Welcome to The FindChamberMusic Database, a joint project between The American Composers Forum and The Amateur Chamber Music Players. Free of charge, this online resource is intended to help chamber musicians of all levels quickly and easily gain access to information about the contemporary chamber music being written by today’s living composers. Thanks to the assistance of the Children’s Orchestra Society, we have been able to include a catalogue of standard repertoire as well.

How this project came about

Until the middle of the twentieth century, it was common for amateur musicians to play the music of their own time. In fact, much of the music which now predominates in amateur music festivals was originally played by amateurs, and was often written specifically with amateur groups in mind.

Despite the waning of this tradition, we know that amateur chamber musicians of today still have an appetite for contemporary music—a desire to explore new repertory, as well as to explore the music of current times and to better understand recent creative innovations which nourish the musical tradition. Though there exists a general perception that contemporary music is “too difficult,” this is often due to unfamiliar notation and time signatures rather than actual technical difficulty. More than anything, we realized, the fundamental hurdle lies in the difficulty of obtaining information about, and access to, new chamber music works—thus the genesis for this project.

How It Works

Dynamic search capabilities allow users to explore the repertoire on the database in a variety of ways:

• By exact or partial title. Typing in “sonata,” for example, brings up every title containing the word “sonata.”
• By composer name.
• By specific keywords. Search for pieces with certain characteristics or influences, such as “lyrical,” “tonal” or “jazz.”
• Duration. Useful for planning recital programs.
• Audio and score samples. Links to scores and audio files provide a quick sound byte of the work.
• Grade of difficulty. Most of the contemporary works have been given a difficulty grading by the composers themselves, 1 being the equivalent difficulty of Mozart or Haydn, and 5 the equivalent of Bartok and Schoenberg. Eventually, we hope to include functionality whereby users can indicate their own opinion of the difficulty, and their ratings will then be averaged together and with those of the composer.
• Instrumentation. Specify a basic group plus any additional instruments, with “at least” or “exactly” those instruments.

This is the first phase of the project. As we continue to enhance and expand its capabilities, we look forward to your feedback and suggestions for ongoing improvements and enhancements. Ultimately, we hope to cultivate an international online community where performers and music-lovers can convene and interact with music’s creators, engaging in an ongoing dialogue of questions, suggestions, opinions and recommendations. Enjoy!

This database has been made possible with funding from the ACMP Foundation, the TechTAP Program of the New York Foundation for the Arts and The American Composers Forum of New York.