Guide to Music Education
The State Library is committed to supporting the musical education of all members of the community by providing general and free access to its music collections. Members of the public may borrow scores and some recordings, use the electronic resources and the extensive reference collection in the State Library Building.
We are committed to helping our clients use the collections to their best advantage and offer training courses designed to introduce students and teachers to the resources available. Details of our Search, Engage and Know (SEaK) programs and other tours and events can be found on the What's on page.
The Collection
Scores for Loan
The State Library holds a comprehensive score collection of over 53,000 pieces, which includes set works for Grade 4 and above as listed in the Australian Music Examinations Board (AMEB) syllabus for all instruments and voice. This provides an ideal opportunity for students to try a range of music set for each list in each grade before deciding on their exam pieces. The Grade books are not purchased as it is preferable for students to have their own copies, however, superseded grade books are collected through donation. Works listed on other syllabuses such as The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM), Trinity College London and the Curriculum Council of WA are also collected with growth in these areas expected. Under Instruments and Voice you will find more detailed explanations of the resources available.
A strength of the collection is the varied editions collected of standard works such as sonatas, concertos and studies. Urtext, European, Australian, English and American editions give students choice in interpretation, fingering, bowing and other editorial influences, and a variety of translations and keys for vocal works.
Reference Material
The collection of books, journals and music electronic resources provides excellent reference material for students. Whether it be brief biographical material, music history and genre, theory or analytical works, information about instruments, performers, composers and their works, this collection of over 11,000 items supports the music syllabuses of secondary, tertiary and private music studies. It adds value to the more general collections available in the public libraries of the state.
Recordings
A record and CD Listening Collection, focusing on classical music performance is useful in helping students with their aural experience. Different and contrasting performances of works are collected to ensure that a balance can be achieved when listening to performances of set and studied works. You can also listen to tracks using the on-line database Naxos Music Library on-site. There is a small classical loan collection of audio cassettes available.
Searching for information
All material can be found using the catalogue. If you are looking for a specific book or journal title, use the author or title search. If you are looking for material on a subject, use the keyword or subject options. Useful subject and keyword searches are:
- Music
- Music performance
- Music theory
- Musical analysis
- Musical form
- Musical intervals and scales
- Musical meter and rhythm
- Musical notation
- Instruction and study
- Problems, exercises, etc.
- Examinations, questions, etc.
- History and Criticism
- Analysis and Interpretation
- Interpretation (Phrasing, dynamics, etc.)
Further information on this site
Page last updated: Wednesday 20 April 2011
