Finding Music Materials

FINDING MUSIC CAN BE CHALLENGING, EVEN IF YOU KNOW WHAT YOU’RE LOOKING FOR!!!! Unlike text, a musical work isn’t about something. Usually, musicians are most interested in the work’s format (score, CD), genre (symphony, jazz ballad), and instrumentation (what forces perform the work).

If you’re looking for music for particular performance forces, use our Music Instrumentation Search.

In general: If you are searching for music scores and recordings, be as specific as you can. If a title is “distinct” (unique), such as an opera or song title, use that. If the title is a music form or type, such as symphony, concerto, sonata, etc., enter the most specific information you have. If you seek a portion of a larger work, such as a selection from a musical, song cycle, or opera, you will often need to discover the name of that larger work in order to find it. We can help you with this!

For detailed information see UNLV’s How to Find Music in the Library Catalog. This site includes an explanation of the Music Uniform Title. The Uniform Title is especially useful for finding music titles that are “non-distinct”, such as symphony, concerto, sonata, etc. A huge number of musical works fall into this “non-distinct” category.