Where Can I Get That Song?

You hear a great song that you really love, either from the radio, a movie, or a show. You’ve probably listened to it many times, on repeat. The next thought might be, “How can I play this on my cello?” Here are a few resources that I find are super helpful.

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Local Music Store

Almost every town will have a music store relatively nearby. These are just great resources because often you can find people will recommend certain music to get. I also think that sometimes the sales that go on can make the purchase of music a lot cheaper. Plus, it is always good to have a good music resource locally that you can just pop in and browse. Here you can find music of all genres which is also convenient.

Sheetmusicplus

Funny enough, I used to work for this company. Over the years, I keep coming back to this website to order music. They have a huge selection of music across many genres. Sometimes it is a bit of a money saver to get a compilation book that has many different songs within one genre. All those method books your teacher mentions? This is a great site to get it from. I also have transcriptions that I have written out for cello on this site. These songs are also associated with one of my Youtube tutorial videos. So you can get a sense of how to play these songs and things you can learn from it.

Musicnotes

This is a great site to get music of the non-classical music genre. Here you can buy individual songs and I have yet to find a song that they don’t have. What is also great is that you can transpose the song into a key that you like to play in so you don’t end up playing something that has like 5 sharps or flats. This is definitely a site I have bookmarked to check out all the time.

Amazon

What can’t you get on Amazon?? Of course this is a great place to get sheet music, and if you have prime shipping it can actually save you some money. However, just know that some of music that is listed on this site is actually just ordering it from a music distributor such as Sheetmusicplus, or Shar etc and it may take the same amount of time and money. I have gotten some music on this site that other music sites don’t have, so it is always good to just browse around and see what’s there.

IMSLP

This is a website that lists hundreds of scores for free. I believe it is mostly classical music on this site. I think it is important to understand that the versions that are uploaded to the site are not necessarily always the best versions. However, as you are waiting for a score to be shipped to you, or if you are looking for an obscure composer piece this is a good place to start. Please be careful about your downloads and proceed with awareness. There are disclaimers on the website, so it is good to read everything. Also you can’t use IMSLP in audition/competition situations. They want to see that you have a true hard copy, not something off the internet.

Library

A lot of libraries have access to interlibrary loans connected with music university libraries. This is an amazing resource because it is free, and you can also get access to many pieces of music that may be hard to acquire. Again, when you copy, just understand that it is for your own personal use, and can’t be sold. I’m definitely grateful for the access to libraries because of so many pieces of music that would have been near impossible to have access to. Who knows what you may find here?

Are there other places to get music that I did not list here? Please leave them in the comments below!

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