How to Organize Sheet Music Books

Organizing sheet music books will give you easier access to your titles.

If you play an instrument, sing or act in musical theater, you may have noticed that your collection of sheet music books is growing. Organizing your sheet music books will not only keep your music room looking clean and orderly but it also will make it easier for you to find a specific sheet music book.

Things You'll Need

• Spreadsheet
• Highlighters
• Colored stickers
• Bookshelf

Instructions

1. Create a spreadsheet that consists of every sheet music book you have. Next to the name of the sheet music book, write the genre of music (pop, musical theater, opera, blues, folk and so on).

2. Print this spreadsheet and gather a different color highlighter for each music genre you possess. Starting with the first genre, such as musical theater, read through the spreadsheet and highlight each music book title within this genre with a single color. After you have done this, refer to the spreadsheet, gather each book in that genre and place them in a pile. Repeat this process for the entire spreadsheet.

3. Organize each pile of sheet music books alphabetically. Once you have categorized the books, place them on a bookshelf in alphabetical order. Repeat this process until all of your sheet music books have been organized and alphabetically chronicled.

4. Buy solid-colored stickers from an office supply store. Use a separate color for each genre of music. Place a sticker on the binder of each sheet music book. For example, if you have five genres of sheet music books, buy five sets of stickers and five colors. Attach the green sticker to musical theater books, red stickers on rock books, yellow stickers on folk music books and so on. This will allow you to easily recognize the genres of books.

Tips & Warnings

• If you have only one genre of sheet music books, you can simply organize the titles in alphabetical order.

• Do not select sticker colors that are similar to one another. This can be confusing when trying to quickly select a specific book.

Resources

• HGTV: Organization
• Life Organizers