Search Tips for using
Music-In-Print

Questions regarding interpretation of The Music-In-Print Series Online may be answered in these links: Abbreviations used in The Music-In-Print Series Publisher Directory Advanced Search Tips How do I search by Duration? Why doesn't the ENTER key work?

Search Tips
The Music-In-Print Series Online will become easier and more intuitive the longer and more extensively they are used. The following tips may help to shorten your learning time of The Music-In-Print Series Online databases.

• Keep your searches simple at first. "Less is more"; if you type in less information, it will return more results.
  
  
• Start from general and move to specific. Start by entering in one item of information (ex. Composer) and examine the results found.
  
  
• Use Keywords. The "Edition" field is where most common information pertaining to the specific edition will be found. Information contained in this field includes title(s), subtitle, translated title, arranger, editor, opus number, key, and contents of collections.
  
  
• Partial information typed into a field is often sufficient to locate "hits".
  
  
• You do not need to enter the complete word in order for emusicquest to find it. For instance, you need not type the entire phrase "Moonlight Sonata" - emusicquest will locate the work with simply Moon Son! Please note that in addition to locating Moonlight Sonata, you might find other unexpected titles such as "Moon Dance" from a collection called Popular Cowboy Songs, or a collection containing "Valentine Song" and "Roll along Prairie Moon".
  
  
• Keep in mind that if you cannot find the work listed after typing your initial search criteria, adding MORE information will not help. Be creative! Consider if the work might be listed in another way, or with an alternate spelling. If all else fails, send an email to emusicquest and we can try to help locate the work.
  

  ---

  
  
  Advanced Search Tips
  
  
• Searching by date can narrow your search to a specific time period based on birth and death dates of composers listed in Music-In-Print.
  For example, typing the year '1750' in either the "to" or "from" box of the Date field will locate works by J.S. Bach (who died in 1750), and also works by Antonio Salieri (who was born in 1750). This will also locate works by Michael Arne (1741 - 1786) and other composers who were ALIVE in 1750. This may prove to be a very helpful feature if you are attempting to locate works from a specific time period.
  
  
• Use several fields in a search to limit searching for very specific editions, or to browse very general results in a non-specific search (in the Piano database, search for 'Germany' in the "Nationality" field and 'Baroque' in the "Period" field to browse a listing of German Piano music in the Baroque period).
  
  
• If you are searching for a specific sequence of words, put them in quotation marks. For instance, If you are searching for Moonlight Sonata and the aforementioned "Moon Dance" is included in your search results, put quotation marks around "Moonlight Sonata" exactly as shown. Moon Dance will be excluded from your found set.
  
  
• NOTE: This method of using quotation marks to specify an exact sequence of text will also work on most Internet browsers, helping considerably when performing searches in other areas online!!!
  

Back to top

---

Directions for searching by Duration.

In the "Title or Edition Keyword" field, type in the number of minutes followed by the ' sign, then if desired, the number of seconds
(DO NOT include the " sign for seconds)
Example: type 4'30 to locate works of exactly 4 minutes and 30 seconds.
type 4' to locate works that are between 4 and 5 minutes (this will locate works that are 4'0" as well as 4'30" and 4'59"
Back to top

---

The "Enter" Key

Why doesn't the ENTER key work when using The Music-In-Print Series Online?

The ENTER key is browser-dependent. If you are using Netscape Navigator with the Macintosh OS, the ENTER key will not work to submit a form. You must use the mouse to click on the submit button.

If you are using Microsoft Internet Explorer, you can use the ENTER key to submit a form when you complete all of the fields. Please note that you must use the TAB key to move from field to field and the ENTER key to submit the entire form.
Back to top