The Yellow Board

Music Library

Posted by JB on 5/10/2022, 1:05 pm

I've finally decided to try to get a hold on our Music Library this summer. I know it's going to be a huge undertaking, but I can't deal with the unorganized mess the previous director left behind any longer.

I've decided it's best to start from scratch. I've never done this before. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Here's my idea so far:

Step 1: Find every piece of music the school owns, and sort it into categories. I'm thinking Concert Band, Marching Band, Solo and Ensemble, and Method/Pedagogy Books. There will be sub-categories like UIL music, concert and festival, jazz, etc., but I'm only worried about getting them into the main categories right now.

Step 2: Use the Charms Library excel template to notate title, composer, etc. Upload template to Charms and print a label for each piece of music. Has anyone used the box label maker in charms? How well does it work? I've also thought about using mail merge.

Step 3: Assign a number for each piece of music. Not exactly sure how I want to do this. Thinking about assigning number ranges for each category. 0-9,999 would be concert music, 10,000-19,999 would be marching music, etc. We are a small 3A school, so I can't imagine ever having more than 10,000 pieces of music per category.

Step 4: Put music in 11.5x14.5 clasp envelopes. These are basically the same size and type of the old RBC envelopes. Attach label to each envelope.

Step 5: Place envelopes numerically into legal size filing cabinets.

Step 6: Drink an adult beverage, and pray I never have to do this again!

So, what am I missing? Is there a better way to approach this? Any and all advice is appreciated and welcomed!

Re: Music Library

Posted by Old Bison on 5/13/2022, 5:48 am, in reply to "Music Library"

I divided music out into the following categories.
U - UIL
CM - Concert March
H - Holiday (Holiday)
CB- Concert Band (anything Concert music not above)
MB - Marching Band
J - Jazz

Each piece got an identification number like U-0010 or CB-0210. This way I would not have to keep reshuffling music around in files when additional pieces were purchased.

Finally, I kept the scores separately also similarly labeled in filing cabinet in my desk with a table both printed alphabetically and by code to help me find pieces quickly. This way, if I want to pull a score to study, its right there and I don't have to pull the entire folder out to find the score.

Re: Music Library

Posted by Questioner on 5/13/2022, 12:43 am, in reply to "Music Library"

As someone who started as a music librarian in 1966 in college which had a well organized band library and then organized crazy messed up libraries for five high school bands, I have one suggestion: don't file by alphabetical order. Use a numbering system however you group your titles so all you have to do is add on at the end of your drawer or shelf. Alphabetical order will find you having to move music folders/boxes to accommodate the new music. And that sucks.

Re: Music Library

Posted by The Commish on 5/12/2022, 9:25 am, in reply to "Music Library"

I personally prefer my library to be organized by category. I'm typically searching for a specific type of piece, so it is easiest for me to go to the library and look rather than look at a list. My categories:
-UIL (Separated by grade level)
-Marches
-Pop, Pep, Patriotic
-Holiday
-Solo or Section Feature with Band accomp
-Sight-Reading
-Jazz
-Concert Music (that doesn't fall in the above)

I have everything in a shared Google Sheet (I used to use Charms, but we stopped last year).

When sorting through your music, I'd put everything in score order and get rid of all copies. If a piece is missing lots of originals, toss it. You can notate missing parts in your database so you know what needs to be ordered.

I prefer boxes. Again, I like to look at my library, so being able to read titles without digging is important.

Re: Music Library

Posted by Pig man on 5/12/2022, 5:49 am, in reply to "Music Library"

I am one of those directors who left an incredible mess for some poor souls to clean up. Music disorganization was something I inherited a number of times following a few fired folks. I often purchased a few filing cabinets as my depositories. Leaving what system was used before me intact. It had to be easy for my successor to know what had been played during my short tenure because all that I had played was in those new cabinets. Sorry Charley Successor.

Re: Music Library

Posted by Hey there on 5/11/2022, 2:05 pm, in reply to "Music Library"

I would suggest using envelopes as the boxes do take up so much more room. YES, they are easier to see but if you keep things organized alphabet then that will help. Keep a file (I use CHARMS too - though it drives me nuts now). Label your cabinets in a way they can be interchanged. Someone below (ME) has a good method but do what you need. Get help from students. Throw out trash and COPIED parts as much as possible. When doing in charms you can also put in keys, time signs, other things but this will add a LOT more time to your project (though worth it later)

Re: Music Library

Posted by Grubbs on 5/11/2022, 2:04 pm, in reply to "Music Library"

I did this a few years ago. Your mileage may vary.

My library hadn't been updated in forever. I went through every piece and made sure that

a. Score and parts were there.
b. Do I REALLY think I will ever play it again? If the answer was yes, it was put back into the library. No? Circular file.
c. That it had a decent folder.

I made sure that any copies were tossed so I could gain some room. I only have filing cabinets.

I started the numbers with 1 and kept going. Everything is in an Excel file. I have different categories and I can sort by number, title, and category - UIL, Concert, Christmas, Pop. This works for us

Re: Music Library

Posted by older than dirt on 5/11/2022, 12:58 pm, in reply to "Music Library"

my divisions/categories:
UIL concert by grade level,
Christmas,
pop concert (movies, radio, etc...)
other concert (overtures, compositions)
Marching

I purge every summer: I know Acky Breaky Heart was a classic, but I don't think my band will ever play it again.

I put mine in alphabetical. I know, I know, but when I'm looking I look at the score and I find the score in the library. Yes, when I add, I get to move folders, but when I purge, I move folders also.

Re: Music Library

Posted by NLABD on 5/18/2022, 2:09 pm, in reply to "Re: Music Library"

Do you ever purge to the art teacher for collages?

Re: Music Library

Posted by Thunder on 5/11/2022, 12:38 pm, in reply to "Music Library"

As someone who has done the HS and JH library in my district, I feel you.

Here's my two cents.

1. Don't worry about assigning numbers for S&E or method books. I'd just use a filing cabinet, in my opinion, with hanging files.

2. My categories are as follows. I start with 100 in each category. IE A100, B100, etc
A - UIL PML Pieces
B - Non-UIL Concert pieces
C - Concert-sized marches
D - Quick-step sized marches (We have enough that we separated, Military marching school here)
E - Christmas tunes
F - "Pop" tunes
G - Beginner tunes

For the JH music library we prefaced all of those same categories with "J". So JA, JB, etc. That helped us recognize "out of place" music.

Also, learn to use mail merge from an excel spreadsheet. It will help you make labels.

3. Buy a label printer. When you buy a new piece of music, assign the number and label it immediately. Buy a label printer (I use Dymo) and get it printed ASAP. As much as my OCD gets irritated by not everything being in alphabetical order, we just add new pieces to the end of the numbering system.

4. Get some help. Offer kids some pizza or something like that to spend a few days with you cleaning up the library. There are a few kids who will actually enjoy this.

5. Don't try to do it all at once. It will overwhelm you.

6. As previously stated, avoid filing cabinets. Shelves are better.

7. Make a master list of all pieces and the numbers that you can access quickly.

Re: Music Library

Posted by Devils Advocate on 5/11/2022, 11:48 am, in reply to "Music Library"

Skip all the sorting! Any competent database has all those categories and is able to produce a list based on your criteria. We used to sort by category before databases and computers. Who cares if a concert March is in a folder right next to a uil grade 4. Just begin with one drawer and enter all the relevant info. Even put in when it was last played. In the end the computer can sort everything and tell you exactly where one selection is or where all your sight reading is. The only people who need music sorted by category are those who look for music while going through folders and drawers.

Re: Music Library

Posted by DID IT on 5/11/2022, 8:46 am, in reply to "Music Library"

I just completed this same task. Did away with the numbers and just alphabetized and separated into those same categories so that new pieces could easily be added in alpha. I got rid of junk like 70's tv themes and other stuff that will never get looked at. I labeled every uil piece by grade. And students were extremely helpful in this process.

Re: Music Library

Posted by DID IT on 5/11/2022, 4:04 pm, in reply to "Re: Music Library"

I also wanted to add that I took some alpha markers from a library that no longer used them. you can buy lots of cool stuff made for "real libraries" to help organize but its pricey and I have a friend who was able to give me leftover stuff for free.

Re: Music Library

Posted by Batson on 5/10/2022, 9:25 pm, in reply to "Music Library"

If you have other options than file cabinets, I'd try to do it. They break down quicker than you think with the weight of all the music. I have shelves that one of our shop teachers built for us. There's lots of options out there. Your system sounds like it would work very well! Numbers are definitely the way to go rather than alphabetical.

Re: Music Library

Posted by OP on 5/11/2022, 9:55 am, in reply to "Re: Music Library"

Thanks for the advice! We have several empty filing cabinets, and that is the only reason I'm going going that direction. I'd love to get the Wenger Music Library System, but I don't have a spare 10k laying around in the budget!

Re: Music Library

Posted by Banddirhdg on 5/11/2022, 4:25 pm, in reply to "Re: Music Library"

I have both letter-size and legal size file cabinets. The Legal size are much better to work with, both concert size and march size music.

Re: Music Library

Posted by Banddirhdg on 5/10/2022, 9:23 pm, in reply to "Music Library"

Get someone to help you. A small group of students, maybe.

Re: Music Library

Posted by Me on 5/10/2022, 4:58 pm, in reply to "Music Library"

You don't really need more than four digits total. There is almost zero chance you have even a thousand pieces in your library in any of those categories unless you literally list every concert band piece together. But it's up to you.

My categories are, with prefixes listed:

UIL List Music (CU)
General Concert Band (CB)
Marches (both concert and small) (CM)
Marching Band (MB)
Jazz Band and Mariachi (JM)
Sightreading (SR)
Holiday (XM)

I don't use sub-categories. Each category gets its own cabinet/section.

The prefixes go before the number so that I know where a piece goes in the library. I've seen some people simply number a piece and slap it at the end, which is fine - but my way works for me.

With UIL, I *always* list them as four digits - but the first digit is the UIL grade. A grade 5 could be 5001, for example. Helps sort them in the cabinets too. Everything else is just labeled based upon category. Since there are only about 150 pieces in the Grade 1 list, you could concievably list them with three digits, since it's unlikely you own the entire list, but that's up to you.

Also, fun for your chosen envelope size: if you cut them in half with a paper cutter, each "half" envelope is precisely the right size to file your marching band music without wasting a huge envelope for small music.

Couple tips:

As you go through, DISCARD photocopies. If you have a piece that you're missing more than 5-10 "parts" for and you don't know anyone who has it, you'll need to rebuy the piece anyway, so it's up to you whether or not you should pitch the whole thing.

If it's a song that legitimately hasn't been popular in 30 years or more, THROW IT OUT. No one in your band wants to play "Sounds of the Carpenters" in 2022, no matter how lovely the music was.

Keep marches. You can find some gems you've never discovered. Discard pop tunes. Really look at your holiday music to see if you'll EVER want to program it again - holiday music can be VERY VERY badly scored.

Re: Music Library

Posted by cw75 on 5/10/2022, 4:15 pm, in reply to "Music Library"

I did that (reorganized the band music library) at every school where I ever taught and your list is superb. I'd only add a few suggestions I did at 7 different school during my career:

1) I'd recommend using the music file boxes sold by JW Pepper as the envelopes get very messy and floppy quickly. It's also MUCH easier to browse through the music library when the music is in the boxes when you have them clearly labeled. There are 3 different thicknesses of the filing boxes to accommodate anything you likely have in your music library.

2) I used an M before the song's file number for marching band sized arrangements and a C for concert band arrangements. Here's a link to a simple Word database document I created a long time ago where I kept all the music titles, arrangers, file number (that I printed on the boxes), etc. It's similar to an Excel file but Word database documents to me are easier to work with and to sort and keep up with. You or anyone else is welcome to have this document to use if you like too:
Music Library Word Database Doc

3) I'd also recommend putting every arrangement in score order with the scores at the front of the individual parts inside the boxes.

4) Look to see if there are any missing parts. If an arrangement had one or a few missing parts, I either replaced them when possible or I used Sibelius to create new ones from the score. If an arrangement had too many missing parts, I either purchased a new arrangement of the song and combined it with the old one if was the same exact one (especially if it was on the current UIL PML) or I simply threw the entire arrangement in the trash.

5) Get rid of any arrangements that are illegal copies.

6) If comfortable doing so, get rid of any old arrangements that will likely never ever get played again such as old pop tunes from the 1980's, etc. All they do is take up space and collect dust (and sometimes silverfish).

You can also do other assorted things to help make things easier for you (and anyone else who follows you) like in the database document I always put Christmas songs in red text to make them easier to find. You could also do something like making the titles in the database document different colors of text such as making all songs on the current PML a different color.

Charles Whitmer
Conroe, TX

Re: Music Library

Posted by Okay... on 5/10/2022, 3:52 pm, in reply to "Music Library"

As you are going through everything, check the condition of the music. If it was something published eons ago and is POP, missing scads of parts or scores, and looks like it hasn't been played since Eisenhower was president...TOSS IT! Relax...chances are good that it isn't on the PML anyway, and even if it's a quality piece the chances of you being able to replace parts/score are slim to none.

If the title of the piece is, "The Capitan & Tenile's Greatest Hits"....TOSS IT! That hasn't been played since Carter was president...for a reason. I don't want to come across as anti-"pop" music, but one has to remember that "pop" music has a limited lifespan, and is maybe played one time before being relegated to the back of the filing cabinet. Sure, you could save a couple of them for sight-reading practice, but be selective about which ones you keep. I can remember in high school that we did a piece for SR prep called "Dickie's Dream". When we started playing it, it sounded tonality-wise like it came from the mid-50s. Sure enough, copyright 1956. I think we got about a third of the way through it and started laughing because it was such a hokey piece.

Re: Music Library

Posted by anon on 5/11/2022, 8:18 am, in reply to "Re: Music Library"

We have an arrangement of "Bobby Sue" from the Oak Ridge Boys, circa 1980's.........

Re: Music Library

Posted by Just saying on 5/10/2022, 9:57 pm, in reply to "Re: Music Library"

In this day and age of digital printing and cloud storage, no song ever written should ever be POP.

Re: Music Library

Posted by wanna know on 5/11/2022, 2:00 pm, in reply to "Re: Music Library"

BUT IT IS POP! sad but truth

Re: Music Library

Posted by Except... on 5/11/2022, 9:18 am, in reply to "Re: Music Library"

If a piece, that is not on the PML, was last published in 1948, it isn't going to be purchased or played by anyone today. Otherwise, there would be a second or third, more recent publishing date. And unless there's a prayer that something is going to be bought, the publishers aren't going to spend money on cloud storage (it ain't free, you know) to keep something that won't produce a return. PML aside, I don't think that piece, "Dickie's Dream" mentioned above has got directors screaming to get a copy of it.

Re: Music Library

Posted by Just saying on 5/11/2022, 3:04 pm, in reply to "Re: Music Library"

Tons of GREAT and fun music goes largely unheard by modern audiences until someone dusts it off and performs it.

Beguine for Band comes to mind. Until I heard the Dallas Winds do it, it was largely forgotten. Then I saw it pop up a bunch of times in a row in community band concerts.

Or Hernando's Hideaway.

Both of those pieces are POP.

Re: Music Library

Posted by True... on 5/12/2022, 6:47 am, in reply to "Re: Music Library"

...but then the novelty wore off.

For every one ancient POP piece like Beguine for Band out there, we can find, literally, hundreds of Dickie's Dream-type pieces.

Like someone else mentioned, making a piece POP is a financial decision. If nobody is buying it, why keep it available? As a side note, do you know that whenever a college or pro wind ensemble, or a world famous conductor/orchestra plan to release a new CD/download, that the target goal of sales is 300 units (both CD and downloads)....*worldwide*? The same is true for sheet music, although the number of units sold goal is probably different.

Also mentioned is the fact that cloud storage, while removing the need for physical storage space, still costs money. Why digitize something and pay to store it in the cloud when the number of new sales per year will be far below the cost to digitize and store it?

Re: Music Library

Posted by Cost-benefit on 5/12/2022, 11:55 am, in reply to "Re: Music Library"

If it takes 500k of space to scan a single page (which is VERY high quality scanning), a one TB hard drive can hold two million pages of music.

If you budget fifty pages per song, that's *forty thousand* pieces on a single drive. I know many will be more, so call it 30k.

A 1 TB hard drive costs about $8 to operate for a year in a desktop computer.

Selling even a single copy of a single song at $50 would pay for the entire library.

If you paid a company to hold the data for you, you might need to sell two or three songs out of those 30-40k to pay for it.

And they don't need to hire additional IT to handle it. They already have digital distribution for their ePrint services on every major music publisher.

It's not as if they need to pay a warehouse or for paper. You could tack a nickel onto the cost of every other song sold and pay for the entire operation in a month. The cost is laughable at worst.

Re: Music Library

Posted by And... on 5/12/2022, 2:55 pm, in reply to "Re: Music Library"

...you would still be wasting resources that could be allocated to something else.

Re: Music Library

Posted by Sigh on 5/12/2022, 4:39 pm, in reply to "Re: Music Library"

Life isn’t a zero sum game. They can do both.

Pennies.

Re: Music Library

Posted by Business on 5/18/2022, 4:47 pm, in reply to "Re: Music Library"

I'm going to guess you've never owned a business. In today's Amazon race to zero profit margin, (which is leading to massive shortages in every industry partly because of the "just-in-time shipping philosophies that have helped lead to empty shelves and no savings, (extra inventory)), every penny matters. What you claim is pennies a day over 365 days is a lot. And when you factor in general increase in costs of everything we touch including energy and computer components there are hidden costs you aren't taking into account. Plus the human cost of organizing it, managing it, backing it up, and maintaining the services of storage. Hard drives go bad. If you lose an entire hard drive then you wasted a lot of money getting the titles on there so now we pay for backups because we are insuring the initial investment. If a piece doesn't sell it's time to let it go. It's just band and we aren't talking quality literature.

But hey, maybe some of us are wrong and you could set up a side hustle storing all of that print for pennies and make a little side change for the print publishers. Or you could lose a lot of money getting set up and realize why they didn't do it in the first place.

Re: Music Library

Posted by Sigh on 5/19/2022, 1:01 pm, in reply to "Re: Music Library"

I don't need to. Someone else already has.

BandmusicPDF

Difficulty: all of THEIR stuff is out of copyright. Even if I wanted to upload a set of (for example) Prelude Op. 34 by Shostakovich, arr Reynolds, I can't. I don't have copyright. But the piece is POP, and it's a major work. Why can't Fischer get rights? Why won't they digitally distribute?

Just search the PML for POP. 147 entries. Take off 10-15 for songs that include "pop" in the title or artist somehow. RIGHT THERE is where you'd make your money. Obviously it's still worth performing or it'd be off the PML.

(And that doesn't count songs taken off the PML in the past ten years because they were ALSO POP, like Lord of the Rings by de Meij.

Re: Music Library

Posted by Wait on 5/20/2022, 3:25 pm, in reply to "Re: Music Library"

So you used an example of a free domain where other people upload music for things that are in the public domain as a way to justify a business should be spending money, time, and resources to upload and store things, (sustained cost), not in the public domain so that they can sell 1 of a 1000 titles a year if they are lucky?

Re: Music Library

Posted by Sigh Indeed on 5/12/2022, 9:25 pm, in reply to "Re: Music Library"

No...any music business has three things they can focus on: Price, Selection, and Service.

They can only focus on two of those three. They try to focus on all three, they go out of business....every time.

Pennies aren't much, but they add up.

Re: Music Library

Posted by Sigh on 5/13/2022, 7:19 am, in reply to "Re: Music Library"

...so, selection and service, then?

And your analogy still fails?

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