Library Presentation Notes

MUSIC CLASS PRESENTATION 1/26/15

[Prepared by retired librarian Allen Hoffman]

Contact: Wendy Schlegel 314-246-7815

schlegelw@webster.edu

Four concepts to consider when searching for music in the library catalog:

Controlled vocabulary

In the Webster Library catalog, ‘Religious music’ directs user to ‘Sacred music’

Thesauri (which control vocabulary) for subject headings vary from one database to another. Examples:

Music trade vs. Music business

Scat singing vs. Jazz scat singing

Violoncello vs. Cello

“Twain, Mark” is the ‘authoritative’ heading for Samuel Langhorne Clemens, S.L. Clemens, etc.

“Chopin, Frederic” is the authoritative heading for these (and many more):

Hsiao-pang

Shopen, F

Shūpān

Chopin, Fryderyk Franciszek

Shūbān,

Szopen,

Shopan

Chopin, Fryderyk Franciszek

Шопен, Фредерик

Chopin, Federico

Uniform titles

The grapes of wrath is always The grapes of wrath in English publications

and

Quartet for the end of time is always Quartet for the end of time in English publications

But

Beethoven, Ludwig van, 1770-1827. Symphonies, no. 9, op. 125, D minor

is the “uniform title” for these (and many more):

Sinfonie mit Schluss-Chor

Choral symphony

Choral

Ode an die Freiheit

Ode to freedom

The greatest symphony ever written!

Sinfonia corale

IX. Symphonie, d moll

Symphonie IX

Symphony number nine

The great choral symphony

The Ninth

All these variants result from marketing, languages of publishers, generic forms (quartets, songs, concertos), etc. Other examples:

[Haydn]: Concertinos, organ, violins (2), double bass, H. XVIII, 10, C major

vs. Organ concerto no. 2

vs. Concertos, organ, string orchestra, H. XVIII, 10, C major

[Barber]: Quartets, strings, no. 1, op. 11, B minor. Adagio; arr.

vs. Adagio for strings

[Schubert]: Quintets, piano, violin, viola, violoncello, double bass, D. 667, A major vs. Trout quintet vs. Forellen-Quintett

KEYWORD searching also allows access to titles that may be ‘buried’ in sets or anthologies.

[Schumann]: Frauenliebe und Leben. Du Ring an meinem Finger

vs. Du Ring an meinem Finger vs. Ring on my finger

[Wagner]: Ring des Nibelungen. Rheingold vs. Rheingold

[Duke Ellington]: Deep south suite. Happy-go-lucky local

vs. Happy-go-lucky local

One of the few recordings that we own of Four pieces for clarinet and piano, op. 5 by Alban Berg is in the set

“The Early twentieth century”. This piece would only be found with a keyword search such as

Berg clarinet pieces

Keyword searching is always recommended

Truncation and Boolean searching

Encyclop*dia retrieves encyclopedia AND encyclopaedia

Wom*n retrieves woman and women

Sonata* will yield sonata AND sonatas

Sonat* will yield sonata, sonatas, sonate, sonaten

Rachman** will retrieve Rachmaninov, Rachmaninoff

HINT: Don’t make searches either ‘too broad’ or ‘too narrow’: strike a balance

Examples:

mozart quartet* 387 peters -- to find K.387 in the Peters edition

But this is too broad: Mozart and quartet* [hundreds of hits]

Bach and Goldberg and Kirkpatrick -- to find Kirkpatrick’s edition of the Goldberg variations

But this is too narrow: Bach and Goldberg and aria and schirmer and BWV988 and kirkpatrick [not all elements may be present or indexed in the record]

(Truncation symbols vary from one database to another. In the Webster Library catalog, a single asterisk is a wildcard for 1-4 characters; a double asterisk covers 5+ characters)

Rachman** AND symphon* will retrieve any of his symphonies (in several languages, singular or plural) and without having to know how to spell his name.

Mendel** AND lieder ohne AND 30 will retrieve Mendelssohn’s (or Mendelssohn-Bartholdy’s) Songs without words, narrowing the results down to just his opus 30.

Indexes, abstracts, full-text

An index provides a citation to a source (article, book, dissertation, etc.)

An abstract provides the citation and a summary of the content

A full-text entry in a database provides the entire contents

Note:

Some databases are only partially full-text (mix of full-text and index)

You will see the “Full Text Finder” icon appearing in search results. Article Linker is a feature that connects the user to full-text articles. The articles may be available in electronic format from an online database and/or in paper (print) format at the Webster University Library or the Eden Theological Seminary Library. The Full Text Finder page provides more information on these possibilities.

Articles not available within our Library or on one of our databases may be requested through MOBIUS (statewide Missouri consortium) or InterLibrary Loan (national).

See an example under “Music Index Online,” below.

Resources:

Books

Reference works

Databases (full-text; citations to journals and books; videos; sound recordings)

Be careful of:

Wikipedia

Internet: Google search indicated 35 trillion people in the world

Show and tell:

Groves

Thematic catalogs

Collected editions