Piano Forum

Piano Board => Miscellaneous => Topic started by: mikey6 on July 11, 2009, 08:59:01 AM

Title: Buying sheet music
Post by: mikey6 on July 11, 2009, 08:59:01 AM
Where are the best (ie cheapest/safest) sites to buy sheet music from?
All the places I've looked, I can get it cheaper (coz shipping adds quite a bit!) at shops in London where I'm not going to be for another 3 months.
I'm particularly looking for Tchaik 1 and Mozart k271 rather hurriedly.
Title: Re: Buying sheet music
Post by: makeanote on July 11, 2009, 11:04:26 AM
Hi there Mikey6,

As well as becoming a gold member of this site to access music for free, there is an online resource known as the Petrucci Music Library. The person maintaining this site states that they have sourced music that has fallen out of copyright and into the public domain

https://imslp.org/wiki/Main_Page
https://imslp.org/wiki/Piano_Concerto_No.1%2C_Op.23_%28Tchaikovsky%2C_Pyotr_Ilyich%29
https://imslp.org/wiki/Piano_Concerto_No.9%2C_K.271_%28Mozart%2C_Wolfgang_Amadeus%29

Owning a printed score is, in my opinion, a nicer option than reams of loose leaf scores. Always ensure that you observe copyright laws relevant to your country.

Trust this helps,
Ian
Title: Re: Buying sheet music
Post by: mikey6 on July 12, 2009, 12:34:37 AM
Yeh, I know all about the free sites but I did actually want to buy the scores.
I do agree, it's nice to have books rather than lord knows how many pages I would have flying around.
Title: Re: Buying sheet music
Post by: thalbergmad on July 12, 2009, 12:52:32 AM
To save you a trip to London, you can buy online from Chappells.

https://www.chappellofbondstreet.co.uk/

I have used them a few times and it is a good service.

Places that claim they have "everything" and 500,000 scores, i have found to be utter crap. One site that claims huge holdings has let me down several times.

When they say they have 500,000 scores, they usual mean 499,999 different version of Fur Elise and 1 Campanella.

Thal
Title: Re: Buying sheet music
Post by: ahbach on July 12, 2009, 04:00:21 AM
I find that sometimes getting free music off line is handy because you can just download and go...but I have a very hard time some times finding what I want....but as far as the loose leaf pages I will stick them together and put them in a binder to hold them I have done that to countless music sheets....but the books are sooo nice to have....when one can actually afford them....I honestly would say check out ebay....you can usually find good even new music books for a really great price and they would have probably what ever you want and then you wouldnt have to wait for a trip to London  ;D
Title: Re: Buying sheet music
Post by: mikey6 on July 13, 2009, 01:05:21 AM
I'm going back to London to study so it's sort of a trip I have to make.  I didn't realise and was completely surprised that the scores were actually cheaper in London than what they are in Australia. 
Will have a look.
Title: Re: Buying sheet music
Post by: lostinidlewonder on July 13, 2009, 02:58:45 AM
Scores in Australia are stupid expensive I agree. I never buy from small music stores anymore! I remember buying Lecuona's Malaguena and it cost me $19.90 JUST FOR ONE BLOODY PIECE. It strange to admit this, but I enjoy printed sheet music 100 times more than books. You can write on them, see more pages at once, you won't be upset if it gets torn up, yes you do have to keep it organised though, every year I have to spend a few hours doing that lol. Nowadays the only sheet music I buy is new music or very very old stuff from second hand shops :) St Vinnies, Salvation army, op shops, 2nd hand shops all have wonderful sheet music for like 50c a book (you do have to look out for them though, they are not always there), sometimes really damn good pieces too!
Title: Re: Buying sheet music
Post by: oxy60 on July 13, 2009, 08:42:08 PM
If it wasn't for this site I don't know what I would do. In my area of So. California there are NO shops that sell classical piano music. In the last twenty years I have not met one person that even plays classical piano. As far as hearing any classical music broadcasts we have one station, broadcasting from TJ (Mexico).