Scores and Sheet Music

On the Web

Scores and sheet music for works in the public domain (not copyrighted) may be available on the web for free downloading. Here are a few recommended sites:

• Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
• Gutenberg: The Sheet Music Project (mostly chamber music)
• International Music Score Library Project
• The Mutopia Project
• Sheet Music Archive (limited to two free downloads per day)

In the Library

Browsing

When you don't have a particular piece of music in mind, browsing the Library shelves, either in person or by using the call number option in the HSU Library Catalog Basic Search may give you ideas. Here is some information about music call numbers:

Music is one of the few sections of the Library of Congress Classification in which the call letters stand for the subject. Music scores are in M (music); books about music are in ML (music literature); books about studying or teaching music are in MT (music teaching).

• Collected editions of the works of individual composers are in M3.
• Instrumental music is in M6-M1490.
• Music for solo instruments is in M6-M175.
• Music for chamber ensembles is in M180-990.
• Duets are in M180-M298.5.
• Trios are in M300-386.
• Quartets are in M400-M486, etc.
• Orchestra music is in M1000-M1075.
• Band music is in M1200-1269.
• Music for jazz ensembles is in M1366.
• Electronic music is in M1473.
• Vocal music is in M1495-M2199.
• The most general collections are in M1495.
• Secular music is in M1497-M1998.
• Operas, musicals, and excerpts of these are in M1500-M1509.
• Miscellaneous popular vocal music collections are in M1630.
• Sacred music is in M1999-2199.

When you have a particular piece of music in mind, you can find out if our library has a score by using the HSU Library catalog or an index to published collections of music. If our Library doesn't have the piece, you may be able to locate a copy to borrow on Interlibrary Loan.

Searching in the HSU Library Catalog

If you have a known song or opera title or want to find all of our scores by a particular composer, you may want to do a Keyword search in the HSU Library Catalog.

• Use Quick Search on the library homepage.
• Enter relevant words from the composer name and/or title of the piece. (See Using Uniform Titles for help with relevant words.) Enclose phrases in quotation marks.
• Add the word scores to your search

Keyword searching is quick, but you may get irrelevant results, or too many. If a keyword search is unsuccessful, try one of the methods described below, or ask a librarian for help.

To search by composer:

• Use Advanced Search; click the link to HSU Library Catalog on the QuickSearch tab, then click the Advanced tab on the resulting page.
• For Type, choose Music Score from the drop down menu.
• Enter the composer’s name, full or keywords, into a Search box.
• Change any of these to all of these for that box.
• Change Keyword Anywhere to Author Name.
• Click Search or press Enter.

To search for a particular piece of music:

• Follow the “search by composer” instructions in the section above, but don’t click Search or press Enter.
• Enter keywords for the piece in a separate Search box. For help with keywords, see Using Uniform Titles. Change any of these to all of these.
• If you know the opus or catalog number for the piece, you may use it as a keyword, or you may put that into a separate Search box, change any of these to all of these, and change Keyword Anywhere to Opus or Part Number.
• Click Search or press Enter.

To find scores for a particular type of music:

• Use Advanced Search; click the link to HSU Library Catalog on the QuickSearch tab, then click the Advanced tab on the resulting page.
• For Type, choose Music Score from the drop down menu.
• Enter keywords for the type of music you want into a Search box
• Tips for keywords to use:
• Musical forms in plural (concertos, duets, sonatas, songs, symphonies)
• Type of music (children’s, folk, jazz, musicals)
• Instrumentation (piano, violin, violoncello, horn, flute, orchestra, string orchestra)
• Vocal range (high voice, medium voice, low voice.)
• Perhaps truncate country names, for example gree? will find Greek and Greece.
• Musical periods such as Baroque, Classical, Romantic, etc., are not used as subjects. You will have better luck searching for composers of the period, as "Author."
• For more help with keywords, see Using Uniform Titles or Finding Books about Music.
• Click Search or press Enter

Using Score and Song Anthology Databases and Indexes

On the Web

Here are a few recommended song indexes on the Web. These were created at other libraries, and the call numbers given for the anthologies are not for the HSU Library. Look up the anthology title in the HSU Library Catalog to see if we have it. If we don't, look it up in WorldCat (see below) and make your interlibrary loan from there.

• UT Song Index - This searchable index covers about 50,000 popular and art songs in about 1,500 anthologies and collections in the music library at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
• Index to Arias and Art Songs in Collections - This site, at the University of Washington, allows searching by song title, work title, composer, and keywords of over 100 song anthologies at the University of Washington's Music Library.
• Popular Song Database - This is the popular song companion to the Arias and Art Songs at the University of Washington.
• The California Library Systems Cooperative Song Index - This searchable index contains 145,000 titles from 1,500 anthologies, magazines, and other collections.

We have created a searchable database that lists songs in many anthologies in the HSU Library by title and composer. We are adding to it continually. Here is the link:

• HSU Library Song Index

In the Library

The HSU Library Catalog lists many large collections of scores, such as the complete works of composers, but the individual pieces in these are not listed. To help you locate individual works in these, use Historical Sets, Collected Editions, and Monuments of Music: A Guide to Their Contents (ref ML 113 H52 1980 v. 1-2), complied by Anna Heyer. A librarian can help you.

Scores for individual songs may not be listed in the HSU Library Catalog. Song indexes list songs by composer, title, and sometimes by subject, and they indicate the anthology or collection which includes the individual song. When you have found the title of a collection containing your song, check the HSU Library Catalog to see if we own it. If we don't, you can borrow it on interlibrary loan.

Some of the printed song indexes in our Reference Collection are listed here. If you need help using them, please ask a librarian.

• Find That Tune: An Index to Rock, Folk-Rock, Disco & Soul (ref ML 128 R6 F56 1984 v. 1 & 2)
• Songs in Collections (ref ML 128 S3 D37)
• Repertoire for the Solo Voice (ref ML 128 S3 E8 v. 1-2)
• Literature for Voice (ref ML 128 S3 G64 1984)
• Popular Song Index (ref ML 128 S3 H4 & Suppls.)
• Index to Song Books (ref ML 128 S3 L45)
• Song Index (ref ML 128 S3 S31 1966)

Sources for Interlibrary Loan

Interlibrary Loan is available to HSU students, faculty, and staff. Other residents of Humboldt County should contact the public library. To identify sources for interlibrary loan of scores, you may use one of the indexes described above, an electronic catalog such as the HSU Library Catalog, WorldCat, one from the Other Libraries listed on the library homepage on the Quick Search tab, or other sources on the Web.