How do you store your sheet music?
  • marajoymarajoy
    Posts: 781
    (Sorry if there is already a discussion on this, feel free to direct me to one if there is.)

    How do you keep your personal sheet music collection organized, not taking up too much space, and not looking like clutter, and so you can find things? Scores, organ books, print-off's from CPDL or wherever, etc.

    Right now mine is just stacked on a couple book shelves; it looks messy and it's not in much of an order. (Actual books are standing upright, but loose papers and books that are too large to fit on the shelf are just lying on each other.)

    (I would ideally like {and have in the past} to keep my organ music in the choir loft, but that's not a wise idea for me right now as I share the loft with other people.)
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,934
    Store? What is this "store" that you speak of? There is such a thing?

    The last time I did any furniture shopping, I found end tables that are actually filing cabinets. That has helped, but during busy liturgical seasons, I still get stacks of music cluttered around my home organ.
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,451
    The following method has always worked for me:

    1. Buy a filing cabinet.
    2. Place the filing cabinet in a closet in your home.
    3. Buy a box of file folders.
    4. Place the unopened box of file folders near the filing cabinet.
    5. Stack all of your music in front of the filing cabinet, obstructing the cabinet drawer from opening and the closet door from closing.
    Thanked by 6JL CharlesW Spriggo Gavin Kathy bonniebede
  • G
    Posts: 1,397
    Oh, drat.... I thought someone would say something useful, that I could pretend to take note of and intend to implement.
    My entire house, and several closets in my Mother's house look like the subject of one of those reality shows about hoarders.
    The bookcases that actually have books with spines sturdy enough to stand upright look fairly neat, but that belies the fact that those books, (and hymnals, boxes, scores, etc.,) are stacked two deep, meaning i never really know what is behind them.

    On the other hand, I recently scored some legal size looseleaf notebooks. (as well as one that takes 11 X 17,) at a thrift store, so now i can pretend to start organinizing some of my "landscape" keyboard music.

    (Save the Liturgy, Save the World)
  • WendiWendi
    Posts: 638
    I have mine in hanging file folders. Which are stored in alphabetical order by title in a filing cabinet in my living room. I have three drawers for sacred music and one for secular music. I've started an index of what I have, but I'm not finished with that yet.

    As my personal choral library grows, I imagine it will take over the other filing cabinet in my living room which currently stores sewing patterns.

    It may sound OCD, but I don't have time to waste searching for something and I don't like to waste the paper to print it off again. It takes me less time to file something than it would to hunt it down if I didn't file it.

    It also helps prevent the six children we still have at home... from using my sheet music as coloring paper. :)

    Edited to add...the books are on a bookshelf next to the filing cabinet.
    Thanked by 4canadash marajoy ContraBombarde theloniouslopez
  • WendiWendi
    Posts: 638
    My voice teacher who is the music director of a Presbyterian church uses the same system but on a MUCH larger scale. Her church's choral library takes up an entire room.
  • ny_ct_fl_ms_organist
    Posts: 33
    Organizing all of my music took me an entire summer. Upon reflection here, it is a little insane. However, the time it took to set this up is time that I later saved looking for a piece I vaguely remembered that I had. It's also easy to browse when I need something, but don't know exactly what I want.

    For Organ repertoire, I use black binders and transparent page covers. I work off of photocopies, even though I own every book that they came from, because I like to mark my music to death and would prefer not to smudge up my books with fingerings, chordal analysis, lyrics, translations, etc etc.

    Hymn tune-based repertoire (preludes, postludes, introits, reharmonizations and non-standard transpositions) is in a set of binders organized by tune and ordered by where they appear in the Worship III hymnal. For places in the hymnal where a tune is reprinted with new text, I have put a page saying "refer to #..."

    All other organ repertoire (including two binders of JUST Bach, by BWV #) is in another set of binders organized alphabetically by composer.

    I have another binder for instrumental descants, organized by tune and ordered by hymn #, and another for Sacred repertoire organ + other instruments. Organ repertoire based on tunes that don't appear in the Worship hymnal I have in yet another binder, ordered alphabetically.

    For Vocal repertoire, I have other categories- Spirituals, Holidays, and Schmaltz ordered by title and three binders of other serious repertoire organized by composer.

    All of my choral octavos are in file folders in filing cabinets. On every file folder tab, I have written: Title, Composer, Arranger, Purpose ("General" or name of season), number of copies, and accompaniment type (organ or piano, and I'm sure to write any additional instruments that appear in the arrangement). The file folders are organized by season: There are two filing cabinets for "General" purpose repertoire, one for Christ the King/Advent/Christmas/Epiphany, one for Lent/Holy Week/Easter/Pentecost/Marian Feasts/Solemnities. Within each category the octavos are organized alphabetically by title. The entire choral library is cataloged in an excel document so I can search by any field if I really wanted a specific composer, or to see what pieces we have 50 copies of, or to see which pieces use an oboe.
    Thanked by 3ContraBombarde canadash marajoy
  • KARU27
    Posts: 184
    I seem to have a lot of photocopies / loose pages too, which I don't want to put in notebooks (binders). I found these wonderful things called "document boxes" at a local discount store (Tuesday Morning). They are about 3 inches deep and have a little space for a label on the front. I bought about 15 of them, and they stand up vertically on a bookshelf (probably not the way they are intended to be). They are roughly categorized (string trio, church stuff, teaching, etc). This is at least better than stacks of papers everywhere!
    Thanked by 1marajoy
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,934
    Document boxes are great!
  • melofluentmelofluent
    Posts: 4,160
    4.5 Cabinets, 4 drawers each. Sorted by alphabetical order only.
  • WendiWendi
    Posts: 638
    Dearest I want your choral library. Or at least one that size. So much beautiful music and so very little time...
  • matthewjmatthewj
    Posts: 2,694
    I never bring music home with me. If I need to rehearse or look something over at home, I use a digital copy.

    At church there is a big pile of photocopies. Not organized at all.
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,934
    There is something we librarians call the "fling-it" system. Fling it here, fling it there.... ;-)
  • CindyCeciliaCindyCecilia
    Posts: 65
    When I file things I cannot find them. Leave my piles of music alone! :)
    Thanked by 3Spriggo CharlesW CHGiffen
  • lmassery
    Posts: 404
    Alphabetical order in hanging files in a file cabinet in either my office or the loft
  • francis
    Posts: 10,668
    I have two methods.

    Here is the first one:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5tCF3vCgQI&feature=youtu.be

    Paper system to follow.
  • francis
    Posts: 10,668
    Here is the paper storage system:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8gT8HcvgMo&feature=youtu.be
  • Andrew Motyka
    Posts: 944
    That's a pretty fancy rig you've got there, francis. I think my monitor would be a mess with all the scribble marks I like to make on my scores, though.
  • francis
    Posts: 10,668
    Yea, I make the scribbles and then post the score.
  • hartleymartin
    Posts: 1,447
    I use a mixture of chaos theory and divination. If I can't find it in the mess then God does not want it at mass that day.
    Thanked by 7Andrew Motyka CharlesW francis CHGiffen Salieri bonniebede CatherineS
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,499
    I tried a few systems but ended up using Charles' above. Regular filing cabinets, alphabetical order.
  • Earl_GreyEarl_Grey
    Posts: 890
    I use a mixture of chaos theory and divination. If I can't find it in the mess then God does not want it at mass that day.


    An excellent idea..."Gee, I just can't seem to find On Eagle's Wings today. God must not want me to play it. But here's a Graduale"
    Thanked by 5CHGiffen Ben Salieri francis bonniebede
  • Protasius
    Posts: 468
    I use folders for my organ music print-outs organized by the Period (North German Baroque, Bach and his Pupils, South German Baroque, French Baroque, French and German Romantic and Modern Music, Italy and Iberian Peninsula). But my organ library is not that big, it still has room in a big rucksack when packed tightly.
  • francis
    Posts: 10,668
    wow protasius... that is impressive... could we see a picture of your rucksack of music?
  • Protasius
    Posts: 468
    I can take a picture of it, but as I said, my library of organ music is very small and it is in the end a normal rucksack stuffed with music. I usually don't take all of it with me, but there is in principle room enough. There are also a few Collections from before WW I that I use in the church where I mostly play.
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,451
    IMPROVED MUSIC FILING SYSTEM

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iimzzlxzCFE#!
    Thanked by 2Ally CatherineS
  • hilluminar
    Posts: 119
    My music is kept very organized in a coffin in my bedroom. When I die, I may be buried in the same coffin.
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,368
    In octavo boxes on shelves -
    By Season + by Sundays, Solemnities and Saints within the Season
    Sub-sections=Anthems, Hymn-anthems, Motets, Chant, etc.
    Sub-sub-sections=other than SATB music, prose texts, poetic texts.
    ALL THE ABOVE alphabetically by composer
    ALL TITLES are given in the original language

    Settings of the Ordinary are listed in alphabetical order of composer's name, and where appropriate are sub-divided according to seasons or special days.

    Settings of the propers are alphabatised by the title of the book
    and are subdivided according to the liturgical seasons and years A, B, & C

    Complete Graduales are set apart according to their titles, i.e., Palmer-Burgess, American Gradual, Anglican Use Gradual, LU, GR, etc.


    Where feasible and appropriate, all the above are further subdivided into years A,B,&C

    Anthologies and collections appear alphabetically by title as a separate group
  • francis
    Posts: 10,668
    MJO

    I am not the least bit surprised.
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,368
    Also, it would at times be helpful to have a catalogue referencing Biblical texts or Biblical inferences of all anthems... but this is a task which I have been putting off for many years. Such information could also be helpfully put on the tag or label of each anthem's box.
    OR, for a rather different organisational method, one could organise the entire library not by composer or season, etc., but by Biblical chapter and verse referenced in the anthem. This would facilitate choosing music to fit the Lectionary. It may not, though, be as satisfactory as more conventional systems.
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,451
    But if you organize by Biblical reference, where would you put all the Praise and Worship music?
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,368
    (Purple ink ... )
    Um.. what is Praise and Worship music? Do you mean like Howells' Collegium Regale?
    No, you don't, do you? I know (vaguely) what you mean... I was just being facetious!
    What I would do with it is: I would arrange it by Biblical reference where possible, and where not possible, I would just stick it in anywhere. Then I would file it all in the Dust Bin (that's what they call a waste basket across the pond) and then I would have the custodian take it out and file it in the furnace.
    Thanked by 3Adam Wood CHGiffen francis
  • ClergetKubiszClergetKubisz
    Posts: 1,912
    We store ours in two crates: one for Easter and Christmas, and the other for everything else. I have a four shelf cabinet in the storage room where I store the choir books and accompaniment books. We've got a lot of REALLY old music, too, such as hymnals that are out of date by a long, long, time and we can't use the Mass settings in them.
  • soniaflores
    Posts: 1
    Well I made my own collection of sheet music from Musicforte.com, so to organize them in proper way I store my "inactive sheet music" on a bookshelf. Theory, etudes, scales, etc. on the left and then organized by composer to the right. Larger, thicker books are on the lower levels of my bookcase.
    Orchestra music is always in a folder either on my stand, in my case or on the piano. "Active" quartet music is in a canvas bag ready to travel. "Active lesson" music is either on my stand or in my case.
  • hartleymartin
    Posts: 1,447
    ... where would you put all the Praise and Worship music?


    I have a large, round filing cabinet for the P&W...
  • GavinGavin
    Posts: 2,799
    It'd be easier if they printed it on rolls.... I don't mean piano rolls....
    Thanked by 1francis
  • francis
    Posts: 10,668
    Gavin

    And the rolling mechanism would have a 'tempo potentiometer' allowing you to regulate the speed.
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