Where to Find Free Piano Music Online

A look at Free Art License, as well as various websites that legally offer free piano sheet music of anime, classical, video game, pop, and rock songs.

Numerous websites offer free sheet music for piano. However, tracking down a suitable arrangement legally sometimes requires a bit of digging.

Free sheet music that is legal falls under the Free Art License, which "grants the right to freely copy, distribute, and transform creative works without infringing the author's rights." Works in the public domain, as well as arrangements and transcriptions posted by the arranger to be downloaded for free fall under this category.

Once the intellectual property rights on a work have expired, they become part of the public domain. These works are copyright-free and can be printed, copied, distributed, and modified.

An arrangement is a music score of a piece that a musician has done by hand or with music notation software. It includes his or her own editorial markings or it is set to a style or instrumentation that differs from the original version.

A transcription is not the same as a reproduction. To make a transcription, a musician picks out the melody and harmonies of a song by ear and then writes out the notation by hand or with the aid of music notation software.

The following are some websites that offer free printable piano sheet music:

Free Anime Sheet Music and Video Game Music Online

Josh's Anime Sheet Music Collection boasts an extensive collection of anime and video game music transcriptions and links to other websites with fan transcriptions. Theme songs from popular anime such as Bleach, Naruto, and K-On! are available. Difficulty level ranges from intermediate to advanced.

Ichigos has one of the largest collections online of free video game and anime sheet music. Theme songs from popular anime such as Neon Genesis Evangelion, The Melancholy of Harurhi Suzumiya, and Clannad, as well as music from popular video games such as The Legend of Zelda, Kingdom Hearts, and Final Fantasy are available.The difficulty level of the sheet music varies from low intermediate to upper intermediate.

Free Classical Sheet Music On the Internet

Music-Scores contains over 500 pieces of classical sheet music. There are arrangements for piano, violin, woodwinds, and more. The site features music by the greats like Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Brahms, and Mozart. The level of difficulty is listed with each piece. Members have access to more music scores than non-members.

The Sheet Music Archive has over 5000 works that are in the public domain. Classical sheet music by famous composers such as Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms and Chopin are included in this library. Visitors can download up to two works a day for free. Subscribers have unlimited downloads.

The International Music Score Library Project (IMSP), otherwise known as the Petrucci Music Library, contains an extensive collection of public domain music. Sheet music, as well as recordings are available. It contains over 234, 000 scores and 23, 000 recordings.

Websites With Free Piano Sheet Music in a Variety of Styles

Easy Sheet Music houses around 500 songs for piano. Music is listed in five categories: Music from Around the World, Popular Classics, Boogie & Blues, Opera Classics, and Mission - Not That Difficult. Non-members are limited to three free downloads per day, while subscribers get unlimited downloads.

Free Piano Music! contains approximately 100 pieces of classical, popular, and Christmas songs. The pieces are ordered by level of difficulty, from beginner to intermediate. Midi files are also available for educational purposes.

Sibelius Music - Score Exchange has a wide range of printable sheet music, including classical, Christian, Christmas, historical, jazz, pop/rock, educational, and original works. The site contains music for piano, voice, guitar, strings, and ensembles. Although there are many free music titles, there are some available for purchase.

For further suggestions, read Finding Free Sheet Music and Christian Sheet Music Websites.

Things to Watch Out for When Downloading Free Printable Piano Sheet Music

There are three things to watch out for when searching for free sheet music online: illegal scans of copyrighted scores, poor transcriptions, or editions:

A fan making his or her own transcription or arrangement is legal. However, scanning a copyrighted work is illegal. Musicians should inspect the score carefully. Fuzzy quality is a sign of photocopying or scanning. A transcription is genuine when "Transcribed by" or "Arranged by" is part of the text.

Some music was originally written for an ensemble to be performed by a computer. An anime theme song that requires the right hand to play a chord that spans three octaves is just not "piano friendly." The musician must modify the transcription to avoid musician injury. Music students should consult with their music teacher if they require assistance.

With regards to classical music, it is wise to consult and compare several editions as edition quality varies. Students taking a piano exam should use an edition that is approved by the music conservatory conducting the piano examination.

Downloading an arrangement, transcription, or copyright-free work are three ways to legally obtain free printable piano sheet music. Good transcribers and arrangers are able to make their arrangement "piano friendly." Fans who wish to download free piano sheet music should be cognizant of the difficulty level of the arrangement and look for signs that a transcription is legitimate.

Originally published on Suite101.com on June 16, 2010. Updated April 16, 2013. All rights reserved by Rhona-Mae Arca.

Practicing Ideas for Playing Lightly

Anyone who has played a piano sonata (or its smaller cousin, the sonatina) knows that sometimes, it's really difficult to make your left hand play softly. There is the usual practice technique of ghost playing, otherwise known as "air piano".

When that doesn't work, there are a few other ideas. Usually, the first thing I try with students is the Mixed Media Drill. The "offending" (hand that is too loud) plays the notes on a different surface, such as the music desk or one's lap. The other hand plays on the keys normally.

Another thing you can do is change the keyboard surface where the loud hand plays. I placed a scarf on top of the bass note keys and asked my student H to play an excerpt of a song that required balance work. We only met with marginal success.

I was about to pull out some band-aids, but came across my roll of bandage tape. You can see the results of our handiwork in the photo. H played through the excerpt once again.

It's amazing! We subconsciously are more careful when there's a bandage of any sort on our fingers. In this case, there was a noticeable difference between the left hand and right hand. H's melody rang through more clearly, while her left hand played that Alberti bass groove more delicately.

Here's a piano tutorial on the Alberti bass:

Why Do Music Students Hate Counting?

This is something that I've been grappling with every year. Some students, no matter how hard I try, refuse to count their beats. They are usually the ones who really need to because they are struggling and need help with the rhythm or the tempo.

As far as I can tell, my students fall into five general groups. Perhaps you're in one of them:

1. Students who hope that their rhythmic instability isn't so obvious if they don't count,

2. Students who are self-conscious and don't like to hear their voice,

3. Students who just don't care about whether they are playing the rhythm correctly, and

4. Students who aren't sure how to count beats in their music.

Well students, regardless of whether you count, we music teachers can tell when the timing is off.

For my students who are self-conscious, sometimes, I count out loud with them or bang out the beat on my cajón. You could ask a family member to count with you at home (just ask them to be steady like a clock and then set the metronome to what the tick-tocks should be).

For the students who are apathetic about rhythm, there isn't much that me or your music teacher can do to help you. You've probably heard it before, you just can't help someone who doesn't want help in the first place.

Now for those of you who need a refresher on how to count, I have found these articles and video tutorials:

• Understanding the Basics of Counting Rhythms

• How to Count Rhythms

• How to Count Beats in a Song

Five Free Music Websites to Improve Ear Training

A guide to some free music websites available on the Internet to help music students do well on music examinations and help all musicians develop their inner ear.

Practicing ear training exercises can sometimes be difficult without a teacher, family member or friend assisting. However, help is not always readily available. That makes preparing for a practical music examination challenging, especially for a young musician.

Ear training exercises recorded on a CD are somewhat helpful but can only be used for a limited time (until the student memorizes the order of the questions).

Thanks to the Internet, there are several interactive and dynamic ear training websites available for musicians to use during their music practice. The following list is just a sampling of what is available with a brief overview of each site.

Online Ear Training Websites

Musictheory.net

In Ricci Adams' Musictheory.net, Adams' has developed a comprehensive online theory and ear training aid. Under the "Trainers" tab, musicians can choose from three ear training exercises: Interval Ear Trainer, Chord Ear Trainer and Scale Ear Trainer. Users can customize which elements to be tested on, choose harmonic or melodic intervals and decide whether or not to include chord inversions. The Trainers keep track of your score and users can check the report to see which elements require more work. The website also includes flash tutorials under the "Lessons" section for a theory refresher and staff paper under the "Utilities" section.

Inside Music Lessons

Inside Music Lessons (formerly Practicespot.com) contains a wealth of ideas and tools for music teachers and students to use. Under the "Free Tools" section, students can use the Rhythm Gym to "clap-back" exercises and download cheat sheets to help with identifying intervals and chords.

eMusicTheory.com

Practice rhythmic dictation, identify scales and chords by ear and practice clap-back exercises online under the "Free Theory Drills" section or download the eMusicTheory software program. The site contains a student portal, a teacher portal and discussion forum. There are also pages to help with fingering (for string and keyboard instruments).

Good-Ear.com

The Good Ear website contains a wide variety of ear training drills, ranging from Beginner to Advanced exercises. Music students and professionals alike can practice identifying intervals, chords, cadences, scales, jazz chords and perfect pitch. The site also contains a drill to practice note location or geography.

iwasdoingallright.com

I Was Doing all Right is a jazz blog that contains an online ear training program. Under the "Search" window, click on the "Ear Trainer v2.0" link to use the free online ear training tool. Users can choose from practicing intervals, chords, melody play-back and rhythms. What is advantageous about this site is that listeners can specify which note direction, inversions and specify melody length. For a student preparing for an upcoming examination, this is the most comprehensive ear training tool on the list.

Online Ear Training Resources – Just the Tip of the Iceberg

Music students, music teachers and professional musicians can benefit from practicing ear training on a regular basis. Each of these websites listed contain a variety of drills and tools to aid musicians develop a "good ear" and help students improve their ear training mark on an exam. There are other sites out there, like musicalhearing.com and ossmann.com's Big Ears program. Explore the many sites available and choose what sites work best for one's ear training and music practice needs.

For more information on practicing music, read Five Free Music Websites to Improve Note Reading, How Much Practice is Required to Learn Piano at Different Levels? and Motivating Students to Practice.

Originally published December 22, 2009 on Suite101.com. Updated on March 22, 2013. All rights reserved by Rhona-Mae Arca.

Springtime Sightreading

Sight-reading isn't my strong suit. As a piano accompanist and choir member, sight-reading is a survival skill.

I've decided to work through the keyboard binders for my church choir as my piano sight-reading practice. Sometimes, I'll start by running through the harmonies. Other times, I set the metronome on and barrel right through the music. And then other times, I just pick a comfortable tempo to read at.

One thing I should do more is sight-sing. When I sing or conduct, I do try to sight-sing. Let's just say that it's a work in progress.

I still have my sight-singing book from university: Boosey and Hawkes 333 Elementary Exercises In Sight Singing - Kodaly Choral Method (Standard). It's been helpful - when I remember to use it.

look inside

333 Elementary Exercises in Sight Singing Composed by Zoltan Kodaly (1882-1967). Arranged by Percy Young. BH Kodaly. The Kodaly Choral Method. Edited with annotations by Dr. Percy Young. 20th Century, Instructional and Sight Reading. Instructional book (softcover). 36 pages. Boosey & Hawkes #M051305209. Published by Boosey & Hawkes (HL.48002815).