Organizing Sheet Music in forScore

This document outlines my approach to organizing sheet music in forScore, focusing on the key strategies and conventions I’ve adopted for my personal library.

Libraries

Libraries offer a top-level organization, useful for segmenting material like scales and exercises from performance pieces. My two libraries are currently:

• Music Theory
• Solo Piano

If I played multiple instruments or was a member of a band/choir/orchestra, I would have an additional library for each context.

Bookmarks

Bookmarks allow me to cluster related pieces together, reflecting how they would be found in physical collections. Bookmarks create “virtual” scores in the library, each with separate metadata from the original compilation.

Tip

You can use forScore’s rearrange feature to make structural changes to your documents by merging several PDF files together or by splitting one into individual parts.

For example, to catalog Bach’s “Cello Suite No. 1 in G major”, I would ensure that all six movements are contained within a single document for holistic access. Then, each movement—Prelude, Allemande, and so forth—would be individually bookmarked, making it trivial to jump to a specific section as needed.

Score Properties

Score properties serve as metadata fields tailored to each document or bookmark.

• Title

  • Use just the piece’s title, without any subtitle.
  • Distinguish between multiple versions of the same piece with a descriptive suffix in square brackets.

• Composers

  • Composers are listed traditionally.
  • The primary performing artist is used for popular music instead of the actual songwriter.
  • Use “Compilation” when there are multiple pieces with different composers.

• Genres

  • Utilize the default genre classifications from forScore’s content provider integrations, when available.

• Tags

  • This field provides a flexible space for additional details that lack a designated place elsewhere:
    • The arranger’s name.
    • The publication source (such as Faber, Henle, IMSLP, Musicnotes, etc.).
    • The title of any larger series the piece is part of (like “Adult Piano Adventures”).
    • The origin of pieces from specific video games or television/movie series.

• Labels

  • Currently not in use.

• Reference

  • Adopt the conventional reference numbers from the catalogues of classical compositions , when available. For example, use “BWV 1007” to denote Bach’s Cello Suite No. 1 in G major.

• Rating

  • Indicate the “performance readiness” with a 1 to 5 star system, reflecting the progression from initial learning to full polish where I can perform the piece confidently.

• Difficulty

  • Simplify difficulty assessment into three levels: beginner, intermediate, and advanced, using the number of circles to represent each.
  • The Level Guidelines used by SheetMusicPlus have some explicit rules to help clarify my own thinking on a piece’s difficulty, as I don’t strictly follow systems like RCM, ABRSM, or Henle.

• Time

  • Record the duration of each piece in minutes and seconds, using reference performances as a guide.

• Key

  • Note the key signature that the piece is written in.

Setlists

Setlists offer a way to curate and manually order collections based on specific themes, events, or objectives.

For instance, I have a dedicated setlist for “2024 Piano Lessons,” which encompasses all the pieces assigned by my teacher throughout the year. This not only helps in organizing my practice schedule but also provides a chronological overview of my progress and the repertoire I’ve worked on over time.