Using CUNY+ for Music

Basic Search

Keyword is usually the most effective composer/title search for printed music scores and sound recordings because you may combine two or more terms in the same search. Youll retrieve a smaller number of results if you limit your search to City College (unless you want to see the holdings of all CUNY libraries). Click on Select Individual CUNY Libraries in the upper right corner, and then select City. Type the composers last name and an opus (work) number or a distinctive word from the title in the keyword box.

Examples:

bach bwv 1066 1069 [Suites, orchestra, BWV 1066-1069]
beethoven op 55 [Symphonies, no. 3, op. 55, E-flat major (Eroica)]
ellington sophisticated
gershwin rhapsody
handel messiah
lloyd webber phantom
mozart k 504 [Symphonies, K. 504, D major (Prague)]
schubert d 759 [Symphonies, D. 759, B minor (Unfinished)]

Are you looking for a score or a sound recording? Youll probably want to narrow your search by specifying one or the other. The simplest way to do this is by adding sound (for a sound recording) or not sound (for a score) to your search.

Examples:

joplin maple sound
haydn h I 94 not sound [Symphonies, H. I, 94, G major (Surprise)]

Note: to see all recordings of a work, you may need to also add the term phonodisc, as this term (rather than sound recording) was used to describe some of our older recordings.

Examples:

joplin maple sound phonodisc

The Music Library has a small collection of videos (non-music videos are housed in Cohen Library). Add videorecording (or videocassette to specify a VCR or videodisc for a DVD) to your search.
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Guided Search

The Basic Search allows you to make a general distinction between scores and recordings, but the Guided Search allows you, in addition, to eliminate books from a search for a score. This is particularly useful for major works or genres by a single composer.

For example, a search for information about Mozarts opera, The Marriage of Figaro (Nozze di Figaro) retrieves several dozen hits.

Examples:

mozart nozze

But choose the Book Format and limit the above search to a keyword search of the Subject Fields, and the same search retrieves only the few books the library owns on this opera.

If you are looking for a score of a work and want to exclude both books and sound recordings, choose the Music Format and add not sound to your search, using the All Fields keyword search.

Examples:

mozart sonatas piano not sound
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Additions to Search

You may use these terms or techniques to refine your search:

Performers name (last only, unless its a common name): use to search for a recording by a specific performer

Examples:

handel alcina fleming sound

Compact: use to search for a recording on compact disc (rather than LP; youll retrieve all occurrences of the word compact on the bibliographic record, but it works reasonably well)

Examples:

schuman op 97 compact

The following terms may be used to search for specific types of scores:

miniature score
parts
score part (for a score and part published together) Example: mozart k 602 score part
vocal score
libretto (Most of our libretto holdings are not yet in CUNY+. Consult the old score card catalog for items not found, or go directly to the score stacks, where they are shelved alphabetically by composer).
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Tips

If your spelling of a name or title matches one chosen by one or more publishers of some of the editions owned by the library (but not the spelling adopted by the library), your search will retrieve only those editions. If you want to retrieve all holdings of a work, you must use the same spelling of the name and title as the library. The Best of MOUG, a book kept at the Music Library circulation desk, contains a list of titles the library uses for twenty major composers, as well as a list of cross references for Slavic composers.

Names

Be sure you spelled the name correctly or used the same form the library uses.
Verify your spelling by doing a name search. If your spelling is close, youll retrieve a cross reference giving the correct form. Be aware that the current version of the CUNY+ software does not display cross references in local catalogs (only the union catalog), so youll need to switch back to the union catalog (see first paragraph on page 1) if youre searching in the City College catalog.

Examples:

schonberg arnold: reference to schoenberg arnold, the form used by the library
chadwick george: reference to chadwick, g w, the library form

Verify the form of name used by the library (especially important for Russian names, for which transliteration often varies).

Examples of forms of Russian names as used by the library:

Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff, Rimsky Korsakov, Scriabin, Stravinsky, Tchaikovsky

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Titles

Be sure you spelled the title correctly or used the same language or numbering system the library uses.

For Western art music, verify the title by doing a title search in CUNY+. Then check the variant (uniform) title on the Record Display screen. If no variant title is listed, it is the same as the title on the item. Select a distinctive word from the variant title (or title if there is no variant title) for searching.

Examples:

swan lake: the variant (uniform) title is Lebedinoe ozero
nutcracker: the variant (uniform) title is Shchelkunchik

Be sure to note the opus numbering system used in the variant title (for example, Ryom for Vivaldi), and use this in searching. Include the initial letters (BWV for Bach, op for Beethoven, H for Haydn, K for Mozart, D for Schubert) that precede the opus number.
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General

CUNY+ is a catalog, not an index. You can retrieve only the information about an item that is included in its bibliographic record. Contents notes are given for many items, but not complete contents for all collections. Ask the librarian for help in locating short pieces or individual songs that may be part of a collection.

Not all bibliographic records for older music scores and sound recordings have yet been converted to CUNY+. These materials are listed only in the card catalog, located behind the Internet workstations on the upper level of the Music Library.

Searching for music can be complicated. Please ask for help if your search is unsuccessful!
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