Image via WikipediaMusic is great fun to catalog if you're not a musician. I'm being sarcastic.Recently I've been going through the music subject headings and it can be a challenge for those of us who are musically challenged (and even those who know a little something about the subject).
One thing about Sears is that they direct one to use the "names of musical forms expressed in the singular, ... for both musical scores and for materials about the musical form, e.g. Concerto...."
LC allows two subject heading for such items, Concerto for the form and Concertos for the musical scores.
LC also uses the singular form for musical instruments, e.g. Piano, whereas Sears uses the plural form, Pianos. Both allow for forms like Piano music for the music played on such instruments.
I had to catalog videos about several Japanese instruments: the biwa, the shamisen, and the koto (kinds of lutes), and the shakuhachi (a kind of flute). I used the plural form for each instrument, e.g. Biwas, Shamisens, Kotos, Shakuhachis, with additional headings, Musical instruments--Japan, and the headings for Lute music or Flute music as appropriate. I could have used Biwa music, etc. but decided that was going too far.
Dewey can also pose a challenge for musical instruments because not all such exotic instruments are indexed and so trying to figure out whether an instrument fits in 787.7 (Zithers and lyres) or 787.8 (the plectral lute family) can also be difficult. Fortunately both biwas and shamisens are indexed as part of 787.85 (flat-backed lutes), but kotos are not indexed and even Wikipedia is not much help to the uninitiated. Using OCLC's Classify I found that others had classified the koto in 787.75. It seems that the instrument is a kind of "plucked zither." Who knew!
The best online tool right now for getting Dewey numbers for exotic topics is OCLC's Classify website. It shows the classification (both LC and Dewey when available) for items with specific subject headings. This site has been a godsend for me and I have it open along with the LC Authority page and WebDewey (subscription required) whenever I'm cataloging.
