LibGuides: Music: Sheet Music & Scores

General Info on Sheet Music & Scores

A note on terminology: "sheet music" and "music score" are often used interchangeably, although "scores" can also be used to refer to sheet music that is bound together and contains multiple parts on one page (e.g., vocals and instrumentals all printed together). On this guide, I will primarily refer to "sheet music" as the more generic form.

Searching CLIO for Sheet Music

All sheet music will be either in the Columbia Gabe M. Wiener Music & Arts Library, or from offsite locations
Limit the Format to "Music - Score"
Use the composer's last name; no initials or punctuation
State generic titles in English, and use the plural (like "symphonies" or "concertos", not "sinfonia" or "konzert")
Use an opus number or serial number if known, and use standard abbreviations (like op. 5, no. 6, or BWV 427)
State unique titles in their original language (like "Nozze di Figaro" not "Marriage of Figaro")
Check the preferred titles list for alternate terms
If a piece is part of a larger work (such as an aria in an opera), try searching for the larger work as well
Use the search term "parts" to find chamber or performance parts sets

What happens if I need a piece of sheet music that isn't at Columbia or Barnard?

Check some of our online sheet music databases if you haven't already for the piece(s) you're looking for
Both Borrow Direct and Interlibrary Loan allow the lending of sheet music from other libraries.
The New York Public Library's Library of Performing Arts (NYPL LPA) has circulating sheet music

Copyright

Many sources of online music scores have become available over the internet in recent years. Please be aware that copyright laws vary a great deal in different countries with regard to digitized works; take care to follow the laws that are relevant to your particular situation.

The website "Copyright Term and Public Domain in the United States" can serve as a starting place for determining the copyright situation for the materials you wish to use, but keep in mind that this only applies to the U.S.

Sheet Music in Print

All print sheet music & scores are located at Columbia's Gabe M. Wiener Music & Arts Library.

What happens if I need a piece of sheet music that isn't at Columbia or Barnard?

Check some of our online sheet music databases if you haven't already for the piece(s) you're looking for
Both Borrow Direct and Interlibrary Loan allow the lending of sheet music from other libraries.
The New York Public Library's Library of Performing Arts (NYPL LPA) has circulating sheet music

Music Indexes

Music indexes are the best way to find where (and if) a piece of music has been published.

Index to printed music
The Index to Printed Music (IPM) is the only electronic resource for finding individual pieces of music published in standard scholarly editions, such as composers' collected works, published in sets and series, organized by composer, geographical area, or by time or style period. With over 307,000 index records, the database contains detailed indexing including, but not limited to, composers, editors, poets, librettists, performing force (medium), format, genres, musical incipits (for identification), etc. A separate collections authority allows users to search for musical collections as well as individual musical compositions

Digital Sheet Music

Classical Scores Library
Large and expanding collection of both in-copyright and public domain editions and manuscripts of music scores, mostly from the classical repertory. Includes works by major and lesser-known composers spanning the Renaissance to the 21st century in full, study, and piano-vocal scores, and piano reductions.
IMSLP
Canadian Web site sponsored by the International Music Score Library Project and dedicated to creating "a virtual library containing all public domain music scores, as well as scores from composers who are willing to share their music with the world without charge."
Naxos Sheet Music
Offering over 40,000 sheet music titles, Naxos Sheet Music delivers digital sheet music in all classical genres, spanning music from Medieval to the 21st century and composers from Bach to Arvo Pärt. Music can be downloaded and printed, and many works can also be transposed into any key or clef.
A-R Editions' online music anthology
NOTE: Use the "Search" tab to find scores and articles. A database of music scores and commentary containing representative vocal and instrumental compositions from antiquity through the nineteenth century. The database has been designed for customized use in music history classes. Searching criteria include composer, title, genre, language, historical period and language. All selections are available for printing.
Babel Scores: Contemporary Music Online
BabelScores is a French-based structure arising from the need to diffuse and promote contemporary music from the last 40 years, rendering information more easily available to everyone worldwide. Looks into and selects the works of the most creative, original and innovative composers of the past few decades offering a wide catalogue and setting up a powerful circulation platform without any restrictions and especially addressed to instrumentalists, ensembles, orchestras, composers, musicologists, conservatories, universities and festivals throughout the world

Musical Scores (Eastman School of Music)
Growing collection of public domain scores from the collections of the Sibley Music Library, Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester.
Sheet Music Consortium
The Sheet Music Consortium is a group of libraries working toward the goal of building an open collection of digitized sheet music using the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting. Harvested metadata about sheet music in participating collections is hosted by UCLA Digital Library Program, which provides an access service via this metadata to sheet music records at the host libraries. Data providers have chosen to catalog their sheet music in different ways, but a large proportion of the original sheets in participating collections has been digitized, allowing users direct access to the music itself and in many cases covers and advertisements that offer evidence of the cultural context in which the songs were published.

These databases also contain some digital sheet music/scores, but in addition to other document types.

African American Music Reference
African American Music Reference is bringing togther text reference, biographies, chronologies, sheet music, images, lyrics, liner notes, and discographies which chronicle the diverse history and culture of the African American experience through music. The database is constantly expanding to include comprehensive coverage of blues, jazz, spirituals, civil rights songs, slave songs, minstrelsy, rhythm and blues, gospel, and other forms of black American musical expression.
Music online
Cross-searches audio, video, scores, and full-text reference content from all Alexander Street Press music databases. Includes African American music reference, American song, Classical music library, Classical music reference library, Classical scores library, Contemporary world music, Dance in video.
Garland encyclopedia of world music, Opera in video, African American music, Smithsonian global sound for libraries, & Jazz music library.

Open Music Library
Curated by a community of music scholars, students, teachers and librarians, the Open Music Library brings together peer-reviewed journal articles, books, music scores, audio, and video recordings from the world’s digital collections.
Library of Congress: Notated Music
Includes digitized American sheet music from the 19th and 20th centuries

Music

Preferred Titles in Music

Research Librarian

General Info on Sheet Music & Scores

Searching CLIO for Sheet Music

What happens if I need a piece of sheet music that isn't at Columbia or Barnard?

Copyright

Many sources of online music scores have become available over the internet in recent years. Please be aware that copyright laws vary a great deal in different countries with regard to digitized works; take care to follow the laws that are relevant to your particular situation.

The website "Copyright Term and Public Domain in the United States" can serve as a starting place for determining the copyright situation for the materials you wish to use, but keep in mind that this only applies to the U.S.

Sheet Music in Print

All print sheet music & scores are located at Columbia's Gabe M. Wiener Music & Arts Library.

What happens if I need a piece of sheet music that isn't at Columbia or Barnard?

Music Indexes

Digital Sheet Music