Many of the online collections below contain digitized images of sheet music in manuscript (MS) format. Please view the Manuscript Format tab in the menu above for more information about finding items in this specific format.
American Vernacular Music Manuscripts, ca. 1730-1910 This is a collaborative project between the Center for Popular Music and the American Antiquarian Society to inventory, catalog, digitize, and provide web-based public access to their extensive music manuscripts collections. It concerns manuscripts inscribed before 1910 that are mainly American in provenance, with contents that are preponderantly vernacular in style.
Library of Congress Notated Music Collections The Library of Congress has one of the largest collections of notated music in the world with over 22 million items. These include popular sheet music, instrumental and vocal music, scores and parts, and original manuscripts from composers of all eras
Sheet music is best defined by physical format— it occurs as single sheets (printed on one or both sides) and folios. Sheet music is usually a single song arranged for voice and piano (or instrument and piano or just piano). However, the content of sheet music varies widely— it can be either popular music, solo piano music, sacred and secular choral music, dance music, or other genres.
By contrast, music scores are usually bound like a book (or connected together in some way) and contain all the parts of the original arrangement. For example, a score will show you the staves (plural of staff) for all instruments in the orchestra.
To view chat hours, submit an e-mail question, or view other contact options, please visit the Ask the InfoHub webpage.
