Have you ever needed or wanted to find a piece of music and found you had to go digging around in cabinets where pieces were not kept in a particular order, or that you had to go digging around in piles of music that were not yet organized? I have even seen libraries and offices where sheet music lay strewn about on the floor!
Hey, I'm not making any judgments here. What I am saying is that your time is valuable, and our goal is always to push ourselves to accomplish more for the program in the same amount of time. If your library isn't well organized, then this is something that is no doubt eating up your time. Perhaps you've even had to pause class because someone was missing a part, and then you either had to go find it or send a student to go find it (while other teachers have procedures to do these things outside of class, in either case somebody isn't playing for a while).
The bottom line is this - having a well organized music library will save you time. Not only that, but it will contribute to a clutter free environment, which not only helps your students to have more respect for the program, but it also reduces your stress level!
You're Going to Need Few Things
Before we get to the grueling task of organizing all of that loose music, we need to make sure we have some essentials.
1. Filing Cabinets - Which type you use is up to you. Of course you probably already have filing cabinets, but do you have enough? In this recent project we actually found so many pieces that had not yet been added to the library that we ran out of cabinet space!
2. Music Envelopes - Ideally you'd like to have the blank envelopes that publishers give you to keep your score and original parts in.
3. Markers - For labeling.
4. A LOT of open space (such as the band hall floor).
Throw Away What You Don't Need
It can be difficult to throw away music, especially when you're not sure if you have all the parts you need or not. If it's a copy, chances are you can afford to toss it, but this is up to you. At the end of the day you only really need one part per instrument and enough scores for you and three adjudicators.
Unfortunately for this project, and depending on how you are, you may not throw away much of anything until close to the end. You will regroup and reassemble many pieces of music, but when you get down to the end you might find that you lack complete sets. At this point, it's really up to you whether you toss it or file it. Either way, if you ever want to play those, you'll have to borrow it or purchase a new set.
Unfortunately for this project, and depending on how you are, you may not throw away much of anything until close to the end. You will regroup and reassemble many pieces of music, but when you get down to the end you might find that you lack complete sets. At this point, it's really up to you whether you toss it or file it. Either way, if you ever want to play those, you'll have to borrow it or purchase a new set.
Group Music Into Piles
Maybe you've tossed some stuff, maybe you haven't. In either case, now comes the bulk of the task. Make sure you have a large, cleared space where you can make easily accessible piles of music. You may have piles of music that are unorganized, or if it's worse you have music strewn randomly about the floor. In either case, make or grab a pile of unsorted music, and start sorting it into organized piles. Every time you come across a new piece of music, start a new pile for it. I wouldn't worry about score order for now.
This can take some time, and you'll want some help. You can continue to throw away what you don't need as you come across it. You may soon find yourself in a position where there are so many piles it's difficult to remember where you put something. Don't get frustrated! This is natural. In the recent project I was involved with, at one point we had 50-60+ separate piles of music laying out, and finding it was a slow task.
Something else to consider as well. If you have a written list or a database of the music you already have on file, you may be tempted to go ahead and file the loose music as you go. I wouldn't do that, as it will take much more time. If you wait until all of the music has been sorted, you can file away all the loose music at once.
Contain the Music in Envelopes
In many cases you worry about containers after you've decided where to put something, but in our case the reverse it true. For any music that has not been filed in the past, you'll need a new envelope. Label each envelope with the title, composer, classification, and any additional information you might want. Finally, add a library number. The easiest numbering system is one in which pieces are numbered for the order in which they were filed. A lot of your music has probably already been filed in the past, in which case you simply need to pull out the respective envelop and refile it. Hopefully you have a list or preferably a computer database to help you with this part. In our case, we found a list while going through the piles (the director asked a student to make this list the year before), and I created a database using that list. This allowed us to return most of the music we found, and then correctly number the 30-40 pieces of music that had not previously been added to the library.
Give Your Music a Home (in the Library)
You may be tempted, once you insert a pile of music into an envelope and label it, to immediately file it away. If the music is already in the library and needs to be returned to its file, then go for it, but otherwise try to wait until you can file all of your music at once. This is one of the most rewarding parts of the job, because piles suddenly vanish and your music cabinets suddenly fill up.
Remember that you'll also want a place for your solo and ensemble music, as well as any method books you have. Those don't necessarily need files. Nor do band method/warm up books. What you will need for these instead is dividers. Whatever you use for these dividers, make sure you label them and make sure they're tall enough to peek out over the music you're filing. From now on you should be able to take a quick glance at the labels and immediately access all of the methods, solo and ensemble music you have for a given instrument.
The labeling shouldn't stop there, either. Go ahead and label the cabinets, too. For example, if you know that a certain cabinet contains music C100 - C189, cut off a piece of white tape, stick it on the cabinet door, and label it as such. Granted, you can probably remember these things yourself, but you want the library to be so well organized that a stranger could access anything they needed with as little experience as possible.
Some Other Thoughts...
Creating a Database
If you don't have your music in a database format yet, make that the next big step. Don't be afraid to let students help with this project, either. I've seen libraries with several hundred pieces in the concert collection, and I've seen libraries with well over a thousand. You'll want a plan of attack.
The director at this school asked a student to go through and hand write a list. You might use this as a starting point. Ask them to write down the library number, title, composer, and classification. The less information you require, the easier the task will be.
Once you have the list (or even as it's being developed over a period of days), you can start the database. I used Microsoft Access, but you may be using CHARMS. Personally, I would recommend using a program you have on your computer so that nothing important can get lost through a subscription service. Besides, I'm sure you can import databases into CHARMS. I'm not sure, but I would hope so.
With a database you have an incredible time saving tool. Using this allows you to search your database (with Ctrl + F) and instantly find what you're looking for (or check if you have it). You can also sort the list by title, composer, or classification. But even if you're a skilled typist, this project can take some time. Even with a list of about 500 pieces, it still took me about 6-8 hours to complete. If you have a student who is good with the databasing program, you might choose to delegate this project as well.
A Student Run Library
Finally, at the high school level I would strongly consider a student run library. You can add trays where the music being worked on by each band is kept until after the concert, so that when copies are needed they can be more easily accessed. You can easily put up a list where students can write their name, instrument, and what piece they need a part of, and when the Librarian checks in during lunch or after school they can quickly get it done and place that music in an "Outgoing" bin in the band hall where the student can pick it up while getting ready for rehearsal the next day.
Many teachers do this for their students, and I'm not sure why. In high school I was also in a JROTC corps, and the students ran almost every aspect of the corps with little assistance, and mostly just supervision. The retired service members taught the classes, passed down orders, handled the budget, submitted grades, acted as public relations, and booked events when someone called needing a flag detail or something of that sort. They did a lot, but they didn't really run the organization. At one point I was a grunt, and later the officer for Personnel, which was responsible for physical and digital record keeping of personnel files. Every six weeks we updated every corps member's file for promotions, awards, etc, in addition to other things. I can't remember what it was called, but there was also a group that handled inventory, such as uniforms, including shoes, rank, special chords, award ribbons, caps, weapons for the drill team, etc. They maintained the room where all of this stuff was kept, issued out equipment, kept track of who had what, and so on.
My point being, high school students, when trained and empowered, are perfectly capable of maintaining something like a music library and making copies for students. You simply need to ensure they have an organized system to use, and that they're trained on it. Accept nothing less than good work. If the library starts to get out of order, get someone else who will do it right. But if you select a good student and explain that it should be done to your specifications, chances are they will do a good job.
Well, some of that may have been boring, but I hope it was helpful. I enjoyed the experience of restoring a library. It was my first real experience of getting familiar with a library system, and it also gave me some ideas for when I have to manage a library later. Do you have any tips for easier library organization or additional thoughts on databases or student run libraries? I'd love to hear about them in the comment section below!
Thank you, as always, for reading, and until next time, take care!
Musically yours,
Mr. Cooper
This was extremely instructive and useful in my work as a Professional Organizer. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteOne quick question: Do such libraries have an intrinsic, secondary/resale value? If and when a music director retires, could (s)he sell her collection to someone else in the same line of business/vocation? Is this sth. people do?
Many thanks for responding.
Thanks for reading! Sorry I've taken so long to respond. I've put the blog on hold for a while until I see greater results in my teaching, so I haven't been checking for comments. To answer your question, in my case, I am responsible for the school's music library (which is housed in one of our office areas). I couldn't resell it because it is school property. As far as personal music libraries go, I'm sure you could resell it as you would anything else, but you might want to check the law first. The law is getting a little stranger when it comes to property rights in general, and music is a little more tricky. Still, I don't see why not. I will say that it's not common. If someone were to look at your music library, they might be interested in individual pieces, but probably not an entire collection. The music genre is so diverse that each person will have specific needs and tastes, and literally hundreds of new band works are published every year, and even more works for solo and chamber ensembles. Musicians typically do hours of research when choosing what sheet music to purchase! Hope this helps.
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