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Boatwright Memorial Library

MUSIC RESEARCH GUIDE

Resources for music research and for finding materials in Parsons Music Library

USING ONESEARCN FOR PIANO RESEARCH

If you simply enter the phrase "piano music" into Onesearch you will get thousands of titles that include books, scores, articles, and recordings. To obtain a more focused result, try choosing words from the following table:

 FOR BOOKS ABOUT:  ENTER THESE WORDS:
 History of the piano  Piano history
 Piano literature  Piano music analysis, appreciation

 

  "
 Piano music bibliography

 

  "
 Piano music history and criticism
 Piano manufacturers  Piano makers
 Piano teaching  Piano instruction and study
 Pianists (in general)  Pianists
 Performance issues  Piano music interpretation


For books about a specific composer or performer, select "in subject" in the third dropdown under the white search box. Enter the person's name (last name, first name) in the search box. For composers, scan the list of results for headings with the word "piano."

For books about a musical genre like the sonata or the concerto, you may have to try a little harder, since there are relatively few books on specific pianistic genres. Again, select "in subject" in the third dropdown under the white search box, and enter your genres in plural form (e.g. Sonatas, not Sonata), then add the word "piano." Add terms like HISTORY AND CRITICISM or ANALYSIS, APPRECIATION to exclude music scores from your results.  The following examples of subject headings can be used as models:

Sonatas (piano) Analysis, appreciation
 
Concertos (piano) History and criticism
 

If you have trouble, ask for the book, Music Subject Headings, which is kept behind the circulation desk in the Music Library.

Look out for the subdivision BIBLIOGRAPHY when searching for books about a composer or a genre. This will lead you to book-length bibliographies on your topic.

Reference Books about the Piano and its Literature

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