Call Numbers for Music scores

Call Numbers for scores beginning with the letter M will be found on the 3rd floor of the Mary Idema Pew (Allendale) Library.

• M3 Collected or Complete Works (scores)
• M134 Guides to the Complete Works by composer
• M5-1490 Instrumental Music (scores)
• M1495-5000< Vocal Music (scores)

Place requests for items to avoid having to enter the stacks and handle materials!

A more complete guide to Call Numbers is available from the Library of Congress. Yale provides a guide to the filing rules (the order of items on shelves).

To Find Scores (sheet music) at GVSU

Use the Library Search on any webpage, or or visit Find Materials > Find Books.

Click on the Printed Music option in Material Type box below the search boxes. Or you could search the type of item such as score as a keyword

Use separate boxes for your composer, piece title, type of piece, or other keywords. When you put your composer's last name in the box, change the drop-down to "author" instead of any field. When searching for a type of piece, use the plural, e.g., "sonatas" or "concertos" (not concerti). You may use keywords like "piano sonatas op. 23."  You may also search for the instrument as a subject, e.g., piano.

One of the complications of searching for scores is the many ways publishers can cite the name of a piece. For example, a piano sonata could be called: "piano sonata", "sonata for piano", "sonata no. x for piano", "Klaviersonate", "Sonate fur Klavier", etc. Virtually all of these would have a "uniform title" of "Sonatas, piano ..." so using the plural of the type of piece followed by the instrument name is a good keyword phrase to use in searching.

Searching for Specific Items

In the Library search box, type names in reverse order (e.g., ellington duke). Click on Search.

Many scores are in the “Complete or Collected works” of a composer but are not listed in the Catalog. You may want to browse the shelves in the call number area of M3, and use the guides to the collected works in the call number area of ML134.

Miniature scores are at the beginning of the M's on the 3rd floor. Oversized scores are in the ASRS and must be requested through the catalog.