Music Theory Sites
Ricci Adams’ Musictheory.net
The site consists of three areas: Lessons, Trainers, and Utilities. The lessons and trainers are presented in a very attractive, easy-to-understand slide show format. There are several lessons, beginning with the staff and going on up to chord construction. The vocabulary is better suited to adult learners, but a younger child could learn with assistance from the teacher or parent. The Trainers are interactive drills with the correct answer displayed immediately when a wrong answer is submitted. By choosing “Settings” the drill can be customized for the level of the student. The score is posted on the screen and the results can be printed. The Utilities include a chord calculator, matrix generator, and staff paper generator, including plain, piano, SATB, and custom. The Trainers and Utilities can be downloaded to your computer and used offline.
Sheet Music Downloads
PianoStreet.com
This membership site offers an extensive library of downloadable pdfs of classical piano music.
IMSLP – Petrucci Music Library
This site offers 68,656 works, 242,166 scores, 24,473 recordings, 7,664 composers, 226 performers, all free of charge, for download. There are many orchestral and chamber works here.
Everynote.com
Claims to be the world’s largest digital music library. Offers pdfs at a small ($1 – $2) charge. The works are mainly European classical music.
Music for the Nation: American Sheet Music ca. 1820-1860; 1870-1885
Available for free download are all the works registered for copyright with the Library of Congress between 1820-1865. Vast treasure troves of underrated American music for exploring.
Score Exchange
This site boasts the largest collection of self-published sheet music on the Internet. To get the most from the site, begin by clicking on “First Time Visitor” to get site navigational directions. Then return to the home page and choose piano under “Browse Instrumentations” to get a list of over 3000 titles. Choose “Other Instrumentations” to find lists of piano ensemble pieces. All the lists indicate if the download is free or must be purchased. Scorch allows you to see the music and listen to it while a cursor moves from measure to measure. The pieces can also be transposed before printing.
Sheet Music Online
This site offers sheet music, piano benches and supplies for purchase as well as public domain sheet music, theory worksheets, and tests at no charge. The company is located in Milwaukie, Oregon, under the direction of Dr. Rein Peter Vaga. The worksheets are very good and offer basic teaching materials for students of all ages from beginning to elementary levels.. An extra bonus is the Private Student Assignment Page that can be saved and printed in Acrobat Reader. The classical music downloads are intermediate level pieces by Bach, Mozart, Burgmuller, etc. This site distinguishes between viewing and downloading. Be sure to choose download to print or save in Acrobat Reader
Music-Scores.com
This site offers over 800 classical sheet music files, 275 of which are free to non-members. Click on “First Time Visitors” to get site navigational directions, and on “Free Sheet Music” for rules regarding downloads. Unlimited downloads are reserved for the paying members of Rubato at $20 per year. Other visitors to the site are allowed 3 downloads every 24 hours. To access piano music choose a composer name from the home page. This list will indicate the title, instrumentation, arrangement or original version, and free or restricted to Rubato members. Restricted pieces can still be viewed in Scorch and played with the cursor following the music. Free downloads can be saved and printed offline.
Easy Sheet Music
This site offers five themed collections of pieces for elementary level students – Songs from Around the World, Popular Classics, Boogie & Blues, Opera Classics, and Mission Not That Difficult. The pieces are very nice arrangements, but the arrangers are not listed. Downloads are limited to 3 per day for non-subscribers. Subscription rates are $10 per year for the entire collection or $5 per book. The files can be saved and printed offline.
The Mutopia Project
The Mutopia Project offers free music to download, print, and distribute. Read the home page for a very good explanation of public domain music. Choose “Browse the Archive” and select piano in the list of instruments to access the list of over 170 piano pieces. There are several options for downloading. Choose “Letter.pdf file” for best results. The image on the screen is not perfect, but the printed version is very clear. These files can be saved for use offline. The files can be searched in various ways and the option of seeing a fragment of the music is available.
FreeSheetMusic.net
A nice list of classical sheet music for piano and other instruments, for free.
Miscellaneous Sites
reviewlab.com/piano-guide/
This treasure trove of a directory page offers almost 40 links to sites with resources for learning and teaching piano, tuning your piano, sheet music downloads.
Learning Zone
The A-Z Glossary offers a medium-sized list of terms aimed at the younger student. When a term is chosen a pop-up window offers a pronunciation guide and definition. There are other options listed in the frame on the left. The list of composers is limited but understandable for the younger student.
MusicPlay Piano
The main focus of this site is the piano, especially sales. Look at the two buttons on the left, “Piano Action” and “Virtual Piano,” for a visual tour of the construction and action of the piano. The piano action page uses animation to demonstrate the action of a grand piano. There are several drawings of the parts of the piano action. It is too detailed for young children but older beginners will understand it. The virtual piano is very easy to navigate. The student clicks on a part of the piano to access the description. All ages can understand and learn from the virtual piano, but younger children will need some assistance.
