Three Online Websites for Printing Free Easy Music

As a musician of 40+ years, I am constantly amazed at the vast array of resources available to musicians today. As a music teacher, I especially appreciate the huge number of online sources of music to download and print at my convenience. Many of these websites require a membership fee, but I have discovered several great sites that allow free access.

http://gmajormusictheory.org/Freebies/freebies.html

This site is the favorite of my students. The arrangements are divided according to level:

First Pieces
Primer Level through Level 4
Keyboard Classics

Each piece is availabe in PDF format as well as MIDI. A fairly new feature is PDF downloads of duet arrangements and compatible MIDI files.

The music is student-friendly. The print is easy to read and each piece has a sketch or colorful drawing on the first page that relates to the theme of the music My students love being able to browse through the levels and find a piece of music they would like to work on. Every music teacher knows how much easier it is to help a student learn music he is excited about, and this site is a great supplement to help keep the student motivated.

http://www.easysheetmusic.com/

My piano students also love this site. The arrangements are broken down into four categories:

Songs from Around the World
Popular Classics
Boogie and Blues
Mission--Not that Difficult

The first three are self-explanatory. The tunes in the fourth category are written in film score style. The print on all of these scores is easy to read. Suggested finger numberings are included on each piece. Music is downloaded in PDF format, and all songs are recommended for easy piano.

http://www.8notes.com/piano_sheet_music.asp

Mostly classical pieces comprise the free music found on this site. Downloads are in gif format and MIDI files are available for free pieces. MP3 files can also be downloaded for some of the arrangements. I use this site mostly for an introduction to a classical piece before investing more time and money. If the student's interest is peaked, I find an easier-to-read version of the music.

Another nice feature of this site is the information given about each piece of music. There is a listing of composer, style of music and level of difficulty. The price of subscription is not extravagant, and the perks are worth the cost: PDF downloads, possible key transpositions, and arrangements for instruments other than the piano.

This list is by no means comprehensive, but hopefully it provides a jump-off place to begin printing fun and quickly attainable pieces of music for the elementary player.