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

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Finding Music || Selected 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 Hammerklavier Sonata is "Sonatas, piano, no. 29, op. 106, B flat 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

• Drucker, Arno P. American piano trios: a resource guide. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 1999.
  Ref. ML128.C4 D78 1999

• Hinson, Maurice. Guide to the pianist's repertoire. 3rd. ed. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2000.
  Ref. ML128.P3 H5 2000

• Hinson, Maurice. Music for more than one piano: an annotated guide. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2001.
  Ref. ML128.P3 H52 2001

• Hinson, Maurice. Music for piano and orchestra: an annotated guide. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1993.
  Ref. ML128.P3 H53 1993

• Hinson, Maurice. The Pianist's guide to transcriptions, arrangements, and paraphrases. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1990.
  Ref. ML128.P3 H536 1990

• Magrath, Jane. The Pianist's guide to standard teaching and performance literature. Van Nuys, CA: Alfred Publishing, 1995.
  Ref. ML128.P3 M24 1995

• McGraw, Cameron. Piano duet repertoire: music originally written for one piano, four hands. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1981.
  Ref. ML128.P3 M2

• The New Grove dictionary of music and musicians. 2nd ed. New York: Grove's Dictionaries, 2000. Also available in an online version.
  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.)

• Patterson, Donald L. One handed: a guide to piano music for one hand. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1999.
  Ref. ML128.P3 P38 1999

• Walker-Hill, Helen. Piano music by black women composers: a catalog of solo and ensemble works. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1992.
  Ref. ML128.P3 W3 1992

Biographical, Bibliographical, & Historical Resources

• Dubal, David. The Art of the piano: its performers, literature, and recordings. San Diego: Harcourt Brace, 1995.
  Ref. ML105.D8 1995

• Hinson, Maurice. The Pianist's bookshelf: a practical guide to books, videos, and other resources. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1998.
  Ref. ML128.P3 H534 1998

• Kehler, George. The Piano in concert. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1982.
  Ref. ML42.A357 1982 v.1-2

• Palmieri, Robert, ed. Encyclopedia of keyboard instruments: volume 1, the piano. New York: Garland, 1994.
  Ref. ML102.K5 E53 1994 v.1

• Wolcott, Michiko Ishiyama. Piano, the instrument: an annotated bibliography. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2001.
  Ref. ML128.P3 W65 2001

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Journals

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

• Clavier
• Piano & Keyboard (formerly Piano Quarterly)
• Keyboard (formerly Contemporary Keyboard)
• Early Keyboard Journal
• Piano Guild Notes

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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. Piano subject headings begin on page 382. The following are a few examples:

• Piano history
• Piano instruction and study
• Piano performance
• Piano studies and exercises
• Piano music bibliography
• Piano music history and criticism
• Piano music 4 hands
• Piano trios
• Piano with orchestra

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