Music Subject Guide — Search Tips & "How-tos"

This page is designed to help you search UConn Library's holdings for music-related information. What you will find below is guides and other information that communicate best practices for searching, locating, and accessing information resources. As always, when uncertain, ask at the Music and Dramatic Arts Library service desk. Remember: Always be sure to ask a librarian when you have questions about UConn Library services or resources. 

Part 1: Techniques for searching for scores

1. Combine composers/performers, works, numbers (e.g. op. 105, k.545, BWV. 223), and keys for a more precise search. For example, search for "Mozart AND sonata AND K. 545 AND C major" (without quotes) to locate Mozart's piano sonata no. 16 in C Major. 

2. Scores are published in multiple languages and often using different numbering, so titles vary for the same work. For example, Mozart's piano sonata no. 1 in C Major is published as:

• Sonata no. 1, C major
• Sonata no. 15, C major 
• Sonata no. 16, C major 
• Sonate C-Dur für Klavier

3. Is the score you want to find part of a larger work, or in a collection or anthology? Library catalogues and search tools do not always describe individual pieces, so you need to search for the larger item just to be sure. For example:

• To find "Casta Diva", from Norma (Bellini), you will need to search for Norma + Bellini to be sure you have found all available versions
• To find "Die Krähe" from Winterreise (a song cycle by Schubert), you will need to search for Winterreise + Schubert to be sure you have found all available versions

Part 2: Database Search Techniques

Here are some helpful strategies to learn how to narrow down your search results in a database. You may also consider consulting the Library of Congress Subject Heading list for music subjects for possible terms to include in your search. 

1. Boolean logic uses and / or / not  to combine words or terms. 

Examples:    

baritone OR alto          ⇒     includes either term

baritone AND alto       ⇒     includes both terms

baritone NOT alto        ⇒     includes first term but not second term

2. Truncation symbol, usually the asterisk *; offers variant endings on words. 

Example: hypothe* retrieves hypothesis, hypotheses, hypothetical, etc.

3. Wildcard symbol, usually the question mark ?, replaces a letter or letters in the middle of a word or one letter at the end of a word. Not all databases allow wildcards.

Example:  

opera? Retrieves opera or operas

colo?rful Retrieves colorful or colourful

4. Phrase searching, to keep words together as a phrase, you usually use the quote marks around the phrase "words together"

Example:  "classical music"

5. Author Name - the same author may publish under versions of a name over a lifetime. Search for different combinations of the name OR with unusual last names try searching for last name, first initial with an asterisk.

Example: Type in Silander, J*

Results:

Silander, John A.

Silander John Augustus

Silander J.A.

Silander J.