Chapter 27 | Cataloging and Inventory

The library catalog entry is essentially a description of the physical item. It should tell enough information about the item for the user to determine if it is suitable for his/her use.

There are several resources that give information on music cataloging, although most performance libraries don’t require the same level of detail that a professional cataloger applies to a public, university, or research library catalog.1 The majority of performance libraries get by with handwritten lists, index cards, or a computer spreadsheet. The most efficient system is a database, which can accommodate continued growth of information and holdings and which also allows complex searches and sorts of the data.

For all of these catalogs, there are some basic rules and procedures that should be applied to make them more efficient and user friendly.

■Titles

Stars and Stripes Forever, The

Outdoor Overture, An

This will ensure that all titles are filed and sorted starting on the first significant word and it saves wading through a long list of titles filed under the word “the.”

Thieving Magpie, The  use this title for  La Gazza Ladra Die Diebische Elster

Heldenleben, Ein, op. 40  use this title for  A Hero’s Life

Your standard title should be familiar to the users of your library catalog. However, if you have room in your catalog, create another field for alternate titles where other forms of the title can go. Be sure to also include the title as it is printed on the music so that misplaced single parts can be searched for and returned to their proper folder.

This is called a uniform title in other library catalogs. It will allow all versions of the same work to appear in the catalog under a single title. In this way an arrangement titled “Largo from the New World Symphony” will also appear with one titled “Symphony No. 5 in E minor” (the publisher’s original numbering) under the same uniform title: Symphony no. 9, op. 95, E minor, “From the New World”.

You can copy the uniform title from another library catalog to use in your own. There are also several books and Internet resources that explain how to create a uniform title.2 To construct your own uniform title, simply apply a formula to accommodate all components of the title, adding or omitting as many as are applicable to the work:

Form, Medium of Performance (if necessary), serial no., opus or catalog no., key, subtitle

Concerto for Piano, no. 17, K. 453, G major

Symphony, no. 6, op. 68, F major, “Pastoral”

Symphony, op. 51, B-flat major

Be consistent in entering this information. Ensure that you are typing the details accurately and using commas, periods, and spaces between characters in the same order every time so the computer collates the entries in the proper order.

For excerpts from a larger work, apply the same formula to the larger work title and put the excerpt at the end of the entry. The computer will sort the larger works first, followed by the excerpts:

Symphony, no. 9, op. 95, E minor, “From the New World”: 2. Largo

Concerto for Trumpet, Hob. VIIe:1, E-flat major: 1. Allegro

■Composers

Sousa, John Philip

Weber, Carl Maria von

Because composer names may be spelled differently from publisher to publisher (particularly transliterations of Russian names), choose a book, website, or other source to standardize how you enter these names. This source will be the “authority” that you use when entering these names, either to catalog their works or to search for their works in your catalog.

■Inventory Forms

A music inventory form can show how many parts there are in a set and also the number of players needed to perform the work. When filling out an inventory form, watch for these situations:

clarinet inventory

In this example, two players are required for the E-flat Clarinet part. The “Solo & 1st Clarinet” part is labeled for two instruments, but has only one instrumental line, so only one player is needed. The “2nd & 3rd Clarinet” part does have two instrumental lines so two players are needed.

These are often transpositions of the same music, although some composers may write separate parts for these instruments, such as are found in Schoenberg’s Theme and Variations, op. 43a, Grainger’s Lincolnshire Posy, Kenneth Alford marches, and many works from the British band repertoire. Be sure that both parts are inventoried and distributed for each performance.

These should be inventoried with the horn parts, not with saxophone parts. If you have both E-flat Alto and F Horn parts, both should be indicated on your inventory.3

horn inventory

■Instrumentation Codes

The instrumentation of a work can be condensed to a series of numbers and/or letters that can then be recorded and possibly searched for in a computer catalog or database.

Several books and catalogs use instrumentation codes.4 A simple code, based on the one used by David Daniels in his catalog, Orchestral Music, A Handbook,5 indicates the number of players necessary on each instrument to perform the work:6

James Reese Europe, “Castle House Rag”

1 1 5 1 4 — 4 5 3 1 1 — 4 perc

This decodes as: 1 flute, 1 oboe, 5 clarinets, 1 bassoon, 4 saxophones — 4 horns, 5 cornets/trumpets, 3 trombones, 1 baritone/euphonium, 1 tuba, and 4 percussion.

With the addition of some alphanumeric abbreviations, the numerical code can also indicate specifically what instruments are required:

1[P] 1 5[1a.1b.2.3.Eb] 1 4[SATBar] — 4[Eb] 5[Cor:Eb.Solo.1,2,3] 3 1 1 — 4 perc

Now it can be seen that the flute player must play piccolo; the five clarinets consist of two players on a divisi 1st part plus 2nd, 3rd, and E-flat parts; the four saxes required are soprano, alto, tenor and baritone; the four horns must play from E-flat parts; and five cornets (one E-flat, one solo, and one 1st, 2nd, and 3rd) are required, but no trumpets are needed.

If this information would be helpful in your library catalog, copy, adapt, or develop a code that will be as specific as necessary for your library collection.

1 See this bibliography for a list of resources to help with performance library cataloging.

2 Ibid.

3 The monograph “Uncommon Band Instruments” identifies some of these now uncommon instruments such as the alto and tenor horns. The document can be found online in the files area of the Orchestra Library Information (OLI) group: https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/OrchLibInfo/files/Study%20Guides/.

4 Examples of several codes can be found in A Manual for the Performance Library by Russ Girsberger (Music Library Association Basic Manual Series, 6. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press and the Music Library Association, 2006). A more recent dissertation demonstrated a code for wind ensemble repertoire: “Band Music, A Handbook: A Comprehensive Catalog of Band Music Written Since 1995,” by Christopher M. Cicconi (DMA diss., University of Miami, 2012).

5 David Daniels, Orchestral Music: A Handbook, 4th ed. (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2005). Available online by subscription at http://www.orchestralmusic.com.

6 Note that these are the minimum number of players required for each part. Some parts could be doubled depending on the size of the ensemble, while other parts could also be omitted at the discretion of the conductor.