HOW TO USE DATABASE SEARCH

  • 00:58 - Last Name, First Name (you can enter first few letters)

  • 01:04 - Gender, Demographic, Culture

  • 01:14 - Specific Ensembles (ex. Chamber Orchestra, Band, Symphony, String Orchestra, Vocals) and Music that highlights specific instruments (ex. Concertos)

  • 01:24 - Level of Music (ex. Level 1 - High School/Youth Orchestra or above, Level 2 - College/Community Ensembles or above, Level 3 professional Ensembles) *** This is a guide of difficulty. It is not absolute. Each Music Director should consult score to see if appropriate for their ensemble.

  • 02:01 - Length of Composition, Themes (dropdown menu), and Program Ideas (list of searchable tag words)

  • 02:22 - Exact (dropdown) or Flexible (clickable) instrumentation needs

  • 02:33 - Example Search

  • 02:52 - Details Page - ***MOST IMPORTANT PAGE

Composers

A - Z

Guide for Instrument Order and Abbreviations

Instrument Order

  • Woodwinds - fl(p,Afl).ob(eh).cl(Eb,bcl).fg(cfg,sarrus)

  • Saxophones - ssax.asax.tsax.bsax

  • Brass - hn(flg).trp(cnt).tbn. tba(sous).euph

  • Percussion - timp+(# of perc)

  • Keyboard/Other - hp, pf, cel, kbd, synth, gtr

  • Strings - vln1,vln2,vla,vc,vb

  • Voice - SATB, narrator

Woodwinds

Piccolo - p
Flute - fl
Alto Flute - afl
Oboe - ob
English Horn - eh
Clarinet - cl
Eb Clarinet - Eb
Bass Clarinet - bcl
Bassoon - fg
Contrabassoon- cfg
Sarrusophone - sarrus

Saxophone

Soprano Saxophone - ssax
Alto Saxophone - asax
Tenor Saxophone - tsax
Baritone Saxophone - bsax

Brass

Horn - hn
Flugel Horn - flg
Trumpet - trp
Cornet - cnt
Trombone - trb
Tuba - tba
Sousaphone - sous
Euphonium - euph

Percussion - perc

Timpani - timp
Chimes - chm
Conga - cga
Cymbal - cym
Drums - dr
Glockenspiel - glk
Marimba - mba
Metal - met
Tambor - tam
Tambourine - tamb
Tubular Bells - Tbells
Vibraphone - vib
Xylophone - xyl

Abbreviations

Keyboard

Accordion - acn
Celesta - cel
Electric Piano - epf
Harp - hp
Harpsichord - hpsd
Keyboard - kbd
Organ - org
Piano - pf
Synthesizer - synth

Other

Basso continuo - bc
Bass Guitar - bgtr
Drum kit - dr kit
Electric Bass - evb
Electric Guitar - egtr
Electronics - elct
Harmonium - hmn
Mandolin - man
Tape - tape
Ukelele - uke
Viola da Gamba - vdga

Strings

Violin 1 - vln1
Violin 2 - vln2
Viola - vla
Cello - vc
Double Bass - vb
Strings - str

Vocal

Soprano - S
Mezzo Soprano - MS
Alto - A
Tenor - T
Baritone - Bar
Bass - B
Narrator - narr

Themes and Program Ideas

ACTIONS 

Abuse
Adventure
Battle
Birth
Celebration
Flight
Freedom
Healing
Journey
Liberty
Peace
Protest
Re-birth
Sexual assault
Solidarity
Suicide
Travel
Tribute
Voting Rights
War
Women's right to vote
World War I

HOLIDAY/ IMPORTANT DATES 

Advent
African American Heritage
Asian History
Black History
Black Lives Matter
Christmas
Earth Day
Easter
El Día de Los Muertos
Fourth of July
Halloween
Hanukkah
Homage
Kwanza
Lent
Martin Luther King
Memorial
Memorial Day
MLK
Mother’s Day
Native American Indian History
September 11th
Womens Month

ACTIVITIES/DANCE/SPORTS

Basketball
Dance
Fractals
Games
Hiking
Irish Dance
Movement
Palindrome
Ping-Pond
Play
Sports
Waltz

ANIMALS/MYTHICAL CREATURES 

Animal
Bee
Bird
Insects
Monster
Snake
Whale

LITERATURE/ SCIENCE 

Fractals
Golden Mean
The Alchemist
The Golden Compass
Physics
Poetry

MUSICAL GENRES 

12-tone
African drums
Bagpipe
Balinese gamelan
Baroque
Folk music
Folksong
Hip-Hop
Honky-tonk
Jazz
Lullaby
Musical portraits
Panpipe
Pipa
Pops
R & B
Renaissance
Rock
Scat singing

CONCERT OPENER

Overture
Fanfare

DREAMS, FEELINGS, EMOTIONS, & TRAITS 

Abandonment
Ambition
Appreciation
Confidence
Connections
Democracy
Development
Dreams
Emotion(s)
Empathy
Evil
Fabric
Good vs Evil
Grief
Homesick
Hope
Identity
Imagination
Inspiration
Loss
Love

DREAMS/FEELINGS (CON'T)
Memorial
Moods
Nervous
Nostalgia
Opposites
Perception
Perseverance
Poor
Power
Prayer
Remembrance
Resilience
Rich
Ritual
Sacrifice
Self infatuation
Shadows
Spirituals
Texture
Time
Together when apart
Tolerance
Transformation
Vision
Voiceless
Wisdom
Youth

PEOPLE 

Arseniy Tarkovsky
Astronomer
Beethoven
Bernstein
Federico García Lorca
Frankenstein
Georg Trakl
Gertrude Abercrombie
Girls
Handel
Jean Sibelius
Lemn Sissay
Lewis Carroll
Lio Lionni
Maria Mitchell
Marta Vieira da Silva
Mary Shelley
Milan Kundera
Mother
Mozart
Narendra Kuppan
Nicolás Cristóbal Guillén

PEOPLE CON’T

of African descent
of Asian descent
of Hispanic descent
of Indiginous descent
of Latin descent
Ophelia
Paulo Coelho
Penelope
Phillip Pullman
Prize winner
Role models
Rumi
Salome
Salvador Dali
Scheherazade
Shostakovich
Suffragists
Super heroes
Survivors
Susan B. Anthony
T.S. Eliot
Tupi-Guarani
Väinämäinen
Vinicius de Moraes
Walt Whitman
William Meredith
Women

EARTH/SEA/NATURE

Banyan tree
Diamond
Energy
Fire
Forest
Fractals
Garden
Geyser
Golden Mean
Ice
Land
Landscape
Maritime
Metal
Nature
Navy
Pastoral
Plants
Renewable energy
Sea
Seaship
Volcano
Water
Wild fires

PLACES/CULTURE 

African
Alabama
Amazon
Americana
Asia
Australia
Brazil
China
Cityscape
Egypt
Finland
Indonesia
Latin Americana
National park
Omaha
Persian
Peruvian
Phoenix
Rainforest
Russia
Silk Road
South America
Suzhou
Yellowstone

HISTORY/STORIES/

MYTHOLOGY/

RELIGION 

American History
Americana
Athena
Fairytales
Fascism
Folklore
Garden of Eden
Gender equality
Goblin
God
Goddess
Gods and Goddesses
Helios
Heritage
Heroes
History
Medusa
Mythology
Native American stories
Pandora's Box
Prayer
Roman god
Saci-Pererê
Sirens
Spanish Civil War
Spirits
Spirituals
Tradition
Tragedy

FAMILY CONCERT

Children’s concert

SEASONS 

Autumn
Solstice
Spring
Summer
Winter
Winter Solstice

UP IN THE SKY/SPACE 

Asteroid
Atmosphere
Big Bang
Jupiter
Light
Mercury
Moon
Night
Perseids
Rain
Sky
Snow
Solar system
Space
Starlight
Stars
Storm
Sun
Thunderstorm
Thunder, Lightning
Wind