Searching for Music in PacifiCat

Within Basic Search, you can search for a Keyword everywhere, or limit the search to just in titles, subjects, etc. With Keyword searches, you can combine Author and Title words. Or you can Browse alphabetical lists of Authors, Titles, Subjects, Call Numbers, and more.

Use the drop-down menus under the text area to select any search limits:

• Specify a different field to search
• Limit the results to the Music & AV collections

tip: A quick way to limit your search to recordings is to add the words "and recording" to your search terms.

Example "Keyword" Searches

• Keyword (Subject): piano music
• Keyword (Keyword anywhere): mozart and “clarinet concerto” not recording
• Keyword (All Fields):Rodgers not Hammerstein

tip: Browsing by title is most useful when you know the exact title of a CD or music score.  It works best for music with distinct titles, rather than titles that are also the name of a musical form, like "Symphony no.2" or "Sonata, C major"

Examples

• Browse (Title):  Symphonie fantastique
• Browse (Title):  Symphonien
• Browse (Title):  romantic music of schoenberg

Example "Browse" Searches

• Browse (Author): Stravinsky, Igor
• Browse (Subject): Flute and piano music  (Use this when you know the exact Library of Congress subject heading)
• Browse (LC Call Number): M22.B
• Browse (Call Number): M1500 .B74 C15 1998

The advanced search is a Keyword search that lets you be more specific than in the basic search, combining or excluding terms and phrases. It also allows you to limit your search to a particular material type, like "CD" or "DVD".

Example Advanced Searches

• Keyword (Subject): piano music
• Keyword (Author): mozart and
  Keyword (Title): “clarinet concerto”
• Keyword (All Fields): “don juan” and
  Keyword (Author): strauss and
  Material Type: Compact Disc
• Keyword (Table of Contents): heidenroslein 
  Keyword (All Fields): Schubert
  Material Type: Score
• Keyword (All Fields):  beethoven and quartet? not string?

To view your results, click the number next to “Total:” in the “No. of docs” column at the middle right side of the page.

tip: When searching for recordings, remember that the title of the work or song may not be the name of the recording, so using Keyword (All Fields) or Keyword (Table of Contents) for the title words may bring better results. 

Generic titles, truncation, and wildcards

When looking for compositions with a generic title (sonata, symphony, concerto, trio, etc.), you may benefit from truncating your search, or by adding a wildcard character.  That way, you might avoid searching for both singular and plural form of the genre heading (sonata vs. sonatas) or having to guess foreign spellings.

Truncation
Shortening a search word and adding * or ? at the end will allow PacifiCat to retrieve singular, plural, and variant spellings.

• Sonat? will retrieve sonata, sonatas, sonatina, Sonaten, etc.

Wildcards (or, how do you spell “Tchaikovsky” again?)
An asterisk * or ? can replace any number of letters at the beginning, middle, or end of a word.

• tch?sky and symph? 4 will retrieve Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.4.

Combined (Boolean) Searching with AND, OR, and NOT
You can combine words using the Boolean operators AND, OR, NOT. Using and or not will narrow your search. Using or will broaden it.

• Rodgers AND Hammerstein will retrieve records with both names
• Rodgers NOT Hammerstein will retrieve records with Rodgers but no Hammerstein
• Rodgers OR Hammerstein will retrieve records with either one or both names

tip: Using opus or thematic catalog numbers (like BWV 232 and K.551) is a good way to narrow your search, especially for prolific composers.

Examples

• Keyword Search:  "Bach and 232" will find both recordings and scores of the Mass in B minor, BWV 232.
• Keyword Search:  "Mozart and 551 and recording" will find only recordings of Symphony no.41, "Jupiter", K.551.

Physical arrangement

Music scores are arranged according to the Library of Congress (LC) classification system, which groups music items by broad category and then by type. Here are a few examples:

• Instrumental music >> Orchestra >> Concertos >> Violin >> (Alphabetical by composer)
• Instrumental music >> Solo instruments >> Piano >> Sonatas >> (Alphabetical by composer)
• Vocal music >> Secular >> Operas >> Vocal Scores >> (Alphabetical by composer)
• Vocal music >> Sacred >> Choruses >> with orchestra >> (Alphabetical by composer)

tip: Subject guides to the LC music classification help you to browse through our collection more effectively. Ask for the “Guide to the LC Classification System” at the Circulation Desk. Or, consult these music subject guides from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and UC Santa Barbara.

Scores will normally be in one of the following physical locations, all within the Music Collection section of the library, located on the 1st floor next to the Circulation Desk.

• Music Stacks – Average-sized music scores (like what you'd use on a music stand for a performance)
• Music Miniature Score – Smaller-sized scores usually of large orchestral works; often called "study scores"
• Music Folio – Very large or oversize scores; often works from the 20th century.

Sound Recordings

• CDs with LC call numbers ("M1500 B99...") are shelved in the Music Stacks. You may browse these stacks just as you would music scores or books.
• LPs (vinyl records) are arranged by accession number (1, 2, 3, etc.), and shelved in A/V Closed Stacks. Request these items at the Circulation Desk.
• Headphones may be checked out from the Circulation Desk for use with Library CDs and LPs in the Music A/V Listening Room.

Video Recordings

Video recordings are arranged by accession number (1, 2, 3, etc.), and all video recordings may be requested at the Circulation Desk.