Music Media resources

May 30, 20178 yr

Hi Folks,

On my ToDo list is the need to catalogue music resources in my department. My initial thought was that it would be quite straightforward, but after a morning pondering the factors, I wanted some advice on the structure before I spent time running around in circles!

Here's what I need to consider:

Resources could be in a variety of media:

Orchestra parts (for individual players - but they'd always(?) be a full set or not worth keeping)
Orchestral scores
Choir scores
CDs
pdfs of parts or scores.

They would always consist of at least one movement, but a work will often have more than one movement.

A symphony would normally have 4 movements, but we might only have the music of one of them.
A pop song will only have one movement.

They could exist in different arrangements, e.g.

For orchestra
Soul Band
choir
for 2 clarinets and broken kazoo

A piece could have more than one composer and arranger e.g.

composed by Ringo, Paul and George
arranged for SATB choir by Fred and arranged for SATTB choir by Burt

The media could be filed in different locations

orchestra cupboard, iTunes etc

I hope this all makes sense.

The end result:

Labels for resources with serial numbers and details.
Easy to search so I can find what we've got and where it's stored.
Easy to add resources so I can autocomplete composers
printable A-Z (etc) list.

I hope this makes sense - sorry it's so long!!!

Best wishes,

Mike

June 8, 20178 yr

Author

I'm getting close to knowing what I want.

One issue I'm struggling with is the relationship between movements and works.

I had thought that I'd put them in two separate tables, but I think that they're often similar ( - e.g. A gospel song is a movement AND a work), that I mark their category with different checkboxes in the same table. I can then use filters and relationships to show only the ones I want.

The more I think about it, the more I'm sure this is the right solution to that particular quandary.

Incidentally, one of my tables is of composers - it's going to be quite comprehensive in a week or two - would it help anyone if I posted it as a CSV when it's done?

Cheers,

Mike