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MSM Logo PETER JAY SHARP LIBRARY

Privileges and Policies: Summary

Privileges and Policies

The following policies apply to both College and Precollege students during the regular School year.

Alumni should visit the Alumni Benefits page of the School's site for information about using the Library.

Your Manhattan School of Music ID acts as your library card. You must have it with you to check materials out.

Basic circulation policies are laid out in the Circulation Notices section below.

Please note: Everything is subject to recall after four weeks. If somebody places a hold on an item you've had more than 28 days, you will receive a recall notice indicating that the item has a new due date a week hence.

Starting three weeks before the due date, your checked out items are eligible for self-renewal from your Library account. Simply log in, click "Items currently checked out", select the items you wish to renew, and click "Renew Marked" (or "Renew All"). You can also renew your items by bringing them to the circulation desk, before they are due.

Telephone renewals are not available.

You can renew for an additional period unless someone else has placed a hold on the item, in which case you must return it. Overdue items are not eligible to be renewed. You are permitted one renewal per item (total of two semesters) before you must bring the item back to the Library.

Course reserve materials may not be renewed.

You can place a hold on any item that is listed in the catalog but is not currently on the shelf by clicking on the "Hold This Item for Me" button and filling out the required information. When the item is ready, you will receive an e-mail notice that it is being held for you.

Please note: Regardless of due date, most items are eligible for recall after four weeks.

You will find many listings in the catalog for items that are on order or "in process." While those items are not yet ready to go out on the shelf, they are available for you to use. Please use the "Hold This Item for Me" button. We'll automatically make it a "rush" item and try to get it to you as soon as possible.

Note: Please do not write in/markup the Library's scores!

Light markings made for rehearsal purposes must be completely erased before returning, or you will be billed for a replacement.

If you are working extensively on a piece with your teacher, you should probably buy it!

The person who signs out a library item is responsible for its return, complete and in the same condition in which it was borrowed, on or before the due date stamped in the item. For chamber music, the person who signs out a set of parts is responsible for the return of all of the parts, together and complete as a set.

We do not accept returns of incomplete sets or individual parts.

The Library does not charge overdue fines for our circulating materials. We will, however, bill you for their replacement if you don't bring them back by the due date. At that time, you may be blocked in the Registrar's Office.

Default charges include both a replacement charge ($105 per item) and a processing fee ($80 per item). These are non-negotiable charges based on the costs, time, and labor (e.g., purchasing, shipping, binding, labeling, cataloging, etc.) required to replace Library items.

If we have not yet ordered a replacement, there may still be time for you to return the item and have the charge removed from your account. However, do not delay: as soon as a new copy is ordered, the bill becomes irrevocable.

College students can pay their bills through the Student Portal.

Precollege students can pay their bill by visiting the Precollege Office on Saturdays (card, check, cash), or by calling Student Accounts during business hours Monday-Friday (card): 917-493-4467 or 917-493-4785.

Course reserve materials are items assigned by teachers for the general use of their class or studio. Most physical items may be taken off the Library premises, as long as they are returned within the stipulated two-hour loan period.

You can find information about physical and digital course reserve materials on the Library's E-Reserves page, listed by your teacher's name or the course name, and in the Library Materials tab of each Canvas course.

Request physical course reserves by call number at the front circulation desk.

We send all notices to your student email account. These notices are a courtesy; you are responsible for keeping track of the materials you have checked out. The due date is stamped in each item, and you can also check your current circulation record through our catalog.

Scores, books, CDs, DVDs, LPs
College Students

The default due date is the last day of the semester. But any item is eligible for recall by another patron after four weeks, so you are guaranteed a minimum use of four weeks.

We do not charge overdue fines. But when any item is overdue, you will be blocked from borrowing and using our online resources, and also blocked in the Registrar's Office from getting your grades and transcripts and from registering for future classes. After several weeks, you will be billed for the replacement (default price: $150 per item).

College Faculty and Precollege Faculty

End of semester--but is eligible for recall by another patron after four weeks.

We do not charge overdue fines, but after several weeks you will be billed for the replacement (default price: $150 per item).

Precollege Students

The default due date is the last day of the College semester. But any item is eligible for recall by another patron after four weeks, so you are guaranteed a minimum use of four weeks.

Course reserves
College Students

2 hours

2 at a time

No renewals

Overdue fine of $1/hour + library block

College Faculty and Precollege Faculty

Overnight--but only if you are the (sole) faculty member for whom it was put on reserve.

Unlimited items

No renewals

No overdue fines, but you may have a block on your library account

Precollege Students

2 hours

2 at a time

No renewals

Overdue fine of $1/hour + library block

Periodicals
College Students
Non-circulating
College Faculty and Precollege Faculty
Ask the library director
Precollege Students
Non-circulating
MSM recordings
College Students
Two hours.
College Faculty and Precollege Faculty
Overnight.
Precollege Students
Two hours.

New in the Library

Debussy studies 2 / edited by Barbara L. Kelly, David J. Code. Cambridge University Press, 2025.

Keys to the drama : nine perspectives on sonata forms / edited by Gordon Sly. Routledge, 2016.

Luigi Dallapiccola, America, and the unlocking of visionary creativity / Mario Ruffini and Franco Sciannameo. Lexington Books, 2024.

On the art of singing / Richard Miller. Oxford University Press, 1996. 
Now available as a DRM-free book.

Berlioz the critic : selected writings from 1837 to 1850 / translated with commentary by Roger Nichols ; edited by Julian Rushton ; introduction by Peter Bloom. University of Rochester Press, 2025.

Feminist approaches in musical theatre / Paige Allen and Stacy Wolf. Methuen Drama, 2025.

Spectral music design: a computational approach / Victor Lazzarini. Oxford University Press, 2021.

Classical and popular music in Israel : transcultural dialogues and contrasts / edited by Malcolm Miller. University of Rochester Press, 2025.

Jerome Kern's jewel box : the Princess musicals and the little theatre movement / Stephanie Ruozzo. Palgrave Macmillan, 2025.

Accents & dialects for stage and screen : an instruction manual for 27 accents and dialects commonly used by English-speaking actors / by Paul Meier. Paul Meier Dialect Services, 2020.

Concerto for Cootie : the life and times of Cootie Williams / Steven C. Bowie. University Press of Mississippi, 2025.

The Matteo songbook : for piano and electronics / Christopher Cerrone. Project Schott New York, 2025.

The golden age musicals of Darryl F. Zanuck : the gentleman preferred blondes / Bernard F. Dick. University Press of Mississippi, 2022.

The Fall issue of ITEA Journal has arrived. You'll find it on the magazine rack in the Library.

Upon further reflection : for piano solo / Michael Tilson Thomas. G. Schirmer, 2024.

Snappy patter : for solo trombone / Michael Tilson Thomas. Kongcha Music, 2023.

Primavera I: the wind : new works for solo violoncello / performance edition by Matt Haimovitz. Oxingale Music, 2023.

White : for double-bell trumpet solo / Rebecca Saunders. Henry Litolff's Verlag/C.F. Peters, 2016.

The 35 piano sonatas = / Beethoven ; edited by Barry Cooper, fingering by David Ward. Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music, 2022.

Symphony in B-flat major : Hob. I:66 / J. Haydn ; edited by Wolfgang Stockmeier ; in collaboration with Sonja Gerlach. Bärenreiter, 2025.

Siciliana : for solo saxophone / Adolphus Hailstork. Presser, 2025.

Symphony no. 6 in D major, op. 60 / DvoÅ™ák ; edited by Jonathan Del Mar. Bärenreiter, 2025.

Student-centered voice pedagogy : working with students toward developing artistry, authenticity, and autonomy / edited by Jeanne Goffi-Fynn and Matthew Hoch. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2025.

Achieving peak performance in music : psychological strategies for optimal flow / Sarah Sinnamon. Routledge, 2021.

Concerto grosso for string orchestra / Vittorio Giannini. Theodore Presser, 2025.

Concerto for pianoforte & orchestra / Amy Beach. Subito Music Publishing, 2024.

Songs by European women composers : for voice and piano / edited by Jan Willem Nelleke ; a publication by Voices of Women. Breitkopf & Härtel, 2025.

Transcendental étude : for solo piano (with optional Shruti Box) / Liza Lim. G. Ricordi, 2024.

Future jaw-clap : the Primitive Art Group and Braille Collective story / Daniel Beban. Te Herenga Waka University Press, Victoria University of Wellington, 2024.

The Routledge companion to jazz and gender / edited by James Reddan, Monika Herzig, and Michael Kahr. Routledge, 2023.

Secret knowledge : rediscovering the lost techniques of the old masters / David Hockney. Viking Studio, 2006

Demon Copperhead : a novel / Barbara Kingsolver. Harper Perennial, 2024.

And my daddy will play the drums : limericks for friends of drummers / by Warren Benson ; with illustrations by the author. Meredith Music Publications, 1999.

Our town and the cosmic one-acts : The long Christmas dinner ; The happy journey to Trenton and Camden ; and Pullman car Hiawatha / Thornton Wilder. Harper Perennial, 2025.

Intelligence : opera in two acts / music by Jake Heggie. Bent Pen Music, 2025. Vocal score.

Symphonie op. 39, no. 4-7 / Charles Valentin Alkan ; edited by Andreas Pernpeintner ; preface by Wolfgang Rathert ; fingering by Vincenzo Maltempo. G. Henle Verlag, 2025.

Obstenmelodie : for solo piano / Katherine Balch. Schott, 2023.

Adagio from Spartacus / Aram Khachaturian ; arranged for piano by Matthew Cameron. G. Schirmer, 2009.

Student's guide to writing college papers / Kate L. Turabian. University of Chicago Press, 2019.

The Oxford handbook of opera / edited by Helen M. Greenwald. Oxford University Press, 2022.

Richard Wagner and Medieval drama / John Louis DiGaetani. McFarland, 2025.

 

A history of music in the Czech lands / edited by Martin Nedbal, Kelly St. Pierre, Hana Vlhová-Wörner. Cambridge University Press, 2025.

A companion to Mozart's piano concertos / by Arthur Hutchings. Oxford University Press, 2023.

Lise Davidsen: Christmas from Norway. Stream through Medici TV.

Brewer's dictionary of phrase & fable / edited by Susie Dent. Brewer's, 2013.

Catullus. Selected poems ; translated by Stephen Mitchell. Yale University Press, 2024.

Musica enchiriadis ; and, Scolica enchiriadis / translated, with introduction and notes, by Raymond Erickson ; edited by Claude V. Palisca. Yale University Press, ©1995.

That divine and most excellent gift : Martin Luther, music, and the arts / Mark P. Bangert, edited by Martin A. Seltz. Augsburg Fortress Publishers, 2025.

New subscription: Jazz & culture. Bi-annual. Read it online in a browser.

Passport to Paris ; and, Los Angeles poems / Vernon Duke ; poems translated and introduction by Boris Dralyuk. Paul Dry Books, 2025.

Arthur Nikisch : connecting cultures in a fragmenting world. The Boydell Press, 2025.

The butcher's daughter : the hitherto untold story of Mrs. Lovett / David Demchuk and Corinne Leigh Clark. Hell's Hundred, 2025.

The December issue of Rolling Stone magazine is available.

Grażyna Bacewicz / Joanna SendÅ‚ak ; translated by Halina Maria Boniszewska. Equinox Publishing Ltd, 2024.

Maggie O’Farrell. Hamnet : a novel of the plague. Knopf, 2020.

Listen to movie musicals! : exploring a musical genre / James E. Perone. Bloomsbury Academic, 2025.

Cantos desiertos : violin and guitar / Terry Riley. Associated Music Publishers, 2012.

Nocturne for brass quintet / John Harbison.  Associated Music Publishers, Inc., 2016. Score + 5 parts.

The Cambridge companion to Caribbean music / edited by Nanette De Jong. Cambridge University Press, 2022.

John Cage and Peter Yates : correspondence on music criticism and aesthetics / Martin Iddon. Cambridge University Press, 2020.

Monuments : for solo trombone and string quartet, quintet, or string orchestra / Adolphus Hailstork. Presser, 2023.

The piano in Beethoven's chamber music / Misha Donat. The Boydell Press, 2025.

Music and urban life in baroque Germany / Tanya Kevorkian. University of Virginia Press, 2022.

Hollywood : the oral history / Jeanine Basinger and Sam Wasson. Harper, 2022.

A mountain to the North, a lake to the South, paths to the West, a river to the East / László Krasznahorkai. New Directions Publishing Corporation, 2022

Sounds like helicopters : classical music in modernist cinema / Matthew Lau. State University of New York Press, 2019.

Sonata for trumpet and piano / Jean Hubeau. Durand Editions Musicales, 2015.

Il canto sospeso / Luigi Nono ; edited with a preface by Christoph Flamm. Schott, 2022. Facsimile of the autograph score.

Some times of day : three songs for mezzo-soprano and piano trio / music by Jake Heggie ; poetry by Raymond Carver. Bent Pen Music, c2005. 

The Cambridge history of music criticism / edited by Christopher Dingle. Cambridge University Press, 2019.

The digital score : musicianship, creativity and innovation / Craig Vear. Routledge, 2019.

Music for piano no. 2 / Ichiyanagi. C.F. Peters, 1964.

Ariane et Barbe-Bleue / Paul Dukas ; arranged for piano trio (with optional clarinet and double bass) by H. Mouton. Lauren Publications, 2007.

Soundtrack to the revolution : free jazz and leftist nationalism in Quebec, 1967-1975 / Eric Fillion ; translated by David Homel. Véhicule Press, 2025.

Peculiar attunements : how affect theory turned musical / Roger Mathew Grant. Fordham University Press, 2020.

Practical musicology / Simon Zagorski-Thomas. Bloomsbury Academic, 2022.

Musicals at the margins : genre, boundaries, canons / edited by Julie Lobalzo Wright and Martha Shearer. Bloomsbury Academic, 2021.

Why sound matters / Damon Krukowski. Yale University Press, 2025.

All I want is loving you : popular female singers of the 1950s / Steve Bergsman ; foreword by Carol Connors. University Press of Mississippi, 2023.

11. Streichquartett : 2019 / Georg Friedrich Haas. G. Ricordi & Co., 2021. Set of four performance scores.

Hands, wrists, fingers : creative health for musicians / Pedro de Alcantara. Anthem Press, 2026.

Every brilliant thing / Duncan Macmillan ; with Jonny Donahoe. Methuen Drama, 2025.

Scritch : for oboe and string quartet / Melinda Wagner. Theodore Presser, c2011.

Carmen fantasie : for violin and orchestra : based on themes from the opera of Georges Bizet / Franz Waxman ; edited by Jascha Heifetz. Fidelio Music Pub., 1975. Score and part.

An illustrated dictionary for the trombone, tuba, and euphonium player / Douglas Yeo ; illustrated by Lennie Peterson. Rowman & Littlefield, 2023.

Lou Reed : the king of New York / Will Hermes. Picador, 2024.

Dante - the essential commedia / Dante Alighieri ; translated by Prue Shaw. Liverlight Publishing Corporation, 2025.

(Reviewed in this week's The New Yorker.)

Trait d'union : pour violon et violoncelle / Philippe Hurel. Editions Henry Lemoine, 2013.

The January issue of Opera; with Opera News is now available to read online or download through the Exactly app.

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor : Anglo-Black composer, 1875-1912 / William Tortolano. Scarecrow Press, 2002.

Hitchcock and Herrmann : the friendship and film scores that changed cinema / Steven C. Smith. Oxford University Press, 2025.

The perfect tuba : forging fulfillment from the bass horn, band, and hard work / Sam Quinones. Bloomsbury Publishing Inc., 2025.

The true true story of Raja the Gullible (and his mother) / Rabih Alameddine. Grove Press, 2025.
Winner of the 2025 National Book Award for Fiction.

From ear to ear : a pianist's love affair with song / Steven Blier. W.W. Norton and Company, 2025.

Blue Electra : for solo violin and orchestra / Michael Daugherty. Michael Daugherty Music, 2025.

An American in Paris : tone poem for orchestra : 1928 / composed and orchestrated by George Gershwin ; edited by Mark Clague. Gershwin Initiative, School of Music, Theatre & Dance, University of Michigan, 2025. Large score.

Piano sonata in A minor, op. 42, D 845 / Franz Schubert ; edited by Diminik Rahmer ; preface by Andrea Lindmayr-Brandl ; fingering by Martin Helmchen. G. Henle Verlag, 2024.

A final encore : the life, music, and tragedy of Alexei Sultanov / J.W. Wilson. TCU Press, 2025.

Keith Jarrett : a biography / Wolfgang Sandner ; translated by Chris Jarrett. Equinox, 2020. DRM-free ebook.