Music Library Association Best Practices for medium of performance of musical content of representative expression
Prerecording
Prerecording
Routinely record the element in authority records if used as a component of an access point. Record the element in other cases if readily ascertainable.
Do not record the element in bibliographic records; instead record Expression: medium of performance of musical content (even if the medium actually expressed in the manifestation described is identical to that of the representative expression).
LC/PCC Core for musical works if needed for differentiation or if the Work: preferred title of musical work is not distinctive.
LC/PCC practice: See the Metadata Guidance documentation: Work: Representative expression elements.
LC/PCC practice: See the Metadata Guidance documentation: Works.
Recording
Recording
In MARC: Record as a structured description using field 382. Refer to Best Practices for Using LCMPT for detailed subfield guidance.
See examples in MARC format: medium of performance of musical content of representative expression
Condition Option
Record the original medium of performance as specified by the composer. If the composer specifies alternative mediums of performance, record all alternatives.
Condition Option
LC/PCC practice: Cataloger's judgment.
Condition Option
LC/PCC practice: Apply the option when a value of the element is used as a component of a Work: authorized access point for musical work: Anglo-American legacy instructions representing an aggregating work.
Recording an unstructured description
Recording a structured description
Recording a structured description
Use only terms from the Library of Congress Medium of Performance Terms thesaurus.
In MARC: If recording a term from the recommended vocabulary encoding scheme, indicate the source of information using the $2 code lcmpt.
Recording an identifier
Recording an IRI
View in Context Example
Document Date: 2025/06/06
Document: https://access.rdatoolkit.org/en-US_ala-23f517da-9d6f-323e-9bfe-a63204ab29df