Re: [ARSCLIST] Cataloging. Schubert Songs Sample

["Steven C. Barr" <stevenc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Steven Smolian" <smolians@xxxxxxxxx>
> Here is one of the ways I want my listings to appear, based on how I use
my catalog.
> I'm sending this as an attachment and as text, though I'm never sure if
the layout on the receiving computer will appear as I sent it.  Let's try.
>
If there was an attachment, it wasn't sent...arrived as text, though!
>
> SCHUBERT, Franz
>
> SONGS
>
> An den Mond, "Fuehlest wieder Busch und Tal" (Goethe), D. 259
>         Pregardien, Christopher, ten; Staier, Andreas, fp
>                 1994/10/10-13           rec sess        Deutch HM 77342,
1.07  (707)
>         Walker, Sarah, sop; Johnson, Graham, pf
>                 1989/05/29-31           rec sess        Hyperion
CDJ-33008, 1.01 (719)
<snip> An den Mond, "Fuehlest wieder Busch und Tal" (Goethe), D. 296
> For 50+ years I've been fascinated by German art song.  It's been one of
my major specialties as a record collector- all speeds, tapes of recitals,
etc.  I was at the New York debut recitals of Schwarzkopf, Seefried and
Fischer-Dieskau.  Making a catalog of the recordings, including those of
Lieder, that meets my needs has been an ongoing problem, solved, for the
most part, with a now obsolete computer program.
>
> I thought I'd put together a sample report from an idealized version of my
present catalog.  It exists in Excel, but that program only allows sorting
on three fields, inadequate for this purpose.  Looking at one selection at a
time in a database is hopeless- I loose the sense of historical organization
and perspective that the admittedly klutzily arranged list allows me.
Eventually, I'll put it into Access, but this is how I'm doing it for now.
>
The good news is that if you have it in Excel, it is very simple to transfer
into Access! All you need to do is select "Get External Data" from the File
menu...select "Import" from the two sub-choices...and select "Excel (*.xls)"
from the list of importable formats. Open the folder/subdirectory where
the Excel file is stored, and it will appear. One caveat...make sure the
columns in the Excel spreadsheet carry their "field names" in the first
row, since you will be offered the option of using those as Field Names
in the Access table the import process creates. This is all done by
a "Wizard" which automates the process.

One more warning...the field types are usually based on the contents
of the first data row. Most will default to "Text"...if you have any
that are mostly numeric in content, the import will often make those
numeric fields and any containing non-numeric data will generate
"Import Errors" and be put in a separate table. Also, the Access
Date type can't handle entries like "1/2-4/1999" or "1/??/1945" so
those will also generate Import errors unless they become Text
fields.

> >From the brief list with summarized entries above, I get enough data to
choose what I want to hear and to find it.  I can also select items to
compare, a technique I've used in many of the talks I've given over the
years, and one that allows me deeper insight into the music.
>
> There are four Schubert songs titled, "An den Mond."  Two are settings of
the same text by Goethe and the others are of two different texts by Hoelty.
All four use the same title.
>
> For the title, I want the classification- Songs, the title, the opening of
the text, the poet and the work number.
>
You can do this in Access by creating queries which contain only the desired
fields...

> I find that when the song titles don't tell me what the music will be, the
opening of the text can make the music pop into my head.
>
> For each performance of that work, I want the main performers listed
alphabetically, In the event a main performer records a selection more than
once, I want them in chronological order, one of the reasons I need
recording dates.  Note the first is made with a forte piano.  I also want to
know, as with the Hogwood Haydn Symphonies, if they deliberately tune to
other than A=440. I want to know if it was made at a recording session, in
concert, as a broadcast, etc.  Here is where I learn if it is an actual
recording or a dub and, if so, from what.
>
and you can create queries sorted on any field, in any order!

> I then want the manufacturer and number and, in the case of CD or LP, the
track of the sound holder, in most cases here, a CD.  The number in
parenthesis is an accession number so I can find the item.
>
> These are the first screen components of the catalog that I want to see,
sorted, among other options, in this way.
>
> By clicking on the entry, I should then get a second screen with this and
additional data.  But this is the minimum.  The input screen would have to
be designed back from the report.
>
Again, all of this can be done in Access. I'd be glad to help you with this!
Steven C. Barr