The Library of Congress > Linked Data Service > LC Medium of Performance Thesaurus for Music (LCMPT)

Library of Congress Medium of Performance Thesaurus for Music


  • The Library of Congress Medium of Performance Thesaurus (LCMPT) is a stand-alone vocabulary that provides terminology to describe the instruments, voices, etc., used in the performance of musical works. The authorized terms are intended to be used in field 382 of MARC 21 bibliographic and authority records, and may be assigned in both AACR2 and RDA records. The core terms in LCMPT are based chiefly on existing LC subject headings, but some additional terms that do not already appear in LCSH have also been included. Authorized terms and references in LCMPT generally consist of single words and phrases, but parenthetical qualifiers are occasionally employed to differentiate among homonyms. All terms and references are in the singular form and are lowercased unless they are proper nouns (e.g., flute; saxophone ensemble; but Irish harp). The thesaurus has a few broadest terms as listed in the "Top Scheme Members" section. Each of the other terms is hierarchically subordinate to one or more of these terms and exhibits the class/class member relationship. Most of the authorized terms have Used For (UF) references for synonyms. Scope notes are also provided in many cases, and may describe the medium’s physical structure, the time period in which it was popular, and/or its geographic origin. Further information about the LCMPT and its relationship to the LCSH data set may be found in Library of Congress Releases Tentative List of Medium of Performance Terms for Music.

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