Music: Brass

To find biographies of brass players and books on your brass instrument:

• Use Advanced Search 
• Change the field to Subject in the dropdown menu
• Search using the following Subject terms
• Many - but not all - of the books you'll find with these subject words are shelved under the ML numbers shown. 

Replace horn with other brass instruments to find books on those instruments.

Horn players
ML419

You can also browse the library's scores and books by call number using the Browse Search option in UC Library Search. Or, from the Advanced Search page, click the word "Browse" at the top of the screen. 

Select the "Library of Congress Call Number" option from the dropdown menu. 

Type one of the M, ML, or MT numbers above into the search box. 

Finding specific scores and recordings

To find a specific title for a musical work, always use Advanced Search.

Click "Resources in the Library." Then type in the composer and title, and select Scores or Audio Visual from the "Types of Material" dropdown menu:

You can use Author searching not only for authors and composers but also for performers and ensembles:

To find a work with a generic title, such as sonata or concerto:

• Type in the composer's name under Author
• Type in sonatas piano or concertos piano, etc. under Title
• Select exact phrase instead of "contains." 
• Then select Scores or Audiovisual from the "Material Type" dropdown menu.
• 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):

If you get results that say "_ versions of this record exist," click on the record andchoose the preferred edition or result from among the different "versions:"

If works by other composers come up in the results, use the menu on the left-hand side to limit composer results again: 

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.
• Read this guide on "Using Preferred Titles" to find out how to refine your search when looking for a specific work.
• Play around with the facets on the left-hand side menu.
• Don't be shy - Ask a Librarian for help! 

In library catalogs, musical works each have 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 a little bit about preferred titles, you can use them to search more effectively. 

For example, the uniform title 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. 

To learn more, see the tutorial "Using Preferred Titles" from the Cook Music Library, Indiana University.

To search for articles on keyboard literature, use the following databases:

The UCSB Library has nearly 16,000 CDs and over 27,000 LPs.  You can listen to any of these in the library's listening rooms over stereo speakers.  Use UC Library Search to find the CDs or LPs you want, and then request them. 

You can also listen to thousands of recordings from these databases:

Finding brass music

• You can find music for brass instruments simply by knowing where to browse the shelves. In the Library of Congress system, used in American academic libraries, call numbers of scores begin with the letter M, followed by a number that designates the medium of performance. See below for important call numbers of scores for brass instruments. 
• Within most numbers, scores are in alphabetical order by composer. The first letter of the composer's name follows the number that designates the medium. For example, to find solo horn works with piano by Strauss, browse in M259.S. To find orchestral overtures by Schubert, browse in M1004.S. 

Solo music, unaccompanied

• M80-84 -- Horn
• M85-89 -- Trumpet
• M90-94 -- Trombone
• M95-99 -- Tuba

Solo with piano

• M255-259 -- Horn
• M260-261 -- Trumpet
• M262-263 -- Trombone
• M264-265 -- Tuba

Chamber music

• M288-289 -- Duets, winds
• M357.4, 457.4, etc. -- Brass trios, quartets, etc.

Solo with orchestra

• M1028-1029 -- Horn
• M1030-1031 -- Trumpet
• M1032-1033 -- Trombone
• M1034.T8, 1035.T8 -- Tuba

Other useful M class numbers

• M1001 -- Symphonies
• M1002 -- Symphonic poems
• M1003 -- Trombone
• M1004 -- Overtures

Brass, general

ML933

Horn

ML955-958

Trumpet, cornet

ML960-963 

Trombone

ML965-968

Tuba, baritone, etc.

ML970-973