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Music Resources: Books, Ebooks & Media

Books, Ebooks and More!

Use the Library Search to search for books, ebooks, CDs, and DVDs, and a few VHS tapes. Don't let format keep you from accessing great materials! There is a VHS/DVD player in the assistive technology room, and you can check out an external drive to play CDs and DVDs in the library--just bring your earbuds or headphones! All physical materials are organized by the Library of Congress Classification. A guide to call numbers based on the Upstate Library collection can be found in the Browsing the Music Collection box.

Library Search

Tips:

  • By default, the Library Search searches the library's physical collections (books, CDs, DVDs), ebooks, and a selection of article databases
  • Select @USC Upstate Library to limit to ebooks, books and media in the local collection.
  • Sign in to the Library Search (top right side) to add additional results from databases that require a separate login, to access your account, and to request materials from the circulating collection and PASCAL Delivers
  • Use the Advanced Search to search fields like title and author or to limit to material type, the library catalog (@USC Upstate Library), PASCAL Delivers, or Course Reserves.
  • Links to the left of the search results can be used to limit your results to types of sources or material (for example, choose "Available online" to limit to ebooks or "Held by library" to limit to print books and other physical materials).

Although ebooks appear in your Library Search results, you can also search our two principal ebook collections directly:

Browsing the Music Collection

Physical music materials in the Upstate Library may be found in three locations in the first-floor stacks. Check the Library Search catalog record for location of individual items.

  • Reference (Library Use Only) - The most useful and up-to-date reference books. Look here for encyclopedias, dictionaries and specialized reference books like the Rolling Stone Index.
  • General Circulating Collection - Books, Scores, CDs, Videos that are available to check out. Most music materials will be found here.
  • Oversize Collection - Books, Scores, and CD sets that do not fit on standard library shelves. These are also available to check out. They are located directly after the Reference section.

The Upstate Library uses the Library of Congress classification system that divides music into three broad areas:

  • M = Musical scores and audio and video recordings of actual performances of music. Most of the library's CD collection and many videos are shelved in the Ms along with scores and transcriptions of recorded performances.
  • ML = Literature about music. Biographies, histories, documentaries, and some historically-based CD/DVD anthologies are shelved in the MLs.
  • MT = Materials for the teaching and study of music. Some historical or practical materials with a strong analytical or didactic bent are also shelved in the MTs.

Explore the tabs in this box to find concentrations of materials for particular musical styles and genres.

M 1000-1075 Orchestral music

M 1500 Opera

ML 50 Opera librettos

ML 198-360 history by region or country

ML 410 Biography of composers

ML 550-1380 Musical instruments and instrumental music

ML 1700  history of opera

Books and recordings on jazz are scattered throughout the collection, but there are several areas of concentration that lend themselves to browsing:

M 1366 contains most jazz recordings and transcriptions

ML 417-419 contains many biographies of jazz musicians

ML 3506-3518 history of jazz

MT 68 instruction books on jazz styles and improvisation

Popular music does not always fit comfortably into a classification scheme that was created primarily to organize Western Classical music. Individual items of relevance will be scattered throughout the collection. Nevertheless, there are some clusters of materials that lend themselves to browsing:

M 1629-1630s contain popular songs

M 1630.18 and M1741.18 contain many of the Rock CDs.

ML 400 collective biographies of singers

ML 410-429 Biographies of singers, songwriters, and lyricists will be scattered throughout this section

ML 420 and 421 contain several biographies of Rock and popular musicians.

ML 3470-3562 Popular music and song

ML 3534 contains many books about the history of Rock.

Popular music in general does not always fit comfortably into a classification scheme that was created primarily to organize Western Classical music. Individual items of relevance to the study of popular song and musical theater will be scattered throughout the three sections. Nevertheless, there are some clusters of materials that lend themselves to browsing:

M 1366 contains some vocal music related to jazz

M 1503-1507 include lighter forms of dramatic music, including operetta, musicals, and anthologies of excerpts from musical theater

ML 48-54.6 librettos and books for operas and musicals, lyrics of popular and art songs

ML 400 collective biographies of singers

ML 410-429 Biographies of singers, songwriters, and lyricists will be scattered throughout this section

ML 1711.8, 2054, 2075 have concentrations of books about Broadway and Hollywood musicals and songs

ML 3470-3562 Popular music and song