Guide to Finding Songs

Related Links

The State Library has a comprehensive collection of the sheet music to songs and arias encompassing lieder, art song and opera, folk, rock, pop, country, blues, jazz, songs from film and stage, music hall, heavy metal, Christmas and children’s songs. You can find songs and arias in sheet music format or within an anthology.

Automation of the song index has begun. It is best to begin your song search with a title search in the catalogue. You may trace a song using its title (title also covers the song’s and the chorus’ first lines), composer, lyricist, performer or by keyword, if you are not sure of the exact words of the title. Many of the songs are available in different keys and languages.

Find the State Library homepage at www.slwa.wa.gov.au

• Click on Our Catalogue in the top right hand corner or use the Quicklinks option
• Change the Keyword option to Title uising the drop down menu
• Change Entire State Library of WA Collection to State Library Printed Music
• Type the song title, first line or chorus first line in the search box and click Submit. If you use in after the title, you will narrow your search to find the keys in which the song is available
• Once you have located the song that you require, click the underlined hyperlink that takes you through to a list of anthologies in which the song appears
• At this point, you may limit your search to just songs (rather than searching the whole score collection). Click Limit/Sort Search, scroll down to Serial/Monograph and select Index
• Click on any of these links to find out the score’s location or if it is on loan. Scores that are on loan may be requested at the Service Desk on the 2nd floor of the State Library or by phoning 9427 3242.
• At the bottom of the Found in list, you may see a link to Songs and Ballads Collection, Eleanor Litterick Collection or Popular Song Collection. This indicates that there is a single sheet copy of the song. The sheet music can be fragile with a limited shelf life but may be retrieved if there are no other copies of the song available. Please ask a staff member to assist you.

Did You Find Your Song?

• If you do not find the song you want in the catalogue, use the song card index.
• Search for the song by title. The card lists the classification (e.g. KDW/GB) and title of the score in which the song appears
• Entries indicating sheet music copies in stack are highlighted in pink. These can be retrieved for you.

What’s Not Indexed: Musicals and Operas

• If you cannot find a song from a musical or an aria from an opera or cantata using either the catalogue or the card index, you will need to see whether the parent work is in stock
• Use any of the search boxes to search for the parent work. For example, if you cannot find a copy of Climb ev’ry mountain under its title, search for a copy of The Sound of Music in the online catalogue. A staff member can help you find the name of the musical or opera that contains the piece you are looking for.

Other Nifty Searches

• You can search for songs used in a particular film by typing the film name into the Title search box e.g. shrek motion picture
• You can search for songs that have been based on classical music by typing classical themes arranged into the Keyword search box.
• You can find a list of songs sung by a particular artist by typing their name into the Author search box e.g. Sinatra, Frank.
• You can build a program of themed songs by putting words into the Keyword search box e.g. diamonds, love.

Terminology Used in the Card Index

Classifications for Song Books