Johns Hopkins University Library Guides - Music

Featured Site

Lester S. Levy Collection of Sheet Music

Over 29,000 pieces of American popular music from Special Collections at the Milton S. Eisenhower Library of The Johns Hopkins University. Especially strong in music spawned by military conflicts from the War of 1812 through World War I as well as minstrel music.

Online Scores

Due to copyright restrictions, much music is unavailable on the Internet unless you are looking to purchase copies.

Sheet music sites below deal with historical, public-domain music.

Sheet Music Consortium
Includes Johns Hopkins University, UCLA, Indiana University, and Duke University
American Memory
Library of Congress; see Performing Arts, Music.
IMSLP / Petrucci Music Library
Choral Public Domain Library
Chopin Online Catalog
University of Chicago
Julliard Manuscript Collection

Search the JHU Libraries Catalog

Find printed music and scores in the JHU libraries by searching below.

See specialized help in finding music materials from the Friedheim Library.

Search by Instrumentation

Musical Instrument codes identify the instruments used in a musical work. See below for a list of codes you can use to search.

About Musical Instrumentation Codes

Musical Instrument codes are used in much music cataloging to identify the instruments used in a musical work. They consist of a four place code--the first two places are an alphabetical code for type of instrument or voice; the second two places show the number of performers.

For example, ba is the code for horn, thus ba01 is the code for one horn and ba02 indicates a work with two horns. To specify a work which includes a soprano, a clarinet and a piano set the keyword to musical instrument code, and enter va01 ka01 wc01.

The codes are classed by families:

b Brass
- ba horn
- bb trumpet
- bc cornet
- bd trombone
- be tuba
- bf baritone
c Choruses
- ca Mixed voices
- cb Women's
- cc Men's
- cd children's
e Electronic
- ea Synthesizer
- eb Tape
- ec Computer
- ed Ondes Martinot
k Keyboard
- ka Piano
- kb Organ
- kc Harpsichord
- kd Clavichord
- ke Continuo
- kf Celeste
o Large Ensembles
- oa Full orchestra
- ob Chamber orchestra
- oc String orchestra
- od Band
- of brass band
p Percussion
- pa Timpani
- pb Xylophone
- pc Marimba
- pd Drum

s Strings, bowed
- sa Violin
- sb Viola
- sc Violoncello
- sd Double bass
- se Viol
- sf Viola d'amore
- sg Viola da gamba
t Strings, plucked
- ta Harp
- tb Guitar
- tc Lute
- td Mandolin
v Voices
- va Soprano
- vb Mezzo soprano
- vc Alto
- vd Tenor
- ve Baritone
- vf Bass
- vg Counter tenor
- vh High voice
- vi Medium voice
- vj Low voice
- vn Narrator or unspecified
w Woodwinds
- wa flute
- wb oboe
- wc clarinet
- wd Bassoon
- we Piccolo
- wf English horn
- wg Bass clarinet
- wh Recorder
- wi Saxophone