MUS 330: Music in the World: Asian Music: Tips for Searching

InfoKat Music Subject Headings

Use these subject headings for conducting subject searches in InfoKat.

• Communism in music
• Feminism and music
• Feminist music
• Gender identity in music
• Homosexuality in music
• Masculinity in music
• Music and state
• Music and war
• Music in propaganda
• Music--Psychological aspects
• Music--Social aspects
• Music, Influence of
• Patriotic music
• Popular music
• Socialism in music
• Totalitarianism in music

Subject Headings for Asian Music

Combine subject terms with the name of a country, region or language. See examples below.

• Dance music + country/region → Dance music--India
• Folk music + country/region → Folk music--Mongolia
• Folk songs + language → Folk songs, Chinese
• Music + country/region → Music--Asia
• Musical instruments + country/region → Musical instruments--India
• Percussion music + country/region → Percussion music--Korea
• Sacred music + country/region → Sacred music--China
• Songs + language → Songs, Japanese

You can also try such topics as:

• Carnatic OR Karnatic music
• Gamelan music
• Koto music
• P'i p'a OR Pipa music
• Raga OR ragas
• Shamisen
• Taiko OR Taiko drum OR Taiko drum ensemble
• Throat singing

How do I navigate searching in InfoKat?

There are many search strategies you can use to retrieve results in InfoKat. Read on for more details and examples:

Simple Search

• This is the default search box in InfoKat and it will allow you to search by keyword.
• Will search all the words you have entered, but not necessarily in the same order.
• Within Keyword Searching, you can use quotation marks to search for specific phrases.
  • EX: "Javanese gamelan"

Advanced Search

This search form is available by clicking on the "Advanced Search" button to the right of the default simple search box. It offers several features:

"Search for:"

This is a series of radio buttons running along the top of the Advanced Search form. The default setting is "Everything," which will include the library's physical and electronic resources. If you want to search only for physical items that are in the UK Library Catalog, select the "Library Catalog" button. You can also limit to items held in Course Reserves, Local Collections, or WorldCat. 

Author/Creator Search

• Available as a drop-down option within the InfoKat Advanced Search form.
• Use this feature to search by creator/author, as well as for a particular composer, performer, or ensemble.
• Can search by first and last name, or by last name, first name
  • EX: Florence Price
  • EX: Price, Florence
• Search terms do not need to be capitalized to retrieve results
  • EX: ravi shankar

Title Search

• Available as a drop-down option within the InfoKat Advanced Search form.
• Enter as much of the title as you can.
• If the title begins with an article (e.g., "A," "An," or "The"), omit this from your search string.
  • This applies to non-English articles in different languages, as well.
• For musical titles, search for the title in its original language for the best results.
  • Check a musical reference work, such as Oxford Music Online, if you are unsure about the correct title.

Subject Search

• Available as a drop-down option within the InfoKat Advanced Search form.
• This will search the terms listed as subjects within item records.
  • Searching for a person's name as a subject can help to locate biographies and books about their work.
  • Searching for the subject headings from a known item can retrieve more items on the same subject.

Search Limits

• Available on the right-hand side of the Advanced Search form, or as additional options on the results list (under "Refine my results")
• Can filter results by material type, language, date, and more.

Truncation

• Whether you are using Simple or Advanced Search, you can use this strategy to search for various forms of a word simultaneously.
• Use an asterisk (*) to substitute for specific characters.
  • EX: cultur* will retrieve results for culture, cultures, and cultural.

How do I know which resources are available?

If the book title you have searched is available on line, you will see an "Online access" (or "Full text available") link in the results list. Click on the link to go to the book.

The same applies to journal titles that are available online.

Clicking on the title of a book or journal will take you to its bibliographic record.

For journals, scroll down to the "View Online" section of the bibliographic record to see which years and volumes are available online.