Free Scores for RCS Music Students!

Okay, everyone knows about IMSLP, otherwise known as the Petrucci Music Library.  It's free.  (Check that you're not breaching copyright in the country where you live).

http://imslp.org/

If you're a university or conservatoire music student, your library may well subscribe to additional, premium, services offering you more "free" music.  (The library pays, so patrons don't have to.)

FREE SCORES FOR RCS MUSIC STUDENTS!

Get music free online through Alexander Street Press Classical Scores Library - if you’re off-campus, you’ll need to login first.  

Classical Scores Library, Volume I* (part of the MOP collection)

Classical Scores Library, Volume II* (part of the MOP collection)

Alternatively, if you search the whole Alexander Street Press music database, you’ll find videos, recordings AND these scores.  Start here, selecting the music drop-down before you search:-

 http://search.alexanderstreet.com/ 

Look down the side to single out videos, audio or scores.

MORE FREE SCORES TO DOWNLOAD ON-CAMPUS

Download sheet music from LibraryMusicSource (on-campus only):  

http://www.librarymusicsource.com/  

ESSAY TO WRITE?  COPY EXCERPTS FROM THESE SCORES!

Use your computer’s “snipping tool” to copy little excerpts for musical examples to back up your arguments or illustrate what you're describing.

Do You Know the Score? We do, when it comes to Free Sheetmusic!

Free scores online

• You may already know about the Petrucci Music Library, otherwise known as IMSLP.  Watch out for copyright issues (different countries have different laws) but apart from that, it's a brilliant resource. http://imslp.org/wiki/Main_Page 
• The Internet Archive is another useful place.  Not very visually attractive, but it's the content that counts.  Very handy for historic material.   https://archive.org/

And now, free to our registered staff and students ...

What we really want our performers to know about, are the new offerings from Alexander Street Press:- 

We subscribe to Alexander Street Press Classical Scores Library Collections 1 and 2.  That means our staff and students can download anything they find there.  There's classical music for everyone, whatever they sing or play.  Do take a look.  (If you're off-campus, you'll need to login.)

• Classical Scores Library Advanced Search (one search searches all)
• Classical Scores Library Homepage
•  Classical Scores Library 2 Homepage

.Last but not least, we also subscribe to LibraryMusicSource.com - not an Alexandra Street Press resource - which you can access on Conservatoire premises. Like the Petrucci Music Library, it's better for older music, but it's still a useful place to look for core repertoire.

We are the Whittaker Library at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland - here to help our performing arts community with their information needs! 

Finding Old Scores - go digital at Archive.org (and more)

Most people have heard of the Petrucci Music Library, otherwise known as IMSLP.  But have you come across the Internet Archive, at https://archive.org/?

They're really useful. Don't assume they're only for printed texts, either.  Today we were looking for a vocal score of the opera, L'Inganno Felice, by Gioacchino Rossini.  We found an old edition in the Petrucci Music Library.  (See here.)


We checked Archive.org, and there was a solo piano rendition in all its early 19th century splendour.  (It's dated 1812, to be precise.)

So you see, these sites are useful, you really should favourite them!  Save to your Diigo account and you'll be able to access them from any of your digital devices.

Staff and students at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland also have access to Library Music Source via our database page.  It's only accessible on-site, but it's another valuable source of performance materials.  

• Library Music Source 
• Whittaker Library Databases
• Petrucci Music Library, aka IMSLP
• Internet Archive, at https://archive.org/

Finding Digital Sheet ("sheet") Music

NEWS!  Staff and students of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland can freely download music from Library Music Source using any wi-fi enabled device on Conservatoire Premises.  There's so much there, you'll have to take a look to see for yourself!

Here's the link:- 

• Library Music Source
• http://www.librarymusicsource.com/index.php

NB This great resource is only accessible by subscription.  The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland subscription can only be accessed on Conservatoire premises.  The subscription does not allow Conservatoire users to access it elsewhere.

This seems a good opportunity to mention other resources available on the internet.  Some of these are free, others have to be paid for:-

• IMSLP/Petrucci Music Library - Free Public Domain Sheet Music; an online database with a lot of historic collections, free to download.
• Sheet Music Direct: Download and Print Sheet Music for Piano, Choir, Guitar Tabs and More   
• OnlineSheetMusic.com    
• CD Sheet Music Online   
• Sheet Music Plus - For Piano, Guitar And Choral Music
• National Library of Scotland - Digital Gallery (hundreds of early Scottish music scores, free to access and download.)
• The Internet Archive at Archive.org  offers old music and old recordings, besides the more expected old books  - well worth a look!

Sourcing old Scottish Songs - Petrucci Music Library

Beethoven and Haydn both arranged large quantities of Scottish songs for the publisher George Thomson.  Maybe you're looking for classical settings for solo, duet or even vocal trio for an encore in a recital - these could be suitable choices.

How to find old editions online, though?  Unless you want to buy a very expensive rare edition, IMSLP (The Petrucci Music Library) may be your best port of call. 

 IMSLP and Petrucci are the same website.  They describe themselves this way:- "IMSLP stands for International Music Score Library Project. The logo is a capital letter A, taken from the very first press-printed book of polyphonic music, the Harmonice Musices Odhecaton, published in 1501. Its printer, Ottaviano Petrucci, is this library's namesake."

Here are a few examples of what you'll find:-

• Beethoven - Some of these havemore than one singer
• Beethoven – three singers
Tchaikovsky – Scottish ballad

• Try Soprano Baritone Scottish

(Just another helpful blogpost from your friends at the Whittaker Library, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland!)

Free Bagpipe Music

If you're a piper, you really should take a look at the Petrucci Music Library.  Old printed music sources, digitised and freely available to download - here's the list:-

http://imslp.org/wiki/Category:For_bagpipe
 
Anyone playing Northumberland smallpipes might like this 1805 collection by Francis Peacock:-

A Favourite Collection of Tunes with Variations

Longman and Broderip's Selection of Music for the Pedal Harp

The Petrucci Music Library (IMSLP) has so much interesting material!  Here's a very early pedal harp collection - Longman and Broderip were founded in the eighteenth century.  Material like this is out of copyright, and there just for the playing!  Go on - enjoy!



• Longman and Broderip - Selection of Music for the Pedal Harp
• Petrucci page for harp music

Highland Music Trust - in print and online

The Whittaker Library has several publications by the Highland Music Trust - they're transcriptions of old fiddle collections.  See the list here.

Did you know you can also access these collections online via IMSLP, otherwise known as the Petrucci Music Library?

For example, Jane Fraser Morison's Highland Airs and Quicksteps of 1882

IMSLP homepage - http://imslp.org/wiki/Main_Page

Highland Music Trust collections on IMSLP