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Piano

Last Updated: 16-Mar-2015

Research Skills

Find printed music

Find recordings, printed music, books, and articles on playing and researching the piano.

Subject Librarians

Ray Heigemeir, Music Library
Ray Heigemeir
Public Services Librarian for Music
Music Library
(650) 384-9985

Subjects

Music
Instrumental music
Musical instruments

Related guides

Organ

Recordings

Find circulating CDs in the SearchWorks catalog.

  • Narrow your search results to the music recordings format and the Music Library location.

Stream piano music from one of the streaming audio databases.

Research historical performances in the Archive of Recorded Sound.

See also the Piano Society website: stream over 5000 standard and lesser-known works recorded by society members.

Notable large recording sets:

Great pianists of the 20th century [sound recording].
[Netherlands?] : Philips Classics, p1999.
Music Library » Recordings » MCD 6672
200 CDs.
The Rubinstein collection [sound recording].
[S.l] : RCA Red Seal ; New York, N.Y. : Distributed by BMG Classics, p1999.
Archive of Recorded Sound » Recordings
94 CDs.

New CD arrivals:

› See all 2233 results
  1. The complete recordings
  2. The complete solo piano music. 3

    Ernő Dohnányi.. 2015

  3. Decca sound [sound recording] : the mono years, 1944-1956

New DVD arrivals:

› See all 262 results
  1. Asian business leaders. Tong Zhicheng and Pearl River Piano Group
  2. Knowing the score. Vol. 2

    Malcom Bilson. 2014

  3. The piano teacher

Printed music

View printable online score collections here.

Find circulating piano music in the SearchWorks catalog.

For adult beginners, try the Adult All-In-One course.

Browse in the stacks:

M 20 Miscellaneous collections
M 21 Collections of original compositions, multiple composers
M 22 Collections of original compositions, single composers
M 23 Sonatas
M 24 Suites
M 25 Other pieces
M 26 Piano, 1 hand
M 27-30 Variations; marches; dances
M 32-39 Arrangements; transcriptions
M 200-204 Piano, 4 hands
M 214 2 pianos, 2 performers
M 1010 Piano concerto scores
M 1011 Piano concertos, with orchestra arranged for 2nd piano
M 1380 Easy pieces; works for children

Reference works

Read the article on the pianoforte in Gove Music Online
Piano : an encyclopedia / Robert Palmieri, editor ; Margaret W. Palmieri, associate editor.
2nd ed. New York : Routledge, 2003.
SAL3 (off-campus storage) » Stacks » ML102 .P5 E53 2003
Focuses on the piano as an instrument, including construction, individual makers, and companies.

Lists of published music:

Guide to the pianist's repertoire / Maurice Hinson & Wesley Roberts.
Fourth edition.
Music Library » Reference (non-circulating) » ML128 .P3 H5 2014
Music for piano and orchestra : an annotated guide / Maurice Hinson.
Enl. ed., 1st Midland ed. Bloomington : Indiana University Press, 1993.
Music Library » Reference (non-circulating) » ML128 .P3 H66 M9 1993
The pianist's guide to transcriptions, arrangements, and paraphrases / Maurice Hinson.
Bloomington : Indiana University Press, c1990.
Music Library » Reference (non-circulating) » ML128.P3H66 P57 1990
One handed : a guide to piano music for one hand / compiled and annotated by Donald L. Patterson.
Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, 1999.
Music Library » Reference (non-circulating) » ML128 .P3 P38 1999
Piano duet repertoire : music originally written for one piano, four hands / Cameron McGraw.
Bloomington : Indiana University Press, c1981.
Music Library » Reference (non-circulating) » ML128.P3 M14
Music for more than one piano : an annotated guide / Maurice Hinson.
Bloomington : Indiana University Press, c1983.
Music Library » Reference (non-circulating) » ML128.P3 H66 M98 1983

See all piano reference books:

› See all 44 results
  1. Un incontro di culture : la tarantella per pianoforte

    Marcello Cofini. 1995

  2. Notnye izdanii͡a v fondakh Gosudarstvennoĭ biblioteki SSSR imeni V.I. Lenina : katalog : fortepiano, uchebno-pedagogicheskiĭ repertuar : sovetskie notnye izdanii͡a 1970-1980 gg.

    Gosudarstvennai͡a biblioteka SSSR imeni V.I. Lenina, Otdel notnykh izdaniĭ i zvukozapiseĭ ; [sostaviteli G.B. Koltypina, L.V. Li, E.N. Filippova ; redaktor G.B. Koltypina].. 1983

  3. Guide to the pianist's repertoire

    Maurice Hinson & Wesley Roberts. 2014

  4. Portuguese piano music : an introduction and annotated bibliography

    Nancy Lee Harper. 2013

  5. For the parlor and the concert stage : a guide to recent collections of American piano music from the classic and romantic eras

    by Keith C. Ward ; Michael J. Budds, editor. 2010

Books and articles

Browse in the stacks:

ML 417 Biographies of pianists
ML 649-747 Books about pianos, piano makers, piano music, and playing
MT 220-258 Teaching systems, methods, exercises

New books on the piano:

› See all 743 results
  1. Contemporary class piano

    Elyse Mach (Northeastern Illinois University). 2016

  2. Beethovens Klaviere und seine Klavierimprovisation : Klangwelt und Aufführungspraxis

    Siegbert Rampe. 2015

  3. Between romanticism and modernism : Ignacy Jan Paderewski's compositional oeuvre

    Bogusław Raba ; translated by John Comber. 2015

  4. Piano : an encyclopedia

    Robert Palmieri, editor ; Margaret W. Palmieri, associate editor. 2015

  5. Piano culture in 19th-century Paris

    edited by Massimiliano Sala. 2015

Articles

Find articles on piano playing, pianists, instrument makers and more, using the online music indexes here.

See a list of keyboard periodicals here.

Web resources

Frederick Historical Piano Collection
Pleshakov Piano Museum
International Piano Archives at Maryland
The Player Piano Page
Piano Technician's Guild
Chopin Foundation of the US
Cliburn Foundation
Includes the documentary, "The Cliburn: 50 Years of Gold"
The Piano Society
Stream more than 5000 recordings made by society members.
The Pianola Institute
The Pianola Institute was launched in 1985 to breathe new life into player pianos around the world, and to lure them back into the mainstream of music by means of recordings, exhibitions, publications and archive and study facilities.
Bechstein
Bösendorfer
Fazioli
Pleyel
Steinway & Sons
How to get to Carnegie Hall