There are lots of sites that offer free sheet music, but many of these have been set up to provide music that is still in copyright. When you download these you may run the risk of also downloading a virus or a piece of software that embeds itself in your computer and sends messages about your activities.
And when you download copyright music, the composers, engravers (the people who formatted the music for printing) and publishers don't get paid for the work they did in making the music available. How would you like to go to the trouble of writing a piece of msuic that other people are happy to use, but refuse to pay you for?
But there are tens of thousands of pieces of music available on the internet which are free and legal, because they are no longer in copyright, or the composers have agreed to share them freely.
One of the best sites for free sheet music is The Petrucci Music Library. On 21st July, 2010 there were 67 thousand scores available on this site.
These scores are mainly pieces of classical music that are over 75 years old and consequently out of copyright. You can find music for almost any instrument you can think of at this site, as well as scores and parts for orchestral and chamber music.
Some of the scores are poorly scanned, or the original that was used was of poor quality. Some of the scores are of an older, inferior edition to the ones we use today.
But many of them are very good quality, and you can't beat the price.
Happy hunting!
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