It would be very helpful if each title included the instrumentation. Though many listings do, some categories do not. For example, I noticed while looking through the duet listings that few of them say what instruments they are for. The only way to find the instrumentation is to open each one.
Listing the instrumentation with the title would also allow one to search by instrument, too, which will be increasingly useful as the database grows.
Thanks
Request for instrument listing with titles
Moderators: kcleung, Wiki Admins
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yojimboken
- regular poster
- Posts: 45
- Joined: Sun Jul 29, 2007 9:57 pm
This is not really a software-side request, so I've moved this thread.
In any case, I think this might not be the best way to go about it. Not only do almost every page have to be renamed, it also requires contributors to follow a somewhat counter-intuitive standard system (in many cases people usually do not put instrumentation in titles).
I think the "correct" way to go about it is the implementation of a real library catalog system, like the LoC. This has been discussed in several places on the forums, but unfortunately it is a lot of work, and work that is not extremely interesting (digitalizing and sorting out the cataloging system). And therefore not a lot of progress has been made.
However, I think this will be done sooner or later; it may take a few years, but eventually it will be a necessity. Such a cataloging system also solves many other requests, for example, to add categories to the current (rather broken) basic cataloging system. I'm currently thinking of starting a LoC digitalization/sorting project, based on the early PD edition of the LoC catalog that is on Google Books. When this becomes a reality is still unknown, however. I would be infinitely happy if someone would be willing to take over this project; I'd be glad to code the system as long as the catalog is digitalized and sorted according to IMSLP's needs.
Hope this clarifies the issue
In any case, I think this might not be the best way to go about it. Not only do almost every page have to be renamed, it also requires contributors to follow a somewhat counter-intuitive standard system (in many cases people usually do not put instrumentation in titles).
I think the "correct" way to go about it is the implementation of a real library catalog system, like the LoC. This has been discussed in several places on the forums, but unfortunately it is a lot of work, and work that is not extremely interesting (digitalizing and sorting out the cataloging system). And therefore not a lot of progress has been made.
However, I think this will be done sooner or later; it may take a few years, but eventually it will be a necessity. Such a cataloging system also solves many other requests, for example, to add categories to the current (rather broken) basic cataloging system. I'm currently thinking of starting a LoC digitalization/sorting project, based on the early PD edition of the LoC catalog that is on Google Books. When this becomes a reality is still unknown, however. I would be infinitely happy if someone would be willing to take over this project; I'd be glad to code the system as long as the catalog is digitalized and sorted according to IMSLP's needs.
Hope this clarifies the issue
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cellorando
- Posts: 1
- Joined: Mon Sep 08, 2008 8:37 pm
I don't know how much user input you want, but musicians usually know what instrumentation to put in the title. Can the wiki article title be changed without having to delete it? A simple standard for denoting the instrumentation would work in most works. For instance:
for piano solo
for orchestra
for string quartet
after the title, before the opus or cat. no., e.g. Serenade, K.388 (Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus) would Serenade for wind octet, K.388 (Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus).
By way of a possible standard, string or wind quartets, quintets, and so on would be meant literally, meaning any string or wind combination of that many instruments. Duets or duo (only one of these terms should be used) and trios would have the insruments spelled out. Sonatas for an instrument and piano would not be duets but "sonata for violin and piano", for instance. Concertos: "for violin and orchestra".
This would work for the vast majority of cases. The instrumentation field in the "General Information" section would be more specific.
People are largely aware of wikipedia and the principle of open editing. I think lots of musicians would want to help. I am not sure what IMSLP is talking is talking about regarding the LOC. I've studied that a bit, and I don't know what the LOC cataloguing has to offer. I don't think it's a good idea to wait for it anyways. I noticed that the serenade example above has 434 views. I wonder how many of those were by string players, and how many would want to fix the problem.
Another possibility is to use the instrumentation under general info. This isn't much help actually if we go by way of the composer. I see we can't add categories.
for piano solo
for orchestra
for string quartet
after the title, before the opus or cat. no., e.g. Serenade, K.388 (Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus) would Serenade for wind octet, K.388 (Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus).
By way of a possible standard, string or wind quartets, quintets, and so on would be meant literally, meaning any string or wind combination of that many instruments. Duets or duo (only one of these terms should be used) and trios would have the insruments spelled out. Sonatas for an instrument and piano would not be duets but "sonata for violin and piano", for instance. Concertos: "for violin and orchestra".
This would work for the vast majority of cases. The instrumentation field in the "General Information" section would be more specific.
People are largely aware of wikipedia and the principle of open editing. I think lots of musicians would want to help. I am not sure what IMSLP is talking is talking about regarding the LOC. I've studied that a bit, and I don't know what the LOC cataloguing has to offer. I don't think it's a good idea to wait for it anyways. I noticed that the serenade example above has 434 views. I wonder how many of those were by string players, and how many would want to fix the problem.
Another possibility is to use the instrumentation under general info. This isn't much help actually if we go by way of the composer. I see we can't add categories.