Music: Books, Scores, Recordings

When using UC Library Search to find scores and recordings, always use the Advanced Search and click on “Resources in the Library” to find materials locally. To find materials across all the UC campuses, the default choice is “Articles, Books, and More.”

• To find scores, type in the composer and title, and select Scores in the “Types of Material” dropdown menu. Similarly, you can select Books or Audio Visual materials from the same drop-down menu

• You can use Author (left side drop-down menu) to search not only for authors and composers but also performers and ensembles, e.g., Brahms AND quintets

• Limit to “Audio Visual” if you are looking for a sound or video recording in any format (CDs, vinyl records, DVDs, or an online recording database like Naxos)

• To find works with generic titles (i.e., sonata, symphony, concerto, quartet, etc.), it is often helpful to search for the genre in the plural, e.g., concertos

• If the work includes a solo instrument, add the instrument and make sure to select “exact phrase” from the “contains” drop-down menu or use quotation marks to encircle the phrase, e.g., “concertos violin”

Still stumped? Final tips: 

• Are you sure you're spelling the composer and title of the work correctly? We only have correct spellings in our database, so the search usually won't work if there's a typo.
• Don't be shy - Ask a Librarian for help! 

• When keyword searching, use keywords that best describe your topic. The objective is to get a small group of relevant records.  People, places themes, characters, time periods, events, types of information (i.e., ethnography) issues and more can be keywords.  What words or phrases best describe your topic?

• For locating primary source material, consider these “subject keywords”: sources, documents, personal narrative, documentary history, archives, manuscripts, correspondence, speech*, oration, statistics, cartoon*, interview*, oral history*.
• Consult a librarian. We work across the disciplines, will refer you if necessary, and can help track down sources, explain library services, interpret citations and find the most useful keywords.  The Ask a Librarian service provides 24/7 access to a librarian.

When using the UC Library Search for musical works, be aware that each has a unique, standardized preferred title (also known as “uniform title”). Whereas the title of a work can vary on different scores and recordings, its preferred title in library catalogs is always the same. Therefore, if you know the preferred titles, you can use them to search more effectively. 

For example, the uniform title of Mozart's first piano concerto is: Concertos, piano, orchestra, K. 488, A major

Uniform titles are indexed in our catalog record. That's why it's helpful to use sonatas or concertos as a title when searching for a sonata or a concerto.