LibGuides: Finding Music Materials: Printed Music Formats

Score Formats

A word about terminology: "printed music" is used here to refer to contemporary printed editions of music scores. "Sheet music" usually refers to historic printed music (generally popular, but sometimes "classical") from the 19th and early 20th centuries. For more information about historic sheet music, see Illinois' own historic sheet music collections.

Scores come in different types or formats. The online library catalog record for an item will give you clues as to the format of the item. You can include terms like "vocal scores," parts, or libretto in your keyword search. All score formats listed below are shelved together on the second floor of MPAL, with miniature scores and oversized scores having their own shelving areas.

A Note About Editions

There are different types of editions for printed music and which you choose depends upon what you need it for. You might need more than one edition of a work for comparison purposes.

Critical edition: often referred to collected works or monuments, these editions include scholarly background information and commentary about the works and are carefully edited. Usually found in the M2s and M3s in the Reference section, these items don't circulate and are not meant to be performed from in most circumstances.
Performing edition: these are the scores that you will find on the second floor of MPAL in our circulating collection. These vary greatly in quality based on publisher and editor, and your studio professor will likely have strong opinions about which ones you should use. Some include a lot of editorial marks (bowings, breath marks, fingerings, etc.) and may be unique to that editor (often a famous performer). Editions from publishers like Henle and Wiener Urtext are generally of good quality, while editions from publishers like International Music should be used cautiously.
Urtext: "A term used in studying and editing musical sources to signify the earliest version of the text of any composition, musical or otherwise, a version that is usually no longer extant; it is also used to signify a modern edition of earlier music which purports to present the original text, without editorial addition or emendation." (from Grove Music Online)

New!

The Library now has access to Music Online: Classical Scores Library. These online scores can also be found through the library catalog.

Music Online: Classical Scores Library
This series of four volumes provides a reliable and authoritative source for scores of the classical canon, as well as a resource for the discovery of lesser-known contemporary works. The collections encompass all major classical musical genres and time periods from the Middle Ages to the 21st century. It includes full, study, piano, and vocal scores, enhancing the study of music history, performance, composition and theory.

Printed music

The Details section in a catalog record provides important information about the format of the printed music, specifically the Genre and Format sections.

Full score

shows all instruments/voices in a work of music.

Miniature score (or study or pocket score)

Shows all instruments/voices in a work of music, but produced in a small size. Call numbers start with "MM" and are shelved separately from the other scores in our collection.

Vocal score (or piano-vocal score)

for operas or other choral/orchestral works; provides the vocal parts and presents the instrumental parts in a piano reduction or accompaniment.

Score and parts (or just parts)

For chamber music (2 or more players/singers) the printed music may be a score, showing all parts together, and/or include separate parts, one for each performer and their voice/instrument.