File Collection of Music Scores

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS DATABASE IS NO LONGER MAINTAINED.

BE SURE TO CONSULT THE ONLINE CATALOG. SOME OF THE ITEMS IN THIS DATABASE HAVE BEEN CATALOGED AND ARE IN THE REGULAR STACKS.

Introduction: The vertical file material is intended as a supplement to the regular collection owing to its value for teaching, performance, and research. The initial items, totaling more than 3000 scores and parts, were chiefly gifts of four retired faculty members of the School of Music--Paul Anderson (brass ensembles), Betty Bang Mather (flute music), John Simms (piano music), and Himie Voxman (woodwind music). Many other donors are represented in the collection.

Cataloging is entered on Mitinet, then transferred through the use of the Mitinet "Marc Transformer" to the access software, InMagic DB/Textworks. The database was originally set up, and all cataloging has been done to date, by graduate student Glenn Lemieux, on a research assistantship provided by the School of Music and the Office of the Dean of Graduate Studies, with support for student assistants from Dr. Arthur Benton and Professor Emeritus Himie Voxman. Paul Soderdahl, Team Leader for the Information Arcade and University Libraries' Webmaster at the time, was responsible for mounting this database on the web.

Scope - Performance music (scores/parts), miniature scores, methods, studies, photocopies of manuscripts.

Criteria for inclusion - include one or more of the following: Variant editions of publications in the main collections; non-bindable condition; works outside the scope of the Collection Policy (e.g., octavo anthems, arrangements); works not expected to be in much demand (minor works, lesser-known composers).

Special strengths include parts for brass quartets and quintets; at least 700 items for flue, including flute and piano music, solo flute music, and flute methods; a large number of piano works by obscure composters; and a strong collection of clarinet music that supplements holdings in the main collection.

Classification is according to the "Columbia-Vassar" modification of the Dickinson Classification, a medium-based system that facilitates browsing. Two locations are used: File, meaning the vertical files; Shelf, meaning the adjacent shelves (used for items that are too large for the files and have been sewn into binders or housed in larged envelopes).

Name spellings, title forms, and subject headings, so far as they could be ascertained, are those that were the "authorized" ones used in the online catalog when the items were cataloged for this database (with a very few exceptions for title forms, English being preferred to Slavic languages). No attempt is made to keep up with changes, but this database should be consistent within itself.

Loan periods are the same as for similar materials in the main collection: June due date for faculty; 1 semester for graduate students and 4 weeks for undergraduate students.