Sheet music in the Public Domain?

[owly]

I know of the Petrucci Music Library http://imslp.org/ and the The Sheet Music Project of Project Gutenberg http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Gutenb..._Music_Project I also know there are many more but it's a bit of a jungle. So what are your favorite sources?

[Namekuseijin]

I use Petruci a lot (I play the piano)

Invaluable resource

Btw, I used to have plenty of prints everywhere. Nowadays I simply have a tablet at the stand

[Katsunami]

MuseScore website

[petrucci]

In terms of sites with large collections there is
cpdl.org The Choral Public Domain Library.

Many libraries share images of manuscripts.
http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/findhelpres...isedmusic.html

http://vc.lib.harvard.edu/vc/deliver...lection=scores

http://brbl-dl.library.yale.edu/vufind/

http://www.themorgan.org/music/

http://www.juilliardmanuscriptcollection.org/

https://urresearch.rochester.edu/vie...ollectionId=63

http://www.trentinocultura.net/porta...D=22652&mode=2

diamm.ac.uk (requires registration)

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by Namekuseijin

I use Petruci a lot (I play the piano)

Invaluable resource

Btw, I used to have plenty of prints everywhere. Nowadays I simply have a tablet at the stand

A tad off topic, but what is the type and size of the tablet you use, and do you find it difficult to move to the next page (always a pain, even with paper)?

[Namekuseijin]

a 7" Samsung Galaxy. I read the PDF scores in landscape mode.

yeah, ideally, a 10" screen would be best. Then again, scores in Beethoven times were largely printed in landscape mode and a few scans are like that

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by Namekuseijin

yeah, ideally, a 10" screen would be best. Then again, scores in Beethoven times were largely printed in landscape mode and a few scans are like that

After I enlarged a Bach organ score to a size that I could actually read it, I hit "Print". I hit "Cancel" as soon as I saw that the sheet music application had stowed 51 A4-sized pages into my printer.

I never tried Bach again. Pity. We should have an application on a huge big tablet that flips PDF-pages with a tap on the screen.

[owly]

There are various foot pedals that you can use to "turn" pages on a ipad http://airturn.com/
http://www.bilila.com/pagescore_turner/
http://www.pageflip.com/

[Namekuseijin]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

I never tried Bach again.

shame on you

We should have an application on a huge big tablet that flips PDF-pages with a tap on the screen.

BTW, I memorize pieces. I only use sheets for learning (or remembering). sadly (or luckily), I'm still a long way from large Beethoven sonatas...

but obviously the answer is that PDF is never the ideal format. PDF is only ideal for print. We have an HTML equivalent for math, why not for music? First thing should be getting musical symbols as TrueType fonts and unicode. Actually, we already got that!
why no one uses it to typeset, beats me!

[Katsunami]

Look into LilyPond and Frescobaldi.

LilyPond is a LaTeX-like music typesetter, Frescobaldi is a cross-platform dedicated LilyPond editor.

I use them a lot.

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by owly

There are various foot pedals that you can use to "turn" pages on a ipad http://airturn.com/
http://www.bilila.com/pagescore_turner/
http://www.pageflip.com/

Thanks for those links. I just bought the PageFlip Firefly. Buyer beware, however: They state it doesn't work with all apps, only those that accept keyboard commands, but as there are currently several sheet music apps that do, I don't think that should be a problem. The full list of apps that can be used with this dual-pedal combo is here.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

Thanks for those links. I just bought the PageFlip Firefly. Buyer beware, however: They state it doesn't work with all apps, only those that accept keyboard commands, but as there are currently several sheet music apps that do, I don't think that should be a problem. The full list of apps that can be used with this dual-pedal combo is here.

Pity that I can't use such a pedal. I need both of my feet already, for bass pedals, volume, and the registration switches.

edit: wasn't there someone some time ago who was looking for a way to turn pages on an e-reader without having to press the buttons or touchscreen? He/she, or someone that person knew, had a disability that prevented proper use of their hands and/or arms. A tablet in combination with these pedals could be the solution. After someone sets the book up, that person can read without touching the screen.

[Namekuseijin]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

Pity that I can't use such a pedal. I need both of my feet already, for bass pedals, volume, and the registration switches.

perhaps they could implement a metronome into these readers so that it would turn to the next page just as you're about to reach it

hey, just searched for it and found an amazing app for Android: MidiSheetMusic.



It actually draws a score out of any midi file on the fly! It then proceeds to play the midi in the tempo you chose. It displays in landscape mode a piano keyboard above and the score bellow: the notes highlighted on the score as it sweeps through.

Summing up: auto page turning at the tempo you choose. gotta really try this one at home!

Surely enough, it can't produce a perfect score out of MIDI: figures such as slurs are missing, staccato nowhere to be seen and trills are actually displayed fully unfolded (to the benefit of many I guess). But it's still impressive enough. It even does this:



I'm sure there's something similar for iOS. It's also available for Mac, Windows and Linux.

[Katsunami]

One of the best applications I've seen to produce scores from Midi files is Notation Composer. I own it, and used it a lot, before I got into playing stuff that isn't to be found in (good) midi files. It took too much time to clean up the generated score.

I've switched to buying a lot of fake books (lead sheets), and I type in the score by hand, in Frescobaldi. It's faster than fixing Notation Composer's output if the song is a bit more complex. And yes, with most songs, I improvise accompaniment and bass pedals, as the songs I play are mostly not written for the (Hammond) organ originally.

[Namekuseijin]

the organ is certainly a beast of an intrument (even though it generates such heavenly music)... you play with your hands on two or more keyboards and pedal a lot on a keyboard for the feet.

besides having to turn pages with the nose, you should also bring your towel and gatorade...