Music Research

A list of Library of Congress Call Numbers to help you browse scores by composition type and instrumentation.

Art Song Central is principally an archive and directory of free, printable public domain sheet music for singers and voice teachers. An emphasis is placed on standard classical and traditional repertoire.

Public domain band music from 1870s-1922

The Contemporary Music Score Collection is published by the UCLA Music Library. The collection includes the digital, open access scores from the Contemporary Score Edition series, the first open access edition of new music published by a library, and scores from the Kaleidoscope 2020 Call for Scores, an open access collaboration with the UCLA Music Library. The Contemporary Score Edition is made possible because of the Hugo and Christine Davise Fund for Contemporary Music.

EVE is a list of annotated links to digitized and scanned musical scores as well as projects focused on digital scores. It includes open-access projects from which music may be downloaded and in some cases searched, analyzed, listened to, visualized, and re-edited.

The largest collection of public domain music scores available online

2124 pieces of music – free to download, modify, print, copy, distribute, perform, and record – all in the Public Domain or under Creative Commons licenses, in PDF, MIDI, and editable LilyPond file formats.

The Public Domain Song Anthology by David Berger and Chuck Israels is a collection of 348 popular songs with modern and traditional harmonization for both study and performance. This open educational resource was curated by two leading jazz repertory experts and consists of songs in the US public domain. This anthology is the first of its kind and is free for students and performers to use, adapt, remix, and share. The songs, many of which are at risk of being forgotten, are free of copyright restrictions and are available in multiple formats to promote greater usage and dissemination.

RISM Online (Répertoire International des Sources Musicales), a service from the RISM Digital Center, is a database that provides access to music manuscripts, printed music editions, writings on music theory, and libretti that are found in libraries, archives, churches, schools, and private collections worldwide. Multiple entry points, with extensive Source, Person, and Institution search interfaces, provide users with the ability to quickly narrow down relevant results using several different approaches, including keyword searches, filters, and relationship information.

Borrow materials from other libraries in the US and internationally