October 2025

Way back in 2018—pre-Covid, when life seemed so simple—ARS Nova published my short article on how I organize my extensive library of printed music. Since that time, my personal music library has continued to grow, both in purchased printed music (PLEASE continue to patronize our beloved music publishers!) and the library of digital scores that lives in my computer.

What scores are in my computer?

The hundreds of pieces that live in my computer arrived there from a variety of sources. The websites CPDL (Choral Public Domain Library) and IMSLP (International Music Score Library Project/Petrucci Music Library) are free online collections of editions uploaded by anyone; many are terrific, such as Allen Garvin’s beautiful, clear editions for viols and recorders (see also his web site at dfwviols.com). Some are less useful; I don’t love editions that transpose works from original keys or add dynamic or articulation markings, and there may be mistakes. Let the buyer beware! CPDL only posts vocal music, but recorder players are magpies used to stealing music from singers. IMSLP hosts modern editions of both vocal and instrumental works, as well as facsimiles of original sources such as Franco-Flemish manuscripts, 16th- and early 17th-century madrigal collections, and much, much more. Out-of-print publications are also often available on IMSLP, the sort of older modern scores that Dover Books publishes. These websites are invaluable and I recommend becoming supporters of both.

All four folders are subsumed in a master “Music Repertory” folder that lives on my desktop. A given piece, such as Josquin’s Mille regretz may live in a dozen or more folders, so that it can be found in a dozen or more different ways—by composer, by source, by a workshop where I used it, or by a particular topic. All I need is Copy and Paste to place the piece in the many places where it might be needed.

So how do I find 16th-century fantasias for my workshop program? Think, Wendy. Under “Music Topics,” I have a folder labelled “Fantasia, Ricercar, Tiento + co” that has several reminders such as “SEE ITALIAN FANTASIA,” “SEE WILLAERT,” “SEE MUSICQUE DE JOYE” and the like. A subheading titled “SHORTER FANTASIAS” has proven useful in the past. In the folder labelled “Editions” I explore composer folders. In the “Facsimiles & Sources folder” I check print sources such as 1540 Musica Nova, Moderne’s 1550 Musicque de Joye, and the fabulous Musica Britannica anthology Jacobean Consort Book, not a single source, but now available on IMSLP. In the “Workshops” folder, I poke around for old classes on related topics; I also come across reminders of old classes in all the previously mentioned folders, which is sometimes an easier way to find a class taught eight years ago.

An amateur music librarian is essentially a detective looking for clues in every corner. The secret is creating as many hiding places as possible. Happily, digital scores take up no physical room in my studio, and multiple copies can live in many folders, making them more likely to be found when needed.