Have a question? Need assistance? Use our online form to ask a librarian for help.
This page offers information that may help patrons narrow their search for published sheet music for voice and piano in the Music Division's extensive on-site collections.
Patrons can use the Library's Class M schedule to identify specific categories under which popular sheet music for voice and piano may be located. Sheet music for voice and piano often is not cataloged individually. Instead, most of this sheet music is filed alphabetically by the composer's last name within a specific call number in the Class M schedule. Classifications exist for specific geographic regions, political movements and parties, religions, sports, wars and other conflicts, fraternal organizations, patriotic themes, specific indigenous groups, and more.
Depending on its lyrical content, year of publication, and country of origin, there may be multiple options for a piece's classification. For example, before the late 1960s, popular sheet music for piano and voice published in foreign countries was classified under the specific call number for that country. Moreover, the Music Division holds very little foreign sheet music for voice and piano published before 1900. Similarly, popular sheet music for voice and piano from before 1870 is organized chronologically by year.
Patrons can use the Library's Class M schedule to identify specific categories of sheet music, but there are several broader classifications that can be a good place to begin a search. Songs by turn-of-the-century Tin Pan Alley composers, for example, that are not tied to a specific musical are frequently found under the following two call numbers.
Within these classifications, sheet music is filed by the composer's last name. For example, the call number for songs written by Burt Bacharach is M1630.2.B.
The following are just a few select examples of specific classifications in which to search for popular sheet music for voice and piano. Use the Library's Class M schedule to help you find many additional categories.
Links to the Library's Online Catalog have been provided where possible, but because not all popular sheet music for voice and piano is individually cataloged, these search results are not comprehensive.
In one notable exception, selections of popular sheet music for voice and piano in the M1508 call number are organized by the title of the show. The Library's It's Showtime! Sheet Music from Stage and Screen database allows researchers to search our M1508 holdings by show title, song title, composer, and lyricist. The database does not provide access to digitized scores.
