Free sheet music to download (2024)

FAQs

Is it legal to download sheet music for free? ›

It is a violation of copyright law to copy, arrange, or distribute copyrighted music without the permission of the copyright holder. What about "fair use" of sheet music? You've probably heard the term “fair use” in regards to the educational use of copyrighted music. However, this term is often misunderstood.

Free sheet music. Download PDF or print on Musescore.com.

FMA is an excellent resource for finding high-quality, legal free music downloads. The only downside is that MP3 is the only download format available, whereas other platforms offer multiple file formats like MP3 and OGG.

However, to understand the technicalities of a musical piece, sheet music is much needed. Music artists, especially beginners, require sheet music for practice and performance. But most sheet music has a copyright and requires a license for usage.

The Library of Congress's Performing Arts Digital Collections showcases digitized scores, papers, recordings and more! Some examples collections include: the Aaron Copland Collection, America Singing: Nineteenth-Century Song Sheets, the Andre Kostelanetz Collection, American Choral Music, and Baseball Sheet Music.

Sheet Music Scanner makes it easy for you to scan or upload printed sheet music. Listen to the music printed on the page in a number of different formats and instruments, directly on your device. Ever wanted to know how that interesting-looking piece of sheet music actually sounds? Now you can know instantly.

There are a lot of people to pay for such arrangements. The composer, the copyist, the engraver, the paper and ink manufacturers, and the publisher. Not to mention the costs of shipping the sheet music to the music store or to you directly. These costs add up.

Founded in 1876, J.W. Pepper is the best online store for sheet music with over one million titles in stock. We offer sheet music for directors and performers alike as well as music equipment, accessories, and software to support your musical journey.

The Dodeka music notation is an alternative music notation that writes musical notes in a more intuitive, easier to learn and less confusing way.

Is MuseScore 100% free? ›

MuseScore is free and open-source software and is written mainly in C++, with the graphical user interface making use of the cross-platform Qt toolkit.

Musescore.com. The world's largest free sheet music catalog and community.

The only one who can give you permission to make copies is the owner of the copyright – the publisher, composer, etc. In other words, the U.S. Copyright Laws state that, if music or lyrics are under copyright protection: you CANNOT reproduce the music or lyrics without permission.

Internet Copying

It's never okay to download unauthorized music from pirate sites (web or FTP) or peer-to-peer systems, such as BitTorrent. It's never okay to make unauthorized copies of music available to others (that is, uploading music) on peer-to-peer systems.

To copy an out-of-print piece, you must have permission of the copyright holder. If you make your own recording of a piece, you are covered by what is called a Compulsory Mechanical License.

As a general rule, for works created after January 1, 1978, copyright protection lasts for the life of the author plus an additional 70 years.

On most scores, the year in which the score is copyrighted is printed on the first page of music. Notices also appear on the title page, the title page verso (back side), or even a contents or instrumentation page. However, many European scores from the 1800s all the way up through the 1980s bear no copyright notice.