Searching: First Steps
- Search HOLLIS for the title of the song.
- If it's from a musical or opera, look for the score of the complete work, too (e.g.: to find copies of "Ol' Man River," also try searching for Show Boat).
- Limit your search to scores to find only printed music.
- If you're browsing for song collections, other helpful subject keywords include terms like these (you don't need to include the punctuation):
- Musicals -- Vocal scores
- Operas -- Excerpts [or Musicals -- Excerpts]
- Songs (Medium voice) with piano [and so on, for different voice ranges]
- Popular songs
- Songs, English [or other language]
Song Indexes
Find the listing for a song, then use HOLLIS to search for the titles of the collections in which it's printed. Warning: this database isn't comprehensive, and Harvard does not own all of the anthologies it indexes.
Request an anthology we don't own from another library by using Borrow Direct or Interlibrary Loan.
- Musical Theatre SongsUse this database to search the musical theater repertoire by composer, show, voice type, tempo, mood or quality ("charming," "wordy," "bluesy"), etc. and then find links to sheet music and recordings.
Musical Theatre Anthologies
The Singer's Musical Theatre Anthology by Call Number: Loeb Music Library Mus 502.75 - Mus 502.75.4Collections of solos and duets for various voice ranges. This series has thorough contents notes in HOLLIS+, so searching by song title will also work.
The Contemporary Singing Actor by Call Number: Loeb Music Library Mus 502.79-Mus 502.86Songs from recently-produced musicals (1980-present). This set also has thorough contents notes in HOLLIS+.
Broadway Musicals Show by Show, 1891-1916 by Call Number: Loeb Music Library Mus 502.65Selections from musicals produced between 1891 and 1988. HOLLIS+ does not include contents notes for this series.
