DATE: December 2, 1994
REVISED:
NAME: Form of Music Codes in Bibliographic Records
SOURCE: National Library of Canada, Music Cataloging Section
SUMMARY: This paper explores the need to represent form of composition and genre for music as coded values in field 008 for music. It also discusses whether new codes should be added for forms/genres not currently assigned specific codes for use in field 008/18-19 and field 047.
KEYWORDS: Field 008/18-19 (Music); Form of composition; Field 047; Form of Musical Composition Code
STATUS/COMMENTS
12/2/94 - Forwarded to the USMARC Advisory Group for discussion at the February 1995 MARBI meetings.
2/6/95 - Results of USMARC Advisory Group discussion: A proposal may be needed based on the results of MLA discussion at its meetings in mid February. The proposal may suggest making field 008/18-19 (Music) and field 047 (Form of Musical Composition) obsolete. It should specify that if these coded data elements are retained as valid in the format, better maintenance is required. The Group agreed that codes need not be added by proposal. They could be published in one of the existing USMARC codes list publications.
DISCUSSION PAPER NO. 81: Form of Music Codes
in Bibliographic Records
1. INTRODUCTION
This paper discusses the pros and cons of defining new codes for
use in field 008 (Fixed-Length Data Elements) positions 18-19 (Form
of composition) and field 047 (Form of Musical Composition Code) in
the USMARC Format for Bibliographic Data. The music cataloging
community is not unanimous on the issues of what musical aspects to
code and what codes to define for form of composition. Some music
catalogers want to add new codes; others want to do away with these
coded data elements altogether. The general direction of the
USMARC formats to improve consistency, eliminate redundancy, and
overall, make the formats easier to use, needs to be considered in
the discussion to add more codes.
2. DISCUSSION
Beginning with the original specifications for music, which were
first published as the MARC Format for Music (1976), data elements
have been defined for providing a coded representation of the form
of music composition. Compositional forms (e.g., concertos) can be
coded in USMARC records in addition to being represented by
full-text subject headings in the 6XX (Subject Access) fields.
These codes were defined to support qualification searching.
Catalog users could locate materials by forms of composition in
combination with other search arguments.
Access through forms of composition and musical genres have
traditionally formed part of the cataloging information provided
for music scores and sound recordings. In the early 1970s, it was
debated whether only a few codes, limited primarily to classical
musical forms, should be defined or whether encoding should be
broadened to include other musical genres. In the end, the list of
codes to be used in field 008/18-19 (and field 047, when more than
one form of composition or musical genre was involved) covered
some, but not all forms and genres. In the almost twenty years
since the USMARC code list for field 008/18-19 and field 047 was
initially approved, only a few codes have been added. The variety
of musical genres has grown, especially for popular music, yet the
codes for popular forms has remained limited. The establishment of
new subject headings in LCSH for musical forms for use in the 6XX
fields has continued while the coded compositional forms has not
been changed.
Requests have been made to add new codes to the USMARC list used in
field 008/18-19 (Music) and field 047, particularly for popular
musical genres that catalogers want to identify more specifically
than is possible with the code "pp" (Popular music). The National
Library of Canada has requested that the code list be updated to
add codes for newer compositional forms.
In 1989, the Library of Congress announced that it was abandoning
the practice of including field 047 in records when more than one
USMARC music composition code is appropriate. The difficulty and
expense of providing codes, in addition to subject headings, was
one of the reasons LC decided on the change in practice. (LC has
continued to code field 008/18-19.) Reaction to the announcement
that field 047 would no longer be used was mixed, and not as strong
as had been anticipated. It was not and is still not clear how
widely musical composition codes are actually used.
3. POSSIBLE OPTIONS
a) Expand the current USMARC code list for use in field
008/18-19 (Music) and field 047 to cover a wider variety of
forms of musical composition and genres. The existing
broad, general codes (e.g., "pp" = popular music) would
continue to be valid for those that did not want to use a
more specific code. The advantages include a better
synchronization with forms of composition and genre terms
recorded in the 6XX fields, a simplification of the
decision-making process for selecting a code, and better
data for those systems that can already make use of coded
form/genre information in searching. Field 008/18-19
and/or field 047 codes could be based more closely on
subject terms if more codes were defined and the code list
updated in conjunction with establishment of new forms in
LCSH in the future.
b) Make the current USMARC field 008 positions 18-19 (Music)
and field 047 obsolete. Since form of musical composition
and genre are generally recorded as full-text strings in
one of the 6XX fields, there may be no loss in usability of
the cataloging records. The main disadvantage would be the
loss to those systems and catalog users that currently make
use of this coded data. The searching of full-text strings
is often not as efficient as searching coded values.
4. EXISTING AND PROPOSED MUSIC CODES
Existing USMARC codes for field 008/18-19 (Music) and field 047:
(* = Term not yet covered by LCSH)
Type of Music Code
Anthems an
Ballets bt
Bluegrass music bg
Blues bl
Canons and rounds * cn
Cantatas ct
Canzonas * cz
Carols cr
Chaconnes ca
Chance compositions cs
Chansons, polyphonic cp
Chant, Christian cc
Chants, Other religious * cb
Chorale preludes cl
Chorales ch
Concerti grossi cg
Concertos co
Country music cy
Dance forms df
Divertimentos, etc. * dv
Fantasias ft
Folk music fm
Fugues * fg
Gospel music gm
Hymns hy
Jazz jz
Madrigals md
Marches mr
Masses ms
Mazurkas mz
Minuets mi
Motets mo
Moving picture music mp
Multiple forms mu
Nocturnes nc
Not applicable nn
Operas op
Oratorios or
Overtures ov
Part-songs pt
Passacaglias ps
Passion music pm
Pavans pv
Polonaises po
Popular music pp
Preludes * pr
Program music pg
Ragtime music rg
Requiems rq
Ricercars * ri
Rock music rc
Rondos rd
Sonatas sn
Songs sg
Studies and exercises * st
Suites su
Symphonic poems sp
Symphonies sy
Toccatas tc
Trio-sonatas ts
Unknown uu
Variations vr
Waltzes wz
Other forms of composition zz
Proposed additions to the USMARC list of Form of composition codes:
(* = Term not yet covered by LCSH)
Type of Music Code
Aires ai
Bagatelles * ba
Cappriccios * ci
Christmas music cx
Computer music cm
Dance music dn
Disco music ds
Electronic music ec
Elegies * eg
Fanfares ff
Funky music * fy
Gavottes gv
Hard rock music * hr
House music * hs
Incidental music ic
Intermezzos in
Jug band music * jg
Lieder li
Musique concrŠte mq
National music na
New wave music nw
Polkas pk
Psalms (Music) pl
Raggae music re
Rap (Music) rp
Rhythm and blues music rb
Rock operas * ro
Sinfonias * si
Ska music * sk
Soul music sl
Square dance music sq
Tarantellas tr
Library of Congress