Not all songs are included in the Song Index or the Vocal Music Index. There are two techniques for searching for songs not in either of those databases.
Both of these techniques depend on finding the contents of songs in the catalog record for compilation volumes.
The following two examples show the location of the contents note in a catalog record. Here is a catalog record as it appears in the "Encore" interface:
Below is an image of the same catalog record using the "classic" interface:
To be able to search the content field you have to perform advanced keyword searches as explained and illustrated below.
The advanced keyword search can be found at: http://catalog.nypl.org/search/X
In the first field where the label says "Any Field" type in the title of the song. It is important to enclose the title in quotation marks. Then under "Collection" make sure it says "Entire Collection." Before you hit submit, go down to the area "Material Type" and select SCORE.
Here's an example with those fields filled in:
Click the "Submit" button to view your results.
The advanced search for the "Encore" interface can be found here.
This is a search with the keywords filled in:
Click the Search button to view your results.
Patrons should remember that over 100,000 scores that the Music Division acquired prior to 1972 do not appear in the online catalog. Going on the assumption that we probably have the item, patrons can search OCLC's Worldcat catalog. As with the NYPL catalog, one should do a keyword search by putting the song title in quotes and select the format of musical score. Worldcat can be searched here. Here's an example of a person seaching the song "Rolled into one":
Once you've determined what volumes contain the song you want, you can email us to see whether have the wanted volume.