ARCHIVED: What is Variations, and where can I use it?

This content has been archived, and is no longer maintained by Indiana University. Information here may no longer be accurate, and links may no longer be available or reliable.

Note:

Variations is being retired, and sound recordings are moving to Media Collections Online. For more, see Variations Retirement FAQ.

Variations is a digital music library system containing recordings and scores, primarily from the Cook Music Library collection at Indiana University Bloomington. Variations is supported by the Library Technologies division of the IU Bloomington Libraries and the Cook Music Library, with additional technology support from UITS.

If you have an IU Network ID, you can use Variations. However, the majority of content in Variations is restricted to certain users on the Bloomington campus. (For details, see Who can use Variations below.) To find out where Variations is installed on the IUB campus, or how to install the program on your own computer, see the Variations User Guide.

Features of Variations

Variations allows you to:

Listen to over 28,000 audio recordings, or view over 700 scanned scores
Create custom playlists, containing tracks or track excerpts from different recordings
Prepare for listening tests using the playlist listening drill tool
Bookmark places within a recording or online score for later use
Export your bookmarks to a web page, from which you can link directly to a spot in a recording or score
View and annotate online scores
Analyze musical form using "bubble diagrams" with the Timeliner tool
Listen to audio recordings using the Variations web player
Listen to audio recordings on an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch using the Variations App
Search for music using IUCAT

Who can use Variations

Any IU Bloomington user with a valid IU Network ID can log into Variations from a computer in the Cook Music Library. For copyright reasons, you will be able to access Variations content outside the music library only if you are currently enrolled in a course that has been authorized for Variations access.

A course is authorized for Variations access if it has digitized recordings or scores on reserve in the Cook Music Library (see the current course reserves), or if the course's instructor has asked the Director of the Cook Music Library to authorize the class.

For further details on Variations access policies, see Access Rules. If you have questions concerning access to Variations, you can ask Variations technical support.

Further information

For more, visit the Variations website.