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There are a number of web sites that offer sheet music downloads. Here’s a guide to what they offer and how they work.
What you'll find
Sheet music web sites offer a wide selection of songs from many genres of music, including pop, rock, jazz, country, Broadway, and classical. In my research for this article, I found that obscure songs are sometimes difficult to find, but familiar songs are usually readily available.
Music is offered for piano/vocals, piano/guitar/vocals, woodwinds, brass, strings, choir, and more. It comes in the original key but transposed versions are available for some pieces. Some downloads require special free software.
Music can be obtained for different skill levels at some of the sites.
Most of the companies accept major credit cards and Paypal. The printable downloads are usually in PDF format.
The price
The cost for most single copies of sheet music is generally in the $4 to $5 range. Collections can be bought for around $12 and higher. There are legal free download sites, but I found that most offer mainly public domain music, much of which is classical. Some of the sites offer downloads for free or at reduced prices with the purchase of a yearly membership.
I found several sites that let you download copyrighted sheet music for free, but be advised: this is an illegal practice. I do NOT advise that you patronize these companies. If you download free copyrighted, non-public domain sheet music you are breaking the law.
Recommended sites
Some good (and legal!) sites are: www.musicnotes.com, www.freehandmusic.com, www.vocalist.org and sheetmusicdirect.us. Or, of course, you can do a Google search for the song you want.
Bottom line
I'm old enough to remember when, in order to obtain sheet music, one had to go to a music store or order it through the mail. Now you can be using the music in minutes. It will probably be awhile before you can find music for every obscure song ever written, but in general, I am impressed with the scope of material that the good sites offer.
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