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18 Mar 05 - 05:27 AM (#1437518) Subject: Music Data Base Wanted From: GUEST,Nfkfiddler Does anybody know of a data base/filing system for recording sheet music? Perhaps with titles/alternative titles/keys/music type/second parts/recordings.......Is there still such a thing as shareware? Any help appreciated |
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18 Mar 05 - 06:33 AM (#1437548) Subject: RE: Music Data Base Wanted From: JohnInKansas Nfk There has been some discussion in previous threads about what kinds of methods people use, but I don't know that I've heard of any magic program that makes it easy. If you're really wanting a "database" kind of program, any program you can tailor to the specific things you want to keep track of for each of your songs probably will require you to decide what things you want to record - so you get any "general purpose database" and set up your own "record format" by telling it what "fields" to keep track of for each record. If you make a "record" for each piece of music, your fields might be things like "title," "alt-title," "composer," "lyricist," "key signature," etc.; but you decide what they're going to be. If you have an "office suite" on your computer, you may already have a "database program" like Access or Lotus. There are freeware/shareware "database programs" available, but the "basic" ones will still be general purpose, and you'll have to set up the program to keep track of what you want it to. A database program, set up to record the data you want, can record a lot more information in smaller file space than most other kinds of programs, but some people find setting them up and maintaining them cumbersome. Quite a few people have mentioned using a spreadsheet program, often Excel, for this kind of record keeping. You just put the title in the first column, and each other "thing" you want to keep track of in a separate column in the same row. I make do with just making a list in Word, putting each entry on a separate line, in columns. I list the song title, an abbreviation for what book it's in, page number, key, and a "code" to show a few other details. The code is M if it's a single line melody or S if it's a multipart score, "Ln" for number of verses of lyrics (3 verses would be L3, or V if it just give a single verse. I only keep track of what I've got in books and sheet music in my own library, so I minimize the amount of info I need in the record and look at the books when I need full details. My record is mainly to keep track of which books I can look in, so it's really just an "index" rather than a database. I set it up quite a while back, and the first time I got curious about "how big" it was getting was in Dec 1996, when I had 11,859 titles on 215 pages. I currently show 38,840 titles, from ony 208 books and 233 CDs. The document itself is 647 pages and the file has grown to about 4 MB. That's pretty big for a Word 95 file, and probably more than old versions would handle well; but Word 2000 and later have a spec "maximum size" of 32 MB for documents, so I've got room to grow. (The spec maximum is a guide. I've got a couple of 85 MB documents that haven't crashed ... yet, probably because most of the "size bloat" is from the imbedded graphics.) The point of what I've got in my index isn't to brag about how many songs I've got. It's to suggest that whatever method you choose should be able to handle a lot more than you think you'll need. Once you start putting all your sh.t in one bucket, it's amazing how much you've got. John |
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18 Mar 05 - 04:16 PM (#1437906) Subject: RE: Music Data Base Wanted From: Helen Nfkfiddler, As John-i-K mentioned, you can keep your list in Excel, which I like using for keeping track of things for a couple of reasons. 1) It's already in columns and rows so no formatting is necessary initially to get it into a table. If you want to print it out you can decide whether you want borders/grid lines to show. 2) You just type the header rows across the top row of your list and then use one row/line per item you are listing. You choose what you want as your header row labels e.g. what you listed above: titles, alternative titles, keys, music type, second parts, recordings. If you want to add another header later that's easy too. 3) It's really easy to copy the same cell entry down the column by just clicking on the cell and then holding the cursor over the corner of the cell until the little cross + appears then drag the cross over the cells you want to copy to. This is handy if you are using a category indicator eg CW = Country & Western, F=Folk, B=Blues, etc. 4) Category indicators are one of the main reasons I like Excel as a quick index. You can allocate the category as you go and later you can sort the whole list according to any of the Header labels or according to the categories you choose. You can sort the data on 3 columns e.g. category first, then name of composer then name of song. You can also put a category marker column for the book in which the sheet music is found, or the shelf you store it on, or a number allocated to each piece of music, or...or... or.... 5) The sort feature allows you to type everything in, in whatever order is handy and then later sort it into a different, handier order. In fact, what I do is copy the workbook page onto a couple of other pages of the same spreadsheet and sort them by different columns eg composer, title, category and then label the workbook tab accordingly. That means making any changes to the first workbook and then copying and pasting to the others each time and re-sorting but it takes minimal time to do that. Other than that I just sort the one page into whatever order I need at the time. 6) Instead of sorting the list another really really nifty trick - one of my absolute favourite Excel features :-) - is the AutoFilter. You highlight the whole columns you want to use the AutoFilter on and then you go to the menu item Data > Filter > AutoFilter. Then some little down arrows appear at the top of the columns and when you click on the arrow it shows a list of everything in the cells and you choose the one you want and it hides everything else except the ones with that data in that column. E.g. if you wanted to look at all the C&W music you have you choose C&W from the list and it just shows that music. It relies on you being careful to categorise everything but I use 2-3 letter category labels and keep a note of what each category marker is for. You can copy the output of the AutoFilter and paste it somewhere else. Just remember to go back to the AutoFilter arrow and click on All - at the top of the list - to bring it all back. There are some disadvantages to Excel lists compared to real databases but it is so simple to use and if you only have a few types of fields to enter it is really quick and easy to set up and use. For me, as an ex-librarian, I think better on Excel if it is something fairly simple to organise. I often use it to get my head around a complicated issue with lots of variables like when I had to analyse a complicated system of 10 committees with lots of responsibilities and accountabilities. I had a large Excel file with everything listed out and categorised so that I could keep track of it all and see how it all fitted together so that the way the committees worked could be streamlined and improved. If you let me know your e-mail address I could set it up in Excel for you really quickly. If you don't want to advertise your e-mail address to the world you can join up at Mudcat - which is free - and then send me a PM (Personal Message) from the Personal Page link at the top of the page. Just go to the Send a Message part and choose the name "Helen". The other alternative is that if you have MsAccess there is possibly a sample database already set up that you can choose from the New menu which is close to what you want. Helen |
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18 Mar 05 - 04:33 PM (#1437919) Subject: RE: Music Data Base Wanted From: Helen Oh yes, and a couple of other things: you can "Fill Down" series really easily, so if you wanted to put an item number for each piece of sheet music you type 1 in the first cell. 2 in the next cell down, then highlight both cells and hold the cursor over the bottom right hand corner, left mouse click, then drag the cursor down until you reach the number you want. Saves typing numbers. At any point you can continue the numbers by highlighting a couple of the cells and dragging down again. The other thing is that you can format a cell e.g so that it shows a date formatted consistently to the style you choose. You can insert columns or move them around to change the order, etc etc. Helen |
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19 Mar 05 - 06:30 AM (#1438228) Subject: RE: Music Data Base Wanted From: Jeremiah McCaw If you don't have "Excel" or the Corel equivalent, and are averse to spending lotsa money, do a google search using the words "Open Office" (I think the actual URL is something like www.open-office.org). This a free open-source-code program that contains a complete word pro, database and 'powerpoint' progam suite. It appears to be as complete and as versatile as Microsoft Office or any of the other hideously expensive commercial products. |
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19 Mar 05 - 01:26 PM (#1438368) Subject: RE: Music Data Base Wanted From: Barbara Shaw I really like Access for database files, Excel for number crunching and Word for text and graphics (or Illustrator when necessary). You can paste Word tables into Access to convert to a database and then use the information very efficiently for reports and queries and lists. One of the nice things about Access is that you can create several different tables on one database -- for example a table of sheet music, a table of cd recordings, a table of composers, etc. and tie them together by joining a common field such as e.g. composer name. Then you can print out common elements in a report, for example a report of all your sheet music by John Lennon, recordings you have by him and any information you've collected about him on your composer table. All of this of course would require some knowledge of database design, which is one of the things I did in my former life. But you could certainly set up a simple table in Access to hold all the things asked for in the original post. |
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19 Mar 05 - 05:38 PM (#1438492) Subject: RE: Music Data Base Wanted From: Helen Excel tables can easily be transferred into MsAccess too so if you wanted to upgrade the complexity of the database. I still think, though, that for simplicity MsExcel is the one. Helen |
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19 Mar 05 - 06:06 PM (#1438501) Subject: RE: Music Data Base Wanted From: GUEST,Jon Well of the 2, I'd go down the Access route but as Barbra indicated, you really do need to know a little bit about database design to get any big advantage. It might be worth checking somwhere like download.com first though. Here is a search for "music catalog". It might turn up something useful. |
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19 Mar 05 - 06:38 PM (#1438520) Subject: RE: Music Data Base Wanted From: Arkie Access is a powerful database and can do many wonderful things. It is also somewhat difficult to use. I have tried it but have never wanted to put in the time it would take to make it work for me. I do prefer a database to a spreadsheet for cataloging my CDs but what I actually do is use both. I use the Works database which is much more more user friendly than Access but also more limited, however, it does what I need. You can sort by any field with a couple of clicks. I also use the Excel spreadsheet. Depending on the nature of what I am entering, I will sometimes enter the information in Excel and copy and paste into Works. Excel will automatically enter words after you type a letter or two once you have used the word and if you want to enter the same data in every record, it can be done in one step in Excel and two steps in Works. Using Works and Excel requires two programs Office and Works, but I do like Excel much better than the spreadsheet that comes in Works. I could get by without Excel, but I had it on the computer so I put it to work. One drawback to the spreadsheet is that you have to make sure every column is highlighted when you sort or you could hopelessly jumble the data in your records. |
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20 Mar 05 - 05:28 AM (#1438778) Subject: RE: Music Data Base Wanted From: GUEST,Jim Brettell I have found a superb piece of software, downloadable from the Net. It's called Music Collector and I have used it to catalogue my entire collection (some 300+ CD's and vinyl) as well as include music manuscripts (I am into the Folk Scene). Go to www.collectorz.com |
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20 Mar 05 - 03:34 PM (#1439103) Subject: RE: Music Data Base Wanted From: Mr Red Surf for abc music - there is a huge accedemic data-base with links allover the place - eg I asked about a 48 bar waltz - and somenone searched as far as waltz and left the counting to me. all 3000 references - mostly 32 bar waltzes. |
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20 Mar 05 - 03:59 PM (#1439119) Subject: RE: Music Data Base Wanted From: Cruiser Sounds like a good program. Insert your CD into your drive and no typing is needed. $40.00 |