Sometimes it seems no matter how you conduct a search, the catalog pulls up too many or too few items, and most of those items are irrelevant.This is especially true if you're looking for works by major composers and with generic titles such as "First Symphony."  One of the problems is that publishers might use any number of titles for the same work. In these kinds of situations, using a "uniform title" can be helpful. For many well-known works, librarians have established unique titles, which they call "uniform titles."

For example, if you do a keyword search for "Beethoven's Fifth Symphony" or "Beethoven symphony no. 5" you'll probably pull up a list of either too many or too few items, many of which will be unrelated to that symphony. If, on the other hand, you find the correct uniform title and click on it, in this case "Beethoven, Ludwig van, 1770-1827. Symphonies, no. 5, op. 67, C minor," you will find items related to that particular work. Although uniform titles aren't always added to catalog records, and although keyword searches will sometimes pull up items that are important to your research, using uniform titles is often the quickest and surest way to find what you need.

There are three types of uniform titles:

1. Distinctive titles (typically a distinctive name in the original language, such as "Zauberflote"; not "The magic flute")

2. Generic titles (when no distinct title is given, such as "Sonatas, piano, no. 18, op. 31, no. 3, E♭ major)

3. Collective titles (when groups of items are often published together, such as "Piano music")

These titles are then combined with the composers' names. So the above titles could have the following full uniform titles.

• Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus, 1756-1791.Zauberflöte.
• Beethoven, Ludwig van, 1770-1827.Sonatas, piano, no. 18, op. 31, no. 3, E♭ major.
• Chopin, Frederic, 1810-1849.Piano music.

While it is possible to type uniform titles into a catalog search, the easiest way to use uniform titles is usually to conduct a general search to find an item that includes the desired uniform title, and then click on it. This will pull up a list of all items with that uniform title. In some cases you will be redirected to other uniform titles.

Additional examples of uniform titles are listed below.

A distinctive title refers to the title given by the composer in its original language. While items can often be found using a popular title, the distinctive titles will list additional variant titles. You may wish to try a popular title, find the uniform title in the citation and click on the link to get more entries.

Examples:

In sitations in which the composer did not provide a specific, unique title, libraries have assigned a uniform title in the following pattern:

MUSICAL FORM, MEDIUM (instrumentation), NUMBER (work number, opus, catalog number), KEY

Note:  The form is most often plural as many composers composed more than one example in a form.

Examples:

Still can't find your item? Sometimes uniform titles are created for often-published collections of items, such as the complete piano works by a composer, or the complete sonatas, or the complete symphonies. Collective titles will help you locate collection titles which may contain the piece you need.

Collective titles are for collections of a composer's works in a broad category such as piano music,  vocal music , or works (for complete works).

Examples:

Indiana University's Cook Music Library  provides a great guide on searching for music. Check it out here!