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MUCT 2360: Music of the Pacific

Songbooks and scores

The library has many pieces of sheet music and songbooks related to Hawaii, and fewer in other Pacific areas. To search for printed music:

  1. Search for relevant keywords like country, area, genre, performer, etc. in either Summon or the library catalog.
  2. Limit your content type/material type to "Musical Score"

Global Jukebox

The Global Jukebox, a digital database maintained by the Association for Cultural Equity, contains some field recordings from the Pacific.

Find sound recordings

The recording labels Nonesuch and Smithsonian Folkways (sometimes just called "Folkways") publish quality collections of recordings from many world areas, including the Pacific, that usually come with detailed liner notes and sometimes transcriptions of songs.

To find recordings like these, do a keyword search in the library catalog for a genre, place, or instrument and then include either Nonesuch or Folkways as an additional term, like the model search linked below:

Indonesia and Nonesuch

If your search results include vinyl LPs that you'd like to listen to (the call numbers will start with "12/33"), please contact Dave Lewis the sound archivist before coming to the music library so the materials can be ready. His contact information is to the left of this box. If you only want to use the liner notes, you can access those without an appointment.

Smithsonian Folkways online content:

Smithsonian Folkways also offers playlists of world and folk music online, but not to their entire catalog.