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MUS 113: Writing About Music

This guide covers use of major music resources and skill-building information on how to physically and virtually find books, scores and recordings.

SCHOLAR Online Catalog

Finding Music Scores at CSU

Icons indicate the format of the item in Scholar.

Musical Score Icon 
Musical Recording Icon

Book Icon

The Library organizes books about music and scores of music according to the Library of Congress Classification System. Browse the lists get acquainted.

  • M     Music (scores)
  • ML    Music Literature (about music)
  • MT    Music Instruction and Study
  • M2 - M2.3               Musical sources or "Monuments of Music"
  • M3 - M3.3               Collected works of individual composers
  • M6 - M175.5           Music for one solo instrument
  • M177 - M990          Music for two or more solo instruments
  • M1000 - M1075      Music for orchestra
  • M1100 - M1160      Music for string orchestra
  • M1200 - M1270      Music for band
  • M1350 - M1480      Music for other ensembles
  • M1497 - M1998      Secular vocal music
  • M1500 -M1527.8    Dramatic music (opera)
  • M1999 - M2199      Sacred vocal music
  • ML100 -ML109        Music dictionaries and encyclopedias
  • ML159 -ML3785      History and criticism
  • ML385 -ML429        Biography (especially ML410)
  • MT1      Music instruction and study (general)
  • MT170 - MT810      Instrumental techniques
  • MT820 - MT915      Singing and vocal technique
  • MT918 - MT948      School music

Searching in Scholar

Use Scholar online catalog to search the CSU Library collection for books, videos, audio, and more.

There are two ways to get into the Scholar catalog. The first is to use the tab above the search box on the library's homepage.

Use the Scholar tab on the library homepage

The second way is to click on the link in the right-hand column below the image on the library's homepage.

Find the Scholar link on the library homepage

It's important to note that the default search in Scholar is by Title. If you don't have a specific title in mind, you might want to change your search parameters to Keyword.

Switch to a keyword search

Then, when you're ready, go ahead and type your search terms in the search box and click Search or Go.

The way you type your search terms into the search box can have a significant effect on the relevancy and focus of your search results.

Enter your keywords to search

In this example, I used the word AND between two words or phrases. This is called a Boolean operator. Other Boolean operators include OR and NOT. To use these words, put them between two or more words or phrases from your search terms, and make sure they are capitalized as they are here.

I also put a phrase in quotation marks. This tells the search engine to search for this string of words together, in this order, instead of for each word on its own somewhere in the record.

You can also limit your search by using the button above the search bar that says Limit/Sort Search.

Limit or sort your search

 

From here I can easily limit to a certain material type (book, music score, film/video, etc.), language, time range of publication, or publisher.

Use limiters to manipulate your search results

After you complete a search in Scholar, clicking on the title of the material you're interested in will bring you to the item's record. The record will tell you more about the material, such as the name of the author, the publisher, and the publication date. To get even more information, click on the Full Record tab.

See the Full Record tab for more info

Now you can see even more information, including the subject headings that have been assigned to this resource. Subject headings, which are words or phrases that describe the material, can be very helpful in telling you more about what this resource is about as well as guiding you to other relevant materials.

Use subject headings to find other relevant material

Clicking on a subject heading will bring you a list of other library materials that have also been assigned this subject heading. This is an easy way to find your way to other relevant sources.

The three pieces of information you need to get a book or other material that you've found in Scholar off the shelf and checked out are:

1) Location - where in the library the book can be found, such as 2nd Floor Book Stacks

2) Call Number - where on the shelf to find the book, such as  BF1078 .F748 1999 

3) Status - whether or not the book is checked out, available, damaged, missing, or only available for use within the library

Find the source using the location, call number, and status

If you need help finding library material using the Library of Congress call number, see this helpful guide to reading call numbers.