Finding the right music at a lower price

If you've read through all the posts about books thinking, "That's great, but my kids can't spend that much money on music," then this is the post for you. We'll start off with some options for purchasing music books at a reduced rate.  I'll also list some unison octavos that are usually less than $2 per song. We'll talk about sheet music, where to buy it, and a few of my favorites.  Then we'll wrap things up with places to find things for free.  

Buy More Books, Spend Less Money

• See if your local music store offers teacher discounts.  At Groth Music, I get 10% off every purchase.  
• Watch for sales.  Groth Music usually has a sale in August and September where everything is 20% off for teachers.  
• Check the music section in used book stores.  Much of my lending library has come from used book stores.  
• Half.com, amazon.com, and barnesandnoble.com often offer used copies for a fraction of the regular price.  Older editions of books are often cheaper than the newest edition too.  
• Sheet Music Plus offers an 8% rebate when teachers are enrolled in their Easy Rebates Program.  You can also get 8% back when students use your link to purchase their music.  

Ready to Sing...

We'll start off with a reminder of Alfred's Ready to Sing series.  These books were designed with the idea that teacher could copy songs sheets for their students.  Advanced singers will get bored pretty fast, but this is a great way to start off young singers and get to know their voices well before sending them to purchase music.  There are 4 books, one each for folksongs, spirituals, Christmas, and Broadway.  

Octavos

Most if not all of Copland's Old American Songs are available as unison octavos.  The ones listed below are the ones I use the most.  You can find others here.  

• Ching-a-ring Chaw by Aaron Copland, unison, Boosey and Hawkes, M-051-46609-2
• I Bought Me a Cat from Old American Songs, Set I by Aaron Copland, unison, Boosey and Hawkes, M-051-47258-1
• Simple Gifts from Old American Songs, Set I by Aaron Copland, unison, Boosey and Hawkes, M-051-57257-4
• Long Time Ago from Old American Songs, Set I by Aaron Copland, unison, Boosey and Hawkes, M-051-47256-7
• The Little Horses from Old American Songs, Set II by Aaron Copland, unison, Boosey and Hawkes, M-051-47259-8

Other titles from Boosey and Hawkes:

• The Sally Gardens by Benjamin Britten, unison, Boosey and Hawkes, M-051-45448-8
• Path to the Moon by Eric Thiman, Boosey and Hawkes, OCTB6114

I use octavos from BriLee as first songs for students.  The student can then pay me if they want to keep the music, or they can give it back to me when we finish the song.  This is a list of the songs I used most often.

• Two Unison Songs for Male Chorus (contains “Come Sail Away with Me” and “The British Grenadiers”) by Mark Patterson, unison, BriLee, BL472
• The Song that Nature Sings by Ruth Elaine Schram, unison, BriLee, BL109
• Give Me Wings by Mark Patterson, unison, BriLee, BL391
• Kum By Yah by Ruth Elaine Schram, unison, BriLee, BL452
• Peace Like A River by Ruth Elaine Schram, unison, BriLee, BL175
• The Water is Wide by Ruth Elaine Schram, unison, BriLee, BL506
• Song of the River by Mark Patterson, BriLee, BL485
• May the Road Rise to Meet You by Ruth Elaine Schram, BriLee, BL185
• The Silence and the Song by Mark Patterson, BriLee, BL528

Sheet Music

In sheet music, Give a Man a Horse he can ride comes in 3 different keys, so those students whose voices don't fit the keys published in The First Book of Baritone Solos Part II or Classical Contest Solos Baritone can still sing this song.  As far as I know, the Green-Eyed Dragon and Clorinda are only available as sheet music.  Green-Eyed Dragon is a great song for your actors.  Clorinda is a fairly easy introduction to melismas.  

• Give A Man a Horse He Can Ride by Geofffrey O’Hara , available in 3 keys, Willis Music Company
• The Green-Eyed Dragon by Woolseley Charles, available in 2 keys, Boosey and Hawkes
• Clorinda by R. Orlando Morgan, available in 2 keys, Boosey and Hawkes

Order single songs online or buy online and print at home

Each of these sites functions a little differently than the rest and they also vary in pricing. There isn't one site that carries everything I want, so I try to find the best options and then send the students the links.  

• Sheetmusicplus.com
• See above for info on their rebates program.  
• You can order books online.  
• Some sheet music is also available for purchase and home printing.  
• Sheet Music Plus often has single downloadable copies of songs from collections published by Hal Leonard.  
• jwpepper.com
• Some listings have recordings that you can listen to.  
• This site also does a fairly good job at listing contents of books.  
• You can order books online or download single copies of some songs.  
• JW Pepper also has a feature where teachers can make lists of frequently assigned books so students can check the list and get exactly what they want.  
• musicnotes.com
• You can change keys, choosing the one that best fits a student's voice.  I use this site a lot for popular music.  For example, most of my sopranos will not sing Adele songs in her key.  
• sheetmusicdirect.us
• This prices on this site tend to be a little lower, but they also have less of the classical music I am looking for.  

Online resources for public domain music

Public domain means great music for free.  BUT...the legalities can be a little tricky.  Most sites that post public domain music also have a disclaimer that says the user is responsible for making sure that they are not violating any copyright laws in their country. FINDING THE COMPLETE SONG ONLINE DOES NOT MEAN THAT IT IS LEGAL FOR YOU TO PRINT IT AND GIVE TO A STUDENT.  There are many illegal online music sharing sites.  (Read this awesome post from Jason Robert Brown.) Educate yourself about copyright law and then have some fun with the legal sites.  

• imslp.org
• artsongcentral.org
• Many libraries also have older parts of their collections online.  Just do a google search using the title of your song followed by "free sheet music" and you should be able to find some of these.  

I have one more post for the book/sheet music part of this series.  That post on Christmas music will go up in early October.  I'm also hoping that a friend will be able to do a guest post about duet repertoire.  

I have a couple of other projects I need to do, but I hope to be able to continue this series by examining specific songs and sharing a little about why I use them with my students.  

Lastly, I'm still interested in hearing from you.  Let me know if you would like to do a guest post introducing us to your studio and then sharing 1-6 of your favorite songs to teach.