The Fondren Library music collection supports that students and staff of the Rice University Shepherd School of Music and the campus and Houston community through collections of printed music (both for performance and study), books about music and music-making, sound and video recordings, periodicals, facsimiles and other materials that concern the western classical music tradition, as comprehensively as possible. Educational materials include etudes, orchestral excerpts and method books. Rare materials, include those relating to composers Francis Poulenc (1899-1963) and Igor Stravinsky (1883-1971), are held in Fondren’s Woodson Research Center.
We also collect printed and recorded music and books about music of many other cultures and genres, with a special focus on music of Asia--and we collect music that reflects musical life outside of the curriculum, such as musical theater.
How do I find a recording or notated music?
Search by keywords to find the musical work, and then use another limiter, usually material type, depending on whether you want a notated score or a sound recording. The music librarian collects scores + parts for musical works having up to approximately 12 players. Large works such as those for orchestra are represented by full scores and sometimes piano reductions.
Basic Search
You can search for a composer, song title, performer, genre, and more. For example:
dvorak cello concerto wedding music renee fleming take the a train
If you sign in with your Rice netid and password, you can save records for future reference.
Limit your results by using the categories in the column at the left to narrow your search. Limiting by materials types is helpful when searching for music in any format. Choose scores or audio or video if you are looking for information about a piece of music. You can also limit by publication data or language if desired.
For more on Fondren music resources and related materials, explore this Music research guide.