Guide To Finding Guitar Music and Related Materials in the UNC Music Library

Finding Music || Books || Journals || Browsing

Finding Music

Online Catalog

The best way to search for specific scores or recordings online is through a KEYWORD search, using the most distinctive words in the author's name and work title.

If you select a material type (e.g., musical score or music recording) from the drop-down box under "Optional Search Limits," you can limit the search to that format only.

Catalog records for music usually include uniform titles for the works included. Because uniform titles are often constructed in the plural (e.g., the uniform title for Beethoven's Ninth Symphony is "Symphonies, no. 9, op. 125, D minor"), we suggest you use a "?" to truncate certain terms. See the sample searches below.

To increase the accuracy of your search, include the opus or thematic number of the work. If you do not know the opus or thematic number, see the composer's works list accompanying his or her entry in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd ed. (Ref. ML100.N48 2000, also available in an online version).

Card Catalog

If you do not find the music you want online, check the card catalog, as some of the Music Library's holdings are not yet cataloged online. To search for a specific piece, look under the composer's last name. Works are listed alphabetically behind the composer's name, according the uniform title.


If you do not find what you want in either the online or card catalog, use WorldCat under Music Resources on the UNC Music Library home page to search for a library that owns it and will interlibrary loan it to you. Ask a staff member if you need help.

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Selected Books

Repertoire Guides

• MacAuslan, Janna, and Kristan Aspen. Guitar music by women composers: an annotated catalog. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1997.
  Ref. ML128.G8 M33 1997

• Moser, Wolf. Gitarre-Musik: ein internationaler Katalog. Hamburg: J. Trekel, 1985.
  Ref. ML128.G8 M67 1985

• The New Grove dictionary of music and musicians. 2nd ed. New York: Grove's Dictionaries, 2000.
  Ref. ML100.N48 2000 (The works lists at the end of composer articles indicate thematic numbers as well as where in that composer's collected works a particular piece can be found.)

Other Resources

• McCutcheon, Meredith Alice. Guitar and vihuela: an annotated bibliography. New York: Pendragon Press, 1985.
  Ref. ML128.G8 M45 1985

• Mongan, Norman. The History of the guitar in jazz. New York: Oak Publications, 1983.
  ML1015.G9 M66 1983

• Rezits, Joseph. The Guitarist's resource guide: guitar music in print and books on the art of the guitar. San Diego: Pallma Music Company, 1983.
  Ref. ML128.G8 R5 1983

• Stimpson, Michael. The Guitar: a guide for students and teachers. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988.
  ML1015.G9 G825 1988

• Turnbull, Harvey. The Guitar from the Renaissance to the present day. New York: Scribner, 1974.
  ML1015.G9 T9 1974b

• Wade, Graham. Traditions of the classical guitar. London: Calder, 1980.
  ML1015.G9 W2

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Journals

Recent issues of journals are kept in the stacks. Bound issues are shelved in the Reference room (titles from A-O) and the stacks (titles from P-Z). The library currently receives the following journals pertaining to the guitar:

• Il Fronimo
• Guitar Review

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Browsing

Because books and scores are classified--that is, grouped with similar items on the shelf--browsing can be an effective method for finding what you want. The following Library of Congress classifications can serve as a guide for browsing in the stacks (this is not a complete list):

You can also browse the online and card catalogs by SUBJECT HEADING. A complete list of subject headings may be found in the book Music Subject Headings (Ref. ML111.H36 1998), which is bound in red and kept on the index tables in the Reference Room. Guitar subject headings begin on page 257. The following are a few examples:

• Flute and guitar music
• Guitar history
• Guitar instruction and study
• Guitar methods
• Guitar music (yields music for solo guitar)
• Guitar music guitars 2 (yields music for 2 guitars)
• Guitar music history and criticism
• Guitar studies and exercises
• Guitar with orchestra

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