Users can access and search the contents of the database in multiple ways: for instance, through the menu at the top of the page, through the Search box at the top of the right column, or through the “Fast navigation” drop-down lists underneath the search box.

By clicking on an item of the menu at the top of the page (e.g., “Cycles”), you land on a page that contains a list of the items belonging to the corresponding category. The items are ordered by ID. The list can be filtered using the boxes and drop-down lists that appear above it (filters for Master motets, for instance, include “Composer”, “Mensuration”, “Motet rubric”, and “Music incipit”). If you click on the grey button at the left of an item, a partial preview of its record will be shown (click again to collapse the preview): in this way, you can access the main data regarding the item without leaving the page. Click on the title of the item, instead, to access the corresponding record page. If you click on the name of the composer of a Cycle or Master motet, you will land on a page that lists all the items of that category ascribed to that composer.

The Search box is the ideal tool for a quick and targeted search. As soon as you start typing in the box, a series of matching results, subdivided by category, will appear immediately underneath. Click on any of the results to go to its record, or click on “View all results” to see them as a list with further options for advanced search (you will land directly on the list if you hit Enter after typing in the search box).

The “Fast navigation” drop-down lists on the right of the page allow you to scroll through the full lists of Cycles, Master motets, Texts, and Sources, and to directly reach the record you are interested in.

Another important navigation tool are the tag labels, which appear on the top right of Cycle and Text records. If you click on a label, you will land on a page that contains a list of the items that share that characteristic (e.g. all the texts that are in “Prose”, or those that derive from a liturgical “Responsory”).

Examples of suggested search strategies
You are looking for the full text and/or translation of a given motet.
⇒ Type one or more words from the incipit (in standard classical Latin spelling) in the Search box on the right, and then click on the appropriate result.

You want to see the structure of a given cycle, and any other additional information.
⇒ Type one or more words from the incipit of the first motet or the cycle rubric (in standard classical Latin spelling) in the Search box on the right, and then click on the appropriate result.

You want to see what cycles are contained in a given source.
⇒ Select the source from the Source navigation drop-down list on the right, or click on Sources in the menu bar and choose from the list.

You want to see all the cycles which share a certain characteristic: for instance, those who have “loco” rubrics.
⇒ Click on Cycles in the menu bar and apply the appropriate filters.