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Printable Piano Music
By janice | April 4, 2008
Did you know you can get printable Piano Music for FREE?
Most people know that you can purchase high quality digital music quickly and easily on the internet , however there is also a large range of classical music avaliable Free- it’s totally legal and it’s just knowing what to look for and where to find it.
Music teachers face copyright issues on a daily basis. Your students may have a piece that they love playing, but sometimes the copyright laws can prevent you from playing a recording, writing arrangements to be played, using arrangements that others have written or even copying an extra part. As a music teacher it seems ridiculous to have to buy an extra copy of a part that you already have – just to meet copyright standards. Some teachers get around this law by writing their own original music, but let’s face it there are only so many hours in the day it is not always possible to do this.The penalties for infinging copyright are huge for individual teachers and schools, but teachers are faced with the question of what is safe and what isn’t? Let’s look at some totally safe options that are avaliable to everyone in every situation around the world and how you can get immediate access to them without having to browse for hours
Why is some music avaliable Free and other music is not?
Copyright varies from country to country, but generally it is put in place to protect authors and composers from having their works copied and profited on by others. In any country you are safe from copyright laws if the composer has died and has been dead for a hundred years. (Countries vary from 50-80 years generally, but let’s be totally safe here! ) If you would like more specific information about laws in your country, I found Wilkopedia-Copyright to be an excellent starting reference with links to copyright laws around the world.
What music is out of copyright?
The music which is out of Copyright is called “Public Domain Music” and because the composer has died and and its copyright has expired, now belongs to the general public around the world. It is free to reproduce, make arrangements and transcriptions out of and can be freely used in public situations.
The moral issue.
Here in the Information Age, it’s easy to get access to just about any knowledge or information you want within seconds. The question(s) raised in connection to using materials are;
what is ethical? What is legal? and What is not ethical or legal?
When you google in “sheet music” you get 32,100,000 options! All of the first options read free sheet music to get you to go to the website- but when you get there there are all kinds of costs and then you have the question of “is it really legal to use?”
I believe that “Public Domain” Music is the property of the public. Some websites are asking a joining fee to access Public Domain recordings and sheet music and in essence are profiting from public property that should be free for everyone to use. Sure they have gone to the trouble and time of building a website, but they are selling public materials and are not selling their own original intellectual property. In my view this is ethically wrong!
I know this is a controversial issue , so I invite you to comment and let me know your own opinions and how you feel about this !
Where can I go to find the free printable sheet music?
Here are a few tips on websites I found to be helpful in my quest for the free “Public Domain” sheet music. I hope you find them useful.
Tip 1: Musopen-Free Public Domain Music
I found this to be the most relevant and most modern website to view. They have an extensive list of music which is easy to access and print, they have good quality information on the history of music and has copyright free, good quality recordings. It was the only website I could find which had all of these options.
Tip 2 : The Mutopia Project
This website has an extensive list of public domain music with midi recordings. The music was easy to find and printed easily as well.
Tip 3: Gutenberg – the sheet music project
Has sections for various public domain recordings and e- books as well as sheet music. I would like to fill you in more about this website, but everytime I tried to use it, it crashed my computer – I hope you have better luck than I did and let me know your thoughts!
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Topics: Music Teaching, Private Studio Music Teaching, piano sheet music, studio music teachers
