Bach Printed Music Database
Help on Search Facilities

Using Help in various ways

As there is no accounting for tastes, many people use the search facility in different ways. For example:

  1. Mr Albrecht is looking for a specific item that he vaguely know who wrote it and what it is called; yet he need to check the exact spelling of the item and when it is published, etc, for the article he is writing.
  2. Miss Bachmann is starting a new research project, and is expecting to find items that she needs to read, which she has never read before.
  3. Dr C. Clarke is looking to see if all his publications are listed in Bach Printed Music Database.
  4. Professor Davies is determined to identify a reference item poorly quoted in the book she was reading -- "Grace in the Musical Times, vol. 63 (1922), p. 22".

It is important that they know exactly what information they should provide so that the search will find the items they are looking for. In Bach Printed Music Database, you will be able to carry out very strict search if you provide sufficient information. This is best achieved by the combination of searches, such as "author search" and "keyword in a title".

Simple Search: examples

It seems that the three people can do their search with Simple Search.

Examples in Simple Search
Mr Albrecht
Dr C. Clarke
Professor Davies
Author(s)
Wolff
Clarke
Grace
Title
Handexemplar
 
 
Series (List of abbr.)
 
 
MTimes
Volume
 
 
 
Year of publication
 
 
1922
Reviewer
 
 
 

The search by Mr Albrecht will produce 5 results: in fact he is looking for Christoph Wolff's "Bachs Handexemplar der Goldberg-Variationen - eine neue Quelle", but he not only finds the item in the Bach Printed Music Database, but also the item translated into English, as well as a similar article on "Schübler-Choräle".

The search by Dr Clarke produces 2 results. It is a disappointing for him that none of the two is by him. Yet he now knows that there are other Clarkes working in Bach studies.

Professor Davies's search produces 1 results -- Grace, Harvey: "The Bach-Elgar Fugue.", MTimes 63/947 (Jan, 1922) 21-23. She is now happy to carry on reading the book.

Complex Search: examples

Miss Bachmann's case is different. She wants to read about Bach's cantata in religious context in German, but cannot think of appropriate keywords. Yet under the Complex Search, she can specify under each search category the following information:

She will get 8 items from the search. She should also carry out a separate search on Aspect with "Liturgy" and "Theology" to make sure that she did not miss out any.

Complex Search is very powerful and flexible. As you see, you can get around the spelling problems caused by inflection, such as "Kantate(n)" and "geistliche(n/s/r)".

You should now try and experience the Complex Search for yourself.

Making best use of various features from "Search Result"

When your search is successful, you will see a list of references on the screen. In each reference, you will see several active links, and by clicking one of these you can carry out further searches. Note that the number of links depends on the types of references.

These active links should be used for the purpose as follows: