Scholars and experts in music regularly share information through listservs like these:
780's Music
780.7 Music education
780.9 World music
781 General principles & musical forms
782 Vocal music
783 Music for single voices; the voice
784 Instruments & instrumental ensembles
785 Ensembles with one instrument per part
786 Keyboard & other instruments
787 Stringed instruments
788 Wind instruments
Includes: The Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments
Use the Castleton Library Catalog to browse or search for books and more in the holdings of the VSC libraries.
These subject headings, or their subheadings, might be helpful for music history topics: