---
title: Multi-movement works
description: Represent a cantata, suite, or other multi-part piece as a single work with individually tracked movements underneath it.
---

Some pieces — a cantata, a suite, a set of anthems performed together — are really several movements under one umbrella. Church Music Locker can model that as a **work** containing individual **movements**, so each movement keeps its own musical details and liturgical fields while still being grouped under one title.

## Creating a work

When you choose **Add piece**, you're first asked whether you're adding a **standalone piece** or a **multi-movement work**. Choosing a work creates the top-level container — a title (and any shared identity fields, like composer or publisher) with no musical or liturgical details of its own, since those live on each movement.

## Adding movements

From a work's detail page, use **Add movement** to create each movement in order. A movement is a full piece in its own right — it has its own voicing, key, difficulty, and liturgical fields — plus a position in the work's movement order.

## What lives where

| | Work (top level) | Movement |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Title, composer, publisher, etc. | Yes | Yes (its own) |
| Voicing, key, difficulty, liturgical fields | No | Yes |
| Appears standalone in search/filter results | No | Yes |

## Movements and collections

Only top-level pieces (standalone pieces and works) can be added to a [collection](/docs/library/collections) — individual movements can't be linked to a collection on their own.

## Detected automatically during OCR import

Scanning a PDF (see [Scanning a PDF](/docs/importing-music/scanning-a-pdf)) can detect a multi-movement work directly from the score and create the work and its movements for you, rather than you building the structure by hand.