Free sheet music (no copyright)

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You really should pay for a piece of music that has been written by someone who is still alive, because that is sometimes their only way of earning. Also, the publishers do a good job and they need to be paid too. Also, it's illegal to copy music that has a copyright that is still valid. Depending on what country you live in, that time can be 70, 75, 80 or 100 years after the copyright being made. However, once that certain amount of time has elapsed, and nobody re-applies for copyright, that piece passes into the public domain (known as PD to members of the music community.) Of course, many famous classical pieces are in this category, including pieces that are on the requirement list of music auditions for college, Royal College exams, etc. Now that the Internet is around, we can easily get this sheet music for free by downloading onto our computers. The main sites I use, as a classical musician and teacher, are CPDL (Choral Public Domain Library) for choir music, and IMSLP (International Music Score Library Project) for instrumental music. Pretty much everything I use for teaching flute is available now on this site. Choir, not so much, since many choral pieces are being published every year. If I taught band or orchestra, of course I would be buying newly published music, just as I do for choirs. My happy news is that today I found a flute method book, the one I learned from, has finally entered the public domain and I can have my students download it for free! Public Service Announcement: please check to make sure before you download free music that it is in the public domain in your country! I hope this has been of interest and use to some of you out there who like to play music!