Music

Collection overview

A comprehensive collection of books on music, scores and periodicals, capable of supporting most aspects of music studies with material from the 15th century to the present day.

It covers primarily the music of Europe and the Americas (North and South) from earliest times to the present with smaller sections on the music of Africa and Asia, ethnomusicology, popular music and various forms of dance.

The scores collection is especially strong in collected editions and historical sets in addition to the substantial holdings of individual loanable works.

The collection as a whole is also noted for its strong foreign language component, particularly French, German, Italian and Spanish.

See our latest book acquisitions and our latest score acquisitions

Collection location

The Music Library is located on the 5th floor. It can be reached via the staircase from the entrance hall
The collection is arranged into four main sections, with each section given a different location code on the online catalogue:
- Books - MUSIC 5th floor ML
- Scores - MUSIC SCORES ML M
- Miniature scores - MUSIC MIN SCORES ML mM
- Periodicals - MUSIC 5th floor ML P
Bound periodicals are shelved in a separate alphabetical sequence after the loanable scores. Most recent unbound issues are held in the Periodicals Room on the 4th floor. For more information on finding journals, see our journals resources page
Oversize books are shelved in a separate sequence - indicated by the prefix ‘f’ or ‘folio’, before the location code
Some items are held in the closed access stacks. These will display the location Stack Service. Please request at the Stack Service desk on the 4th floor
To locate individual titles use the online catalogue

Related collections

Special Collections – especially the Littleton collection of early printed music and treatises on music, the Sir George Elvey collection, the Tudor Church Music collection and the George collection of piano music. There is a significant collection of archives on music

Classmarks for Music

Ballet	792.8
Bibliographies	016.78 - 016.7933
Composers, conductors, performers	780.92
Dance	793.3
Dictionaries	780.3 - 780.393
Ethnomusicology	781.7
General theory	781
History of music in different countries	780.93 - 780.99
Instruments and instrumental music, general	785
Jazz	785.8
Keyboard instruments, general	786
Music therapy	781.1
Opera	782
Records and recording	789.9
Rock	785.9
Sacred music, general	783
Secular vocal music, general	784
Stringed instruments, general	787
Timpani, percussion, mechanical instruments	789
Wind instruments	788

Other libraries

For more information about Music holdings in other academic libraries in the London area, please consult the M25 Consortium of Higher Education Libraries website: www.m25lib.ac.uk. For elsewhere in the UK, consult the Consortium of University and Research Libraries catalogue: www.copac.ac.uk