Finding Printed Music
Using MadCat to Locate Printed Music
The most efficient way to search for scores in MadCat is to use the Limit To: drop down menu in MadCat's Basic search to limit a search to musical scores. Then you can search by keyword, title, author, etc. This will work with the Words Anywhere or Keywords Boolean searches.
Finding music within collections of pieces
MadCat does not always include listings of a collection's contents. Common types of collections are composer's complete works, music from a given geographical region, or music for a specific type of ensemble (solo piano, string quartet, orchestra).
If you can not locate a score using MadCat, consider looking in a guide to music in collections. Here are a few:
Classical
Index to printed music: Collections and Series.
DeCharms, Desiree, and Paul F. Breed. Songs in Collections: An Index. Detroit: Information Service Incorporated, 1966. Reference ML128 S3 D37
Fuszek, Rita M. Piano Music in Collections: An Index. Detroit: Information Coordinators, 1982. Reference ML128 P3 F87
Goleeke, Thomas. Literature for Voice: An Index of Songs in Collections and Source Book for Teachers of Singing. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1984. Reference ML128 S3 G64 1984
Heyer, Anna Harriet. Historical Sets, Collected Editions, and Monuments of Music: A Guide to Their Contents. Chicago: American Library Association, 1980. Reference ML113 H52 1980
The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. London: Macmillan, 2001. Reference ML100 N48 2001. An index to a composer's complete works will be found at the end of that composer's entry.
Sears, Minnie Earl. Song Index. North Haven, CT: Shoe String Press, 1966. Reference ML128 S3 S31 1966
Popular
Ferguson, Gary Lynn. Song Finder: A Title Index to 32,000 Popular Songs in Collections, 1854-1992. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1995. Reference ML128 S3 F47 1995
Gargan, William, and Sue Sharma. Find That Tune: An Index to Rock, Folk-Rock, Disco & Soul in Collections. New York: Neal-Schuman, 1984. Reference ML128 R6 F56 1984
Goodfellow, William D. SongCite: An Index to Popular Songs. New York: Garland, 1995. Reference ML128 P63 G65 1995
Havlice, Patricia Pate. Popular Song Index. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1975-1989. Reference ML128 S3 H4
Mills Music Library's Online Song Indexes page under Reference Resources
Finding scores online
There are many internet sites which offer music to be downloaded or printed, sometimes for a fee and sometimes available at no cost. See the online scores page of the library's Reference Resources for links to these sites.
In addition, there are online sheet music databases which can help you locate (primarily) historical sheet music collections. Some of the collections provide the music online for printing or downloading.
Interlibrary Loan
If you are unable to find a score through any of these options, use Interlibrary Loan to acquire them from another library.