Sheet music is a hand-written or printed form of musical notation; like its analogs -- books, pamphlets, etc. See also Modern musical symbols Music notation or musical notation is any system which represents aurally perceived Music through the use -- the medium of sheet music typically is paper (or, in earlier times, parchment), although the access to musical notation in recent years includes also presentation on computer screens. Use of the term "sheet" is intended to differentiate music on paper from an audio presentation, which would ensue from a sound recording, broadcast, or live performance, which may involve video as well. In everyday use, "sheet music" (or simply "music") can refer to the print publication of commercial music in conjunction with the release of a new film, show, record album, or other special or popular event which involves music.
A common alternative (and more generic) term for sheet music is score, and there are several types of scores, as discussed below. (Note: the term score can also refer to incidental music written for a play, television programme, or film; for the last of these, see film score. Incidental music is Music in a play, Television program Radio program Video game, film or some other form not primarily musical A play, or stageplay, is a form of Literature written by a Playwright, almost always consisting of Dialogue between Fictional characters Television ( TV) is a widely used Telecommunication medium for sending ( Broadcasting) and receiving moving Images, either monochromatic A film score is a broad term referring to the music in a film which is generally categorically separated from songs used within a film )
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Purpose and use
Sheet music can be used as a record of, a guide to, or a means to perform, a piece of music. Although it does not take the place of the sound of a performed work, sheet music can be studied to create a performance and to elucidate aspects of the music that may not be obvious from mere listening. Authoritative musical information about a piece can be gained by studying the written sketches and early versions of compositions that the composer might have retained, as well as the final autograph score and personal markings on proofs and printed scores. An autograph is a Document written entirely in the handwriting of its Author, as opposed to a typeset document or
Comprehending sheet music requires a special form of literacy: the ability to read musical notation. traditional definition of literacy is considered to be the ability to read and write or the ability to use Language to read, write, listen, See also Modern musical symbols Music notation or musical notation is any system which represents aurally perceived Music through the use Nevertheless, an ability to read or write music is not a requirement to compose music. Many composers have been capable of producing music in printed form without the capacity themselves to read or write in musical notation -- as long as an amanuensis of some sort is available. Amanuensis əˌmænjuˈɛnsɪs is a Latin word adopted in various languages including English for certain persons performing a function by hand either writing down the words of another Examples include the blind 18th-century composer John Stanley and the 20th-century composer/lyricist Lionel Bart. Charles John Stanley ( January 17, 1712 &ndash May 19, 1786) was an English Composer and Organist. Lionel Bart ( August 1, 1930 &ndash April 3, 1999) was an English composer of songs and musicals, best known for
The skill of sight reading is the ability of a musician to perform an unfamiliar work of music upon viewing the sheet music for the first time. Sight-reading is the reading and performing of a piece of written Music, specifically when the performer has not seen it before Sight reading ability is expected of professional musicians and serious amateurs who play classical music and related forms. An even more refined skill is the ability to look at a new piece of music and hear most or all of the sounds (melodies, harmonies, timbres, etc. In Music, a melody (from Greek μελῳδία - melōidía, "singing chanting" also tune, voice, or In Western music, harmony is the use of different pitches simultaneously and chords actual or implied in Music. In Music, timbre (ˈtæm-bər' like timber, or, from Fr timbre tɛ̃bʁ is the quality of a Musical note or sound that distinguishes different ) in one's head without having to play the piece.
With the exception of solo performances, where memorization is expected, classical musicians ordinarily have the sheet music at hand when performing. Even in jazz music, which is mostly improvised, sheet music is used to give basic indications of melodies, chord changes, and arrangements. Jazz is an American Musical art form which originated in the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States Improvisation (also called extemporization) is the practice of acting singing talking and reacting of making and creating in the moment and in response to the stimulus of In Music, a melody (from Greek μελῳδία - melōidía, "singing chanting" also tune, voice, or This article describes musical chords in traditional Western styles In Music, an arrangement refers either to a rewriting of a piece of existing Music with additional new material or to a fleshing-out of a compositional sketch such
Handwritten or printed music is less important in other traditions of musical practice, however. Although much popular music is published in notation of some sort, it is quite common for people to learn a piece by ear. Popular music is Music belonging to any of a number of musical styles that are accessible to the general public and are disseminated by one or more Learning music by ear is done by repeatedly listening to other Musicians and then attempting to recreate what one hears This is also the case in most forms of western folk music, where songs and dances are passed down by oral -- and aural -- tradition. Folk music can have a number of different meanings including Traditional music: The original meaning of the term "folk music" was synonymous A song is a Musical composition. Songs contain vocal parts that are performed 'sung' and generally feature Words ( Lyrics) commonly followed Dance as a Musical form is a smaller musical composition intended for the presentation of Dance. Music of other cultures, both folk and classical, is often transmitted orally, though some non-western cultures developed their own forms of musical notation and sheet music as well. See also Modern musical symbols Music notation or musical notation is any system which represents aurally perceived Music through the use
Although sheet music is often thought of as being a platform for new music and an aid to composition (i. e. , the composer writes the music down), it can also serve as a visual record of music that already exists. Scholars and others have made transcriptions of western and non-western musics so as to render them in readable form for study, analysis, and re-creative performance. This has been done not only with folk or traditional music (e. g. , Bartók's volumes of Magyar and Romanian folk music), but also with sound recordings of improvisations by musicians (e. Béla Viktor János Bartók (March 25 1881&ndashSeptember 26 1945 was a Hungarian Composer and Pianist, considered to be one of the greatest Hungarians (or Magyars, magyarok are an Ethnic group primarily associated with Hungary. The Romanians (dated Rumanians or Roumanians; Romanian: români or historically and today rather seldom and only regional rumâni g. , jazz piano) and performances that may only partially be based on notation. An exhaustive example of the latter in recent times is the collection The Beatles: Complete Scores (London: Wise Publications, c1993), which seeks to transcribe into staves and tablature all the songs as recorded by the Beatles in instrumental and vocal detail. In standard Western Musical notation, the staff ( AmE) or stave Tablature (or Tabulature) is a form of Musical notation, which tells players where to place their fingers on a particular instrument The Beatles were a pop and rock band from Liverpool, England formed in 1960
Types of sheet music
Modern sheet music may come in different formats. If a piece is composed for just one instrument or voice (such as a piece for a solo instrument or for a cappella solo voice), the whole work may be written or printed as one piece of sheet music. A cappella (Italian or Latin "From the chapel/choir" Music is Vocal music or Singing without instrumental Accompaniment If an instrumental piece is intended to be performed by more than one person, each performer will usually have a separate piece of sheet music, called a part, to play from. This is especially the case in the publication of works requiring more than four or so performers, though invariably a full score is published as well. The sung parts in a vocal work are not usually issued separately today, although this was historically the case, especially before music printing made sheet music widely available.
Sheet music can be issued as individual pieces or works (for example a popular song or a Beethoven sonata), in collections (for example works by one or several composers), as pieces performed by a given artist, etc. Ludwig van Beethoven ( English ˈlʊdvɪg væn ˈbeɪtoʊvən, 16 December 1770 &ndash 26 March 1827 was a German Composer and Pianist.
When the separate instrumental and vocal parts of a musical work are printed together, the resulting sheet music is called a score. Conventionally, a score consists of musical notation with each instrumental or vocal part in vertical alignment (meaning that concurrent events in the notation for each part are orthographically arranged). See also Modern musical symbols Music notation or musical notation is any system which represents aurally perceived Music through the use The term score has also been used to refer to sheet music written for only one performer. The distinction between score and part applies when there is more than one part needed for performance.
Scores come in various formats, as follows:
- A full score is a large book showing the music of all instruments and voices in a composition lined up in a fixed order. It is large enough for a conductor to be able to read it while directing rehearsals and performances. Conducting is the act of directing a Musical performance by way of visible gestures
- A miniature score is like a full score but much reduced in size. It is too small for practical use but handy for studying a piece of music, whether it be for a large ensemble or a solo performer. A miniature score may contain some introductory remarks.
- A study score is sometimes the same size as, and often indistinguishable from, a miniature score, except in name. Some study scores are octavo size and are thus somewhere between full and miniature score sizes. Bookbinding is the process of physically assembling a Book from a number of folded or unfolded sheets of Paper or other material A study score, especially when part of an anthology for academic study, may include extra comments about the music and markings for learning purposes.
- A piano score (or piano reduction) is a more or less literal transcription for piano of a piece intended for many performing parts, especially orchestral works; this can include purely instrumental sections within large vocal works (see vocal score immediately below). A piano reduction is Sheet music for the piano (a piano score) that was once music for other instruments that was reduced to its most basic components within a two This article is about music For other uses see Transcription disambiguation page In Music, transcription is the act of notating Such arrangements are made for either piano solo (two hands) or piano duet (one or two pianos, four hands). A duet is a Musical composition or piece for two Performers In Classical music the term is most often used for a composition for two singers Extra small staves are sometimes added at certain points in piano scores for two hands in order to make the presentation more nearly complete, though it is usually impractical or impossible to include them while playing. As with vocal score (immediately below), it takes considerable skill to reduce an orchestral score to such smaller forces because the reduction needs to be not only playable on the keyboard but also thorough enough in its presentation of the intended harmonies, textures, figurations, etc. Sometimes markings are included to show which instruments are playing at given points. While piano scores are usually not meant for performance outside of study and pleasure (Liszt's concert transcriptions of Beethoven's symphonies being a notable exception), ballets get the most practical benefit most from piano scores because with one or two pianists they allow unlimited rehearsal before the orchestra is absolutely needed. Ludwig van Beethoven ( English ˈlʊdvɪg væn ˈbeɪtoʊvən, 16 December 1770 &ndash 26 March 1827 was a German Composer and Pianist. A symphony is a Musical composition, often extended and usually for Orchestra. They can be used also to train beginning conductors. Piano scores of operas do not include separate staves for the vocal parts, but they may add the sung text and stage directions above the music.
- A vocal score (or, more properly, piano-vocal score) is a reduction of the full score of a vocal work (e. g. , opera, musical, oratorio, cantata, etc. Opera is an art form in which Singers and Musicians perform a Dramatic work (called an opera which combines a text (called a Libretto Musical theatre is a form of Theatre combining Music, Songs spoken Dialogue and Dance. An oratorio is a large Musical composition including an Orchestra, a Choir, and soloists The oratorio was somewhat modeled after the Opera A cantata (derived from the Italian word 'cantare' meaning 'to sing' is a vocal composition with an instrumental Accompaniment and often ) to show the vocal parts (solo and choral) on their staves and the orchestral parts in a piano reduction (usually for two hands) underneath the vocal parts; the purely orchestral sections of the score are also reduced for piano. In Music, a solo (from the Italian solo, meaning alone) is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer For the musical composition see Chorale. A choir, chorale, or chorus is a Musical ensemble of Singers In standard Western Musical notation, the staff ( AmE) or stave If a portion of the work is a cappella, a piano reduction of the vocal parts is often added to aid in rehearsal (this often is the case with a cappella religious sheet music). A cappella (Italian or Latin "From the chapel/choir" Music is Vocal music or Singing without instrumental Accompaniment While not meant for performance, vocal scores serve as a convenient way for vocal soloists and choristers to learn the music and rehearse separately from the instrumental ensemble. The vocal score of a musical typically does not include the spoken dialogue, except for cues. Musical theatre is a form of Theatre combining Music, Songs spoken Dialogue and Dance.
- The related but less common choral score contains the choral parts with no accompaniment.
- The comparable organ score exists as well, usually in association with church music for voices and orchestra, such as arrangements (by later hands) of Handel's Messiah. Messiah ( HWV 56 is an Oratorio by George Frideric Handel based on a Libretto by Charles Jennens. It is like the piano-vocal score in that it includes staves for the vocal parts and reduces the orchestral parts to be performed by one person. Unlike the vocal score, the organ score is sometimes intended by the arranger to substitute for the orchestra in performance if necessary.
- A collection of songs from a given musical is usually printed under the label vocal selections. Musical theatre is a form of Theatre combining Music, Songs spoken Dialogue and Dance. This is different from the vocal score from the same show in that it does not present the complete music, and the piano accompaniment usually is simplified and includes the melody line.
- A short score is a reduction of a work for many instruments to just a few staves. Rather than composing directly in full score, many composers work out some type of short score while they are composing and later expand the complete orchestration. (An opera, for instance, may be written first in a short score, then in full score, then reduced to a vocal score for rehearsal. ) Short scores are often not published; they may be more common for some performance venues (e. g. , band) than in others. A musical ensemble is a group of two or more Musicians who perform instrumental or vocal Music.
- A lead sheet specifies only the melody, lyrics and harmony, using one staff with chord symbols placed above and lyrics below. A lead sheet is a form of Music notation or transcription that specifies the essential elements of a composition in Popular music: the Melody Chord notation refers to the written notation for musical chords. It is commonly used in popular music to capture the essential elements of song without specifying how the song should be arranged or performed. Popular music is Music belonging to any of a number of musical styles that are accessible to the general public and are disseminated by one or more
- A chord chart or "chart" contains little or no melodic information at all but provides detailed harmonic and rhythmic information. A chord chart (or chart) is a form of Musical notation that describes harmonic and Rhythmic information only This is the most common kind of written music used by professional session musicians playing jazz or other forms of popular music and is intended primarily for the rhythm section (usually containing piano, guitar, bass and drums). Session musicians are musicians available for hire as opposed to musicians who are either permanent members of a musical outfit or who have acquired fame in their own right Jazz is an American Musical art form which originated in the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States This is a list of the commercially-relevant genres in modern popular music. A rhythm section is the Musicians in a Popular music band or ensemble who establish the Rhythmic pulse of a Song or musical The piano is a Musical instrument played by means of a keyboard that produces sound by striking steel strings with Felt covered hammers The guitar is a Musical instrument with ancient roots that is used in a wide variety of musical styles The electric bass guitar (also called electric bass, or simply bass; ˈbeɪs as in "base" is a Stringed instrument played primarily with the A drum kit (also drum set or trap set) is a collection of Drums Cymbals and sometimes other Percussion instruments such as cowbells
History
Manuscripts
Before the 15th century, western music was written by hand and preserved in manuscripts, usually bound in large volumes. A manuscript is any Document that is Written by hand as opposed to being printed or reproduced in some other way The best known examples of these are medieval manuscripts of monophonic chant. In Music, monophony is the simplest of textures, consisting of Melody without accompanying Harmony. Chant (from Old French chanter) is the Rhythmic speaking or Singing of Words or Sounds often primarily on one or two In the case of medieval polyphony, such as the motet, writing space was economized by copying the parts in separate portions of facing pages, thus making possible performance by the fewest number of soloists needed. In Music, polyphony is a texture consisting of two or more independent Melodic voices, as opposed to music with just one voice ( Monophony In Western music, motet is a word that is applied to a number of highly varied choral musical compositions (This process was aided by the advent of mensural notation to clarify rhythm and was paralleled by the medieval practice of composing parts of polyphony sequentially, rather than simultaneously as in later times. Mensural notation is the musical notation system which was used in European music from the later part of the 13th century until about 1600. Rhythm (from Greek ῥυθμός - rhythmos, "any measured flow or movement symmetry" is the variation of the length and accentuation of In Music, polyphony is a texture consisting of two or more independent Melodic voices, as opposed to music with just one voice ( Monophony ) Manuscripts showing parts together in score format were rare, and limited mostly to organum, especially that of the Notre Dame school. Organum (ˈɔrgənəm though the stress is now sometimes incorrectly put on the second syllable from Ancient Greek ὄργανον - organon "organ instrument
Even after the advent of music printing, much music continued to exist solely in manuscripts well into the 18th century.
Printing
- See also: History of music publishing
There were several difficulties in translating the new technology of printing to music. This article outlines the history of music publishing. Early publishing Music publishing did not begin on a large scale until the mid-15th century with the first printing The first printed book to include music, the Mainz psalter (1457), had to have the notation added in by hand. This is similar to the room left in other incunabulae for capitals. Capital letters or majuscules pronunciation /məˈdʒʌskyuls ˈmædʒəˌskyuls/ in the Roman alphabet A, B, C, D, The psalter was printed in Mainz, Germany by Johann Fust and Peter Schöffer, and one now resides in Windsor Castle and another at the British Library. Mainz (ˈmaɪ̯nʦ (Mayence is a City in Germany and the capital of the German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. Johann Fust (c1400 - October 30 1466) was an early German printer. Peter Schöffer or Petrus Schoeffer (c 1425 in Gernsheim, Groß-Gerau - 1503 Mainz) was an early German printer who studied in Paris Windsor Castle, in Windsor in the English county of Berkshire, is the largest inhabited Castle in the world and dating back to the time of The British Library ( BL) is the National library of the United Kingdom. Later staff lines were printed, but scribes still added in the rest of the music by hand. The greatest difficulty in using movable type to print music is that all the elements must line up - the note head must be properly aligned with the staff, or else it means something other than it should. In vocal music text must be aligned with the proper notes (although at this time even in manuscripts this was not a high priority).
The first machine-printed music appeared around 1473, approximately 20 years after Gutenberg introduced the printing press. Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg ( 1398 &ndash February 3, 1468) was a German Goldsmith and printer who is credited A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a medium (such as paper or cloth thereby transferring an image In 1501, Ottaviano Petrucci published Harmonice Musices Odhecaton A, which contained 96 pieces of printed music. Ottaviano Petrucci ( June 18, 1466 – May 7 1539) was an Italian printer The Harmonice Musices Odhecaton (also known simply as the Odhecaton) was an anthology of secular Songs published by Ottaviano Petrucci Petrucci's printing method produced clean, readable, elegant music, but it was a long, difficult process that required three separate passes through the printing press. Petrucci later developed a process which required only two passes through the press, but was still taxing since each pass required very precise alignment in order for the result to be legible. This was the first well distributed printed polyphonic music. Petrucci also printed the first tablature with movable type. Tablature (or Tabulature) is a form of Musical notation, which tells players where to place their fingers on a particular instrument Single impression printing first appeared in London around 1520. London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. Pierre Attaingnant brought the technique into wide use in 1528, and it remained little changed for 200 years. Pierre Attaingnant (c 1494 &ndash late 1551 or 1552 was a French music printer active in Paris.
A common format for issuing multi-part, polyphonic music during the Renaissance was part-books. In this format, each voice-part for a collection of 5-part madrigals, for instance, would be printed separately in its own book, such that all five part-books would be needed to perform the music. A madrigal is a type of Secular vocal music composition written during the Renaissance and early Baroque eras (The same part books could be used by singers or instrumentalists. ) Scores for multi-part music were rarely printed in the Renaissance, although the use of score format as a means to compose parts simultaneously (rather than successively, as in the late Middle Ages) is credited to Josquin Des Prez. Josquin des Prez (c 1450 to 1455 &ndash August 27 1521 often referred to simply as Josquin, was a Franco-Flemish composer of the Renaissance.
The effect of printed music was similar to the effect of the printed word, in that information spread faster, more efficiently, and to more people than it could through manuscripts. It had the additional effect of encouraging amateur musicians of sufficient means, who could now afford music to perform. This in many ways affected the entire music industry. The music industry is the business of Music. Although it encompasses the activity of many music-related businesses and organizations it is currently dominated by the "big Composers could now write more music for amateur performers, knowing that it could be distributed. Professional players could have more music at their disposal. It increased the number of amateurs, from whom professional players could then earn money by teaching them. Nevertheless, in the early years the cost of printed music limited its distribution.
In many places the right to print music was granted by the monarch, and only those with a special dispensation were allowed to do so. This was often an honour (and economic boon) granted to favoured court musicians.
In the 19th century the music industry was dominated by sheet music publishers. The music industry is the business of Music. Although it encompasses the activity of many music-related businesses and organizations it is currently dominated by the "big In the United States, the sheet music industry rose in tandem with blackface minstrelsy, and the group of New York City-based publishers and composers dominating the industry was known as "Tin Pan Alley". The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Blackface in the narrow sense is a style of theatrical Makeup that originated in the United The City of New York Tin Pan Alley is the name given to the collection of New York City -centered music publishers and Songwriters who dominated the popular The late 19th century saw a massive explosion of parlour music, with a piano becoming de rigueur for the middle class home, but in the early 20th century the phonograph and recorded music grew greatly in importance. Parlour music is a type of Popular music which as the name suggests is intended to be performed in the Parlours of Middle class homes by amateur singers The piano is a Musical instrument played by means of a keyboard that produces sound by striking steel strings with Felt covered hammers The phonograph, or gramophone, was the most common device for playing recorded Sound from the 1870s through the 1980s This, joined by the growth in popularity of radio from the 1920s on, lessened the importance of the sheet music publishers. Radio is the transmission of signals by Modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible Light. The record industry eventually replaced the sheet music publishers as the music industry's largest force. The record industry is the part of the Music industry that sells Sound recordings of Music.
Current developments
In the late 20th and into the 21st century, significant interest has developed in representing sheet music in a computer-readable format (see Music Notation Software), as well as downloadable files. A computer is a Machine that manipulates data according to a list of instructions. A scorewriter, or music notation program, is Software used to automate the task of writing and engraving Sheet music. Music OCR, software to "read" scanned sheet music so that the results can be manipulated, has been available since 1991. See also Optical character recognition Music OCR is the application of optical character recognition to interpret Sheet music or printed scores into In 1998, Virtual Sheet Music evolved further into what was to be termed Digital Sheet Music, which for the first time allowed for copyright sheet music to be made available for purchase online by the publishers. Unlike their hard copy counterparts these files allowed for manipulation such as instrument changes, transposition and even midi playback. MIDI ( Musical Instrument Digital Interface, ˈmɪdi is an industry-standard protocol that enables Electronic musical instruments Computers The popularity of this instant delivery system among musicians appears to be acting as a catalyst of new growth for the industry well into the foreseeable future.
In 1999, Harry Connick, Jr. invented a system and method for coordinating music display among players in an orchestra. Joseph Harry Fowler Connick Jr (born September 11, 1967) is an American singer, Pianist, Composer, Actor, [1] An electronic system, a device with a screen, used to show the sheet music for the musicians in an orchestra, while they're playing, instead of the more commonly used paper. Harry Connick Jr. uses this system for example when he's touring with his big band. [2] Also others experiment with this way of displaying sheet music. In 2007 Marco Leoné developed software for Tablet PC called MusicReader for his Master assignment at the University of Twente (The Netherlands). A Tablet PC is a Notebook or slate-shaped Mobile computer, equipped with a Touchscreen or Graphics tablet/screen hybrid technology which allows This digital music stand software became available to the public in 2008.
Of special practical interest for the general public is the Mutopia project, an effort to create a library of public domain sheet music, comparable to Project Gutenberg's library of public domain books. The Mutopia project is a volunteer-run effort to create a library of Free content Sheet music, in a way similar to Project Gutenberg 's library of public The public domain is a range of abstract materials &ndash commonly referred to as Intellectual property &ndash which are not owned or controlled by anyone Project Gutenberg, abbreviated as PG, is a volunteer effort to Digitize, archive and distribute Cultural works The IMSLP (International Music Score Library Project) is attempting to create a virtual library containing all public domain musical scores, as well as scores from composers who are willing to share their music with the world free of charge. The International Music Score Library Project ( IMSLP) is a project for the creation of a virtual library of Public domain music scores, based on the
See also
- Category:Publishers of sheet music
- Manuscript paper
- Music theory
- Musical composition
- Musical notation
- Musical note
- Music markup - Meta
- Eye movement in music reading
- Shorthand for orchestra instrumentation
- scorewriter - music notation software
External links
Archives of Scanned Works
- Sheet Music Consortium - Metasearch using OAI-PMH. Manuscript paper (sometimes staff paper in US English, or just music paper) is paper preprinted with staves ready for Musical notation Music theory is the field of study that deals with the Mechanics of music and how Music works Musical composition is an original piece of Music the structure of a musical piece the process of creating a new See also Modern musical symbols Music notation or musical notation is any system which represents aurally perceived Music through the use In Music, the term note has two primary meanings 1 a sign used in Musical notation to represent the relative duration and pitch of a Sound; Eye movement in music reading is the scanning of a musical score by a musician's eyes The shorthand for the orchestration of a classical symphony orchestra is used to outline which and how many instruments, especially Wind instruments are A scorewriter, or music notation program, is Software used to automate the task of writing and engraving Sheet music. OAI-PMH ( Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting) is a protocol developed by the Open Archives Initiative.
- International Music Score Library Project (currently not active) - a public domain sheet music library featuring original scores scanned to PDF.
- Music for the Nation - American sheet music archive.
- Lester S. Levy Collection of Sheet Music – sheet music project of The Sheridan Libraries of The Johns Hopkins University.
- University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections – Pacific Northwest Sheet Music Collection This collection contains historical sheet music from and about Washington State, the Pacific Northwest and the University of Washington.
- Historic American Sheet Music - digital images of 3042 pieces of sheet music published in the United States between 1850 and 1920.
- The European Library- digital images of the most important pieces of sheet music published in Europe, free access.
- National Library of Australia- Australian sheet music archive.
- PARTITA.RU — The first wind orchestra sheet music library in Russian web. Russian marches and waltzes.
- Queensland State Library - Sheet music from the Queensland State Library, Australia
Archives of Works in Other Formats
- Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki) – free sheet music archive with emphasis on choral music; contains works in PDF and also other formats.
- Mutopia project – free sheet music archive in which all pieces have been newly typeset with GNU LilyPond as PDF and PostScript. GNU LilyPond is a Computer program for Music engraving. One of LilyPond's major goals is to produce scores that are engraved with traditional layout rules reflecting PostScript ( PS) is a dynamically typed concatenative Programming language created by John Warnock and Charles Geschke in 1982
- Project Gutenberg – sheet music section of Project Gutenberg containing works in Finale and/or MusicXML format. Project Gutenberg, abbreviated as PG, is a volunteer effort to Digitize, archive and distribute Cultural works Finale is the flagship program of a series of proprietary Scorewriters created by MakeMusic for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X MusicXML is an open XML -based Music notation file format It was developed by Recordare LLC deriving several key concepts from existing academic formats (such
- Three examples of sheet music as interactive hypermedia at the BinAural Collaborative Hypertext.
- Werner Icking Music Archive – free sheet music archive ; contains works in PDF and also other formats (MIDI files).
- Delcamp.net Classical guitar sheet music.
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