, not enough time to do it. Thanks to fiver (sic), help is not only on the way, it’s here, and for a very modest price. The idea is that people advertise services that they are good at and that they will do for you for $5. This is almost anything. Examples (and we are not making these up) of what you can get for $5: Drum lesson; “I will sing a depressing Happy Birthday as a mouse”; prepare the front page of Time magazine with you on the cover, Show you how to market yourself and your business; write a 600 word Wordpress blog entry, Answer any programming question (software); Draw a custom cartoon portrait; Professionally master your audio track; Teach you how to sing; Compose an original 30-60 second piano piece; Show you how to prepare for an interview; Juggle a chainsaw and knives while yelling anything you want; Design a flyer, business card, brochure or web banner; Cut a coffee or cupcake stencil by laser; Do your German homework; Get you plans for a chicken coop; Design a simple web site; Be your Photoshop assistant for 2 hours… You get the idea. You can also simply fill out a request: “I’m looking for someone who will ___________”
Poll Daddy - Survey/polling/quiz software
Education Collection - Microsoft Office offers a vast assortment of templates for teachers of every level. A few: award certificates, brochures, budgets, contracts, calendars, diagrams, flash cards, forms, invitations, invoices, letters, lists, notes, outlines, papers, planners, quizzes, resumés, schedules, surveys, and more. For a list of the subcategories of all templates, click here.
Refdesk - comprehensive "fact checker for the internet" - instant connection with every reference site imaginable. Sign up for their reference site of the day. If you had to pick one mother-of-all-reference sites, this is it.
Howjsay - i.e. “How Do You Say [=Pronounce]”. Ever wonder how to pronounce “microphyllum”? Glabrescent? Apyrous? Scissiparous? Scorpaenoidea? English can be a tricky language to pronounce, even for native speakers. Howjsay.com is a “talking dictionary of English pronunciation” and will help you out with practically any English word.
Flashcard Exchange - web-based flashcards, “world’s largest flashcard library”. Especially useful for subjects like science or language(s), but there are music flashcards (28 pages, 50 card set links per page!), e.g. for music theory, musical terms, music history, composers, chords *& scales, etc. You can create your own flashcard sets.
10 Open Education Resources You May Not Know About (But Should) - free university level content
Reference.com - another great one: dictionary, thesaurus, quotes, encyclopedia, translator, word of the day, daily crossword, word games, more.
Free Thesaurus; The Free Dictionary
Encyclopedia.com - colorful site with 57,000 articles from the Columbia Encyclopedia. It will also search 100 or so other encyclopedias and dictionaries for you.
Martindale’s Reference Desk - links to pretty much everything there is. Samples: Language Center, Internet Center, Business & Economics, Computer Engineering, Science, 23,825 calculators online, Mathematics Center, Agriculture Center, Transportation, Fashion, Entertainment & the Arts, Flight School, Cars, Cryptography, Food & Recipies, Livestock, Photography, World Maps,Physics, Archeology, Interactive Sign Language & Braille, Hearing Test, Eye Test, and on and on and on and on....
The Music Center includes CDs, Music Dictionaries, Composition, Acoustics, Theory, Lessons, Conducting, Orchestration, instruments (including the horn), much more.
Online Doctorate Degree - “the only nonprofit web site dedicated exclusively to providing students considering obtaining a doctorate degree with unbiased online resources...” Also: database of accredited schools that offer doctorate degree; listed alphabetically by state.
Purdue University Library Quick Reference - Lots here: links to almanacs and factbooks, art & images, biographical resources, books & journals, career & education, consumer information, dictionaries & encyclopedias, directories, finance, government, health, science & technology, search tools, travel, writing resources, more.
Templates - of every kind, courtesy Microsoft office, e.g. Databases, agendas, books, brochures, catalogs, budgets, email business cards, calendars, flash cards, greeting cards, postcards, recipe cards, charts, tickets, coupons, awards, diagrams, contracts, envelopes, flyers, ads, posters, forms, applications, ballots, invitations, invoices, labels, letterheads, letters, lists, memos, newsletters, presentations, records, CVs & resumés, schedules, logs, ledgers, music paper, stationery, and more.
iTunes University - Access iTunes U with iTunes or your iTouch or iPhone. “A powerful distribution system for everything from lectures to language lessons, films to labs, audiobooks to tours... an innovative way to [distribute] educational content...” “More than 250,000 free lectures, videos, films and other resources - from all over the world.”
Manuals Online - a source owner’s manuals to practically everything that needs one: appliances, electronics, cars, power tools, home & garden stuff, office equipment, outdoor stuff, and - yes, musical instruments (by which they mean mostly electronic keyboards, drums, and guitar effects pedals).
Chegg Prep - Study help: the site boasts of millions of flashcards. Find the decks that relate to your course or make your own.
Online Guide to Graduate Schools - How to Choose a Program, Get in and Graduate
Online Courses & MOOCs
edX - Super MOOC: Free (!!!) online courses from Harvard, UC Berkeley, MIT, U of Texas, Georgetown U, McGill U, Rice U, U of Toronto, Wellesley, and many more. No prerequisites or admissions processes. No college credit, but you do get a Certificate of Completion (if you complete it). Mostly science-oriented, but some liberal arts stuff, and even music (3) including courses like Introduction to the Music Business and Jazz Appreciation.
Coursera - Another Super MOOC, like EdX above, but this one offers many more music related courses, also free.
CreativeLive - offers free courses in “photo & video”, “art & design”, “music & audio,” “maker & craft”, “business & money”. Note: courses are free if you watch them live; otherwise they come with a fee, depending on length.
Mindsy - Yet another…. Mindsy offers 4,791 courses and tutorials “covering everything from programming to piano” for $29 a month flat fee. All kinds of courses of various links; learn about public speaking, javascript, sleeping better, gmail, guitar lessons, Wordpress, card tricks, Chinese, you name it.
Udacity - free online college courses; learning through projects - all free. Computer science, web design, etc. - no music.
udemy - online courses for a fee (depends on the course - some are $9, some are $500; many between $50 and $100) in various subjects (e.g. web design, app creation, Excel, Photoshop, HTML, yoga, cake decorating, photography, logo design, etc.) - different from other free course sites in that it partners with individual professors, not universities.
Dash is a free online course that teaches you to code in HTML, CSS3, and/or Javascript through projects that you can do in your browser.
VYou.com - “Conversational video” site. Get or give advice or have video conversations with people (including experts) from all over. Type in questions, get video response (of person answering the question).
Random.org - Generates random numbers. Use it to generate how many times you should, for example, practice your F# harmonic minor scale today...
50 Ways to Take Notes (online) - categories: Quick Public Pages, Basic Note Taking, Development, Online Documents, Voice Recording, Start Pages, Online Databases
Google Sites - “a free and easy way to create and share webpages.” Single-click page creation. Customizable look and feel. Pre-built page templates. Settings for accessing and sharing information.
USA.gov - terrific comprehensive site on government information of all kinds. Headings: Benefits & Grants, Consumer Guides, Defense & International, Environment..., Family, Home & Community, Health & Nutrition, History, Arts & Culture, Jobs & Education, Money & Taxes, Public Safety & Law, Reference & General Government, Science & Technology, Travel & Recreation, Voting & Elections.
Encyclopedia Smithsonian - A way to search the Smithsonian’s 2 million records with images, video files, electronic journals, and other resources.
Thinkmeter -“ ...helps you make good decisions.”
Interfolio - online service for sending letters of recommendation, online portfolio, applications, managing & showcasing academic and professional credentials for applications to positions in higher education.
iTools - Slick, elegant multireference site that provides links to all kinds of internet "tools": Search tools (search engines, web directories, newsgroups, video), Language tools (dictionaries, terminology, theasauruses, crossword solvers), Research Tools (Encyclopedias, newspapers & magazines, biographies, quotations), Financial tools (currency converter), Map tools (maps, driving directions), Internet tools (web, network, html tools), People Search Tools (address & phone, lookup by phone number, email address, international).
SurveyMonkey - create your own online survey
About.com - find information about just about everything - 19th century history, acne, woodworking, yoga, birding, celiac disease, Feng Shui, exotic pets, French food, you name it, they have it.
50 Mind--Mapping Tools for College Students - online programs to help you organize, outline, and think more clearly
Word lovers should not miss Vocabulary.com and Visual Thesaurus, both brain children of Ben Zimmer, who just took over the NYT’s “On Language” column. Links to similar sites as Cambridge Dictionaries, UsingEnglish, Academic Word List, Education Oasis, and more.
Clip Art - lots of free clip art for your presentations courtesy Microsoft Office. Many categories: academic, animals, borders, food, nature, people, special occasions, symbols, travel, etc.
Vector Stock - “largest royalty-free vector-only stock agency.” A search for “music” turned up 534 pages of vector art. “Horn” turned up 62 pages. “French horn” - 1 page (10 files).
Ready, Net, Go! - index of archival indexes
Textbook Revolution - “Student-run site dedicated to increasing the use of free educational materials by teachers and professors.”
Scholarpedia - like Wikipedia, except that articles are peer-reviewed and written by scholars.
English Scholar - links and more links: authors, citations & formatting, grammar, reference, quotations, rhetoric ,Shakespeare, teacher resources, writing, more.
LitSum - literature summaries and study guides
Sources and Experts - created for journalists to make it easier to find experts on all kinds of things.
Intute - "Helping you find the best websites for study and research." This link goes directly to the Creative and Performing Arts section.
Virtual Reference Desk - here's their Music page.
Educator’s Reference Desk - reference site for teachers; lots of links, lesson plans, reference info
Classic Movies - free public domain movie downloads
Gary Price’s List of Lists - lists of the top everything in every subject
Soyouwanna - "teaches you how to do all the things nobody taught you in school"
eHow - "How to do just about everything"
Instructables - Do It Yourself instruction on how to to Practically Anything/Everything (except maybe horn), e.g. homemade biscuits, DIY BBQ, Making a three stone diamond engagement ring, how to make tofu, 8 ft. folding kayak, iPod speaker from a Hallmark music card, digiridoo from a used Xmas tree, etc etc etc.
Answerbag - ask a question about anything, or be an expert and answer the question of others in our specialty.
JustAnswer - for a very reasonable price, your query will be answered by an online expert. Areas: Electronics, appliances, law, taxes, cars, medical & dental, pets, computers, languages, parenting, relationships, and more.
Infoplease - Almanacs, atlas, encyclopedia, dictionary, thesaurus, features, quizzes, timelines, news, history, sports, biography, links, and much much more.
Wikipedia - the 10 ton open source gorilla of online encyclopedias - anyone/everyone can edit or contribute articles. Caveat lector.
OneLook - Dictionaries (online or otherwise) let you look up a word. OneLook lets you look up words and whole phrases in various ways, including wildcard search. Also includes a reverse dictionary. Also gives you links to oh, about a jillion other online dictionaries. Slick.
Wikimedia - center for all the Wiki projects: Wikipedia, Wikitionary, Wikisource, MediaWiki, WikiNews, WikiMedia, Wikiversity, Wikimedia Commons, Wikibooks, Wikipecies
Delicious - "social bookmarking" site; "biggest colleciton of bookmarks in the universe". Word of mouth on what's popular, interesting, and fun.
Digg - similar to delicious.com, with perhaps a bit more emphasis on technology. Don't look at either of these if you have work to do. But if you're all done...
OpenPDF - a search for free pdf files on the web.
PDF eBooks - search engine for finding free eBooks in downloadable pdf format. “255,000,000 books” ! Includes tutorials. Many languages.
CutePDF - create PDF files; add, delete, rotate, resize, reorder pages; add stamps, overlays, headers, footers. Windows only.
From Old Books - 2,600 hi-res free images scanned from 160+ old/rare books.
Old Farmer’s Almanac
About.com - no matter how obscure your information request, you’ll probably run into someone at About who knows something about it.
Fact Check - by the Annenberg Public Policy Center
Bug Me Not - bypass compulsory registration on internet sites