not sure if i should post this under 'your own world'

[pianistimo]

today i went to pepper music.  yah!  (after attempting to get everything free on the internet).  i found the 'highschool musical' stuff easily enough.  but this is the best part --

i got the chopin nocturnes.  believe it or not - i didn't have them. i have the etudes and ballades - but no nocturnes for a very long time.  also, i got the chopin fantasie op 49.  i heard a friend play this a long time ago - and it was so beautiful.  why why didn't i get the fingering?  i guess i though i never would be able to play it.  but, little by little - things happen. 

anyways - i am so excited.  i suppose in my 'own world' - i would permanently live at pepper music and just practice all the time. 

oh. and i forgot - i got two really great theory books for myself.  i think they're great anyways.  they are called 'master theory' by charles s. peters and paul yoder  it's book five and book six.  has anyone worked these.  they look like good 'refresher' books.

tell me about your world - trips to the music store, library, whatever and the good stuff you've found, too.

[brahms4me]

How fun for you!  Isn't it fun finding a store that has so many new things to look at?

I have a favorite music store and when I have the time I try and look at music by lesser known composers.  Sometimes its relaxing to sit an look through new things.

[pianistimo]

yes!  it's great fun.  i guess that because i don't do it very often - i get extremely excited about it.  just perusing stacks and stacks of music.  coming home - i look at what i bought and wonder why?  why didn't i just get one thing - one book and learn it - and then go back and buy something else.  it's ridiculous really.

i mean i also bought the full score of rachmaninov's 'the bells' at barnes and noble today.  strange things go off in my head.  like - 'oh, i could make this a piano arrangement.'  then - i get home and think - yes. when.  when will you do that?

[brahms4me]

I can't tell you how many times I've bought something and then put it away for years.  Suddenly I find it again and I have a lot of uses for it.  Almost like unwrapping a great Christmas present.  Besides, buying it now at this price will certainly be cheaper than buying it a few years from now.  Example:  I bought the 2 volume Urtext edition of the Beethoven Sonatas for $6.50 each.  Now you can't touch them for under $50 a piece (or close to that).  My students always look at me in wonderment. . . . . and it makes me feel that much older.  Hmmmmmmmm............................

[pianistimo]

i love your reasoning.  that's beginning to be mine, too.  someday i'll use all of it.  and, as you say - it was a good price then.  (although we spent over $100 at pepper music).  my husband bought some stuff, too - so it wasn't all mine.  now, they have these books for singers that have cd accompaniments like music minus one for voice.  he's really hyped about singing, too- so he bought three or four of those kind of books and ordered another. 

we went to visit a friend in a convalescent home yesterday and he sang once - and the lady in charge of activities said - please come again.  so, now it looks like maybe we WILL use the music after all.  if we just play for ourselves - we don't practice as much.  but, if there's a performance - we're on it.  next saturday night, probably.  to a crowd of our beloved fans already.  (you can't beat old folks homes).

ps the theory books were only $3.95 though!  what killed me was the chopin nocturnes at $29.50.  but, that's not really that unreasonable for all of them in today's prices. 

[elspeth]

There is a wonderful second-hand music shop in Glasgow which I spend an afternoon in every time I'm in the area... it's hidden down a backstreet, and run by a wonderful old man who does wear carpet slippers in the shop, it's fab! The sort of shop you really wouldn't be surprised if you wandered into Narnia somewhere among the shelves...

He has racks and racks of sheet music, for every instrument under the sun. Even some orchestral sets... and also shelves and shelves of books about anything to do with music - theory, history, biography, performing, fiction...

I love second-hand music, I always buy second-hand instead of new if I can. Not just for economy's sake, I have rather a thing for old books anyway, but also I love reading the pencil notes from the last player who used it... as if the piece has a life of its own.

Speaking of which, are there any other bookcrossers here? https://www.bookcrossing.com/

[pianistimo]

both of these ideas are great.  to frequent used bookstores.  and, to leave books for others to read (and to make comments on how you liked the book on internet).  very cool!  maybe one should also leave little tips on where to find the book.  i mean - what if it's hard to find.  the orthopedic floor of the hospital is a good place.

our ymca has a little 'library' for paperbacks and it's on the honor system.  if you take a book - you bring another one you like and replace it with that.  but, having the notes on what someone else liked or didn't like about the book would save time.  yes.  this is streamlining.  of course, for fast readers - they can read the book and the comments as fast as each other. 

i'm tending to like large print now.  i don't have terrible eyesight or anything - i just don't like the eye-strain if i really 'get into' a book and read three chapters at one sitting.  where in the world does one get large print paperbacks?  there isn't any such thing, right?  that's why i'm back at readers digest.  alas.

[pianojems]

I know how you guys feel. I think that I have an addiction to sheet music. Over the last 7 or so years, I have purchased tons and tons of sheet music. Every time I am in a music store, I feel the books begging me to buy them. I also love just going to a store, and looking at different scores, it is very soothing and relaxing. I probably used about 10% of all the stuff I bought.

Oh one more interesting thing.;when I was a sophomore in college, my current piano teacher decided to move to another state. She left me a big portion of her sheet music library. Most of the music was old, and had a lot of instructions, and fingering left in it. It must have been from her previous students. I found it fun to read all of them. I wonder all of us pianists feel this way 

[harjoydes]

I like to rummage for sheet music in second hand stores and op. shops.  I have quite a sizeable collection of music now, and it's great for sight reading, or saving for 'one day'.  Like Elspeth, I prefer second hand music, there's something warm about it having belonged to someone else-and good if there are pencilled notes! I 've also picked up a few pieces on e-bay.  Islamey for $10 recently-that's definitely in the 'one day' pile.
My best find was in the local op shop which keeps a box of sheet music out the back, so you have to ask one of the little old ladies to get it for you.  More often than not there's nothing worthwhile, so then you have to give the box back for her to put away for you.  One day I went and there were the Beethoven sonatas (Corder) and the Chopin Nocturnes (Peters).  Very old, but in perfect condition. Quite nonchalantly, I asked her how much, and she said ,would $5 be alright?  I think I may have thrown the money at her, grabbed the books and ran out of the shop before she changed her mind.  I hope she didn't think I was rude!

[penguinlover]

I love to shop for music, the problem is, in my area, we have no music stores.  I live about 90 minutes from Los Angeles, but that is too far.  Susan can understand where I am.  The only thing our music store carries is band music, and a very limited amount of piano method books!

One of my students had a gold mine given to her.  The next door neighbor died and the family left the piano, and all the music to my student!   She brought over the box, and we went through it!  I kept the box for months.  I use it for her music.  It had SOOO much in it.  She will never have to buy music again. 

Sometimes schools get rid of their old music too.  I have files of music I may never use, but I have it!

[pianistimo]

wow.  these are great stories of how to get some good music for a great price.  penguinlover- somehow i though you were mid-west.  i must have gotten you confused with someone who lived in mid-west.  if you are north like i used to be (in lancaster) - we'd have to go to pasadena - to 'old towne music.'  once i found a book of sousa marches (signed by sousa - and looking quite authentic to his signature) at a flea market at the rose bowl during off season.

[penguinlover]

No, I'm not from the midwest.  Started out in San Diego area, now I live 13 miles from Lancaster, Ca.  Pasadena is about an hour and a half away. We have traveled into LA for music before.  There used to be a piano store in Lancaster, but they went out of business.  Then there was a good one in Palmdale,  close to the mall, but it closed too.  We are down to Mario's music.  It is good if you are in the school bands.  They will order music for teachers, but that's not like having it right there to look at.  And even though it is only thirteen miles away, it is still a drive into town. 

[alzado]

I like to go to antique shops and search through piles of old, faded sheet music.

I tend to look for great selections of the 1930s.  Such as transcriptions of Duke Ellington big band hits, and so forth.  Example:  "Stomping at the Savoy."

I also play classical materials.

[pianistimo]

stomping at the savoy?  sounds like something we need to digitize.  i'm STILL waiting for nils.  if we post enough 'good music' - digital will be ok again.  can i borrow it?