Sheet music is musical notation written down on paper; it is the musical analog of a book.
All our sheet music is top quality printable pdf files. To read and print pdf files you need Acrobat reader (it is free). Sheet music is less important in other forms of music, however. In popular music, although sheet music is produced, it is now more usual for people to learn the piece by ear (that is, by imitation). This is also the case in most forms of western folk music. Music of other cultures, both folk and classical, is often transmitted orally, though some have sheet music, and a few use hand signals or some other device as a learning mnemonic. The skill of sight reading is the ability of a musician to perform an unfamiliar work of music upon viewing the sheet music for the first time. Sight reading ability is expected of professional musicians and serious amateurs who play classical music and related forms.
With the exception of solo performances, where memorization is expected, classical musicians ordinarily have the sheet music at hand when performing. Even in jazz music, which is mostly improvised, sheet music is used to describe melodies, chord changes, and arrangements. The skill of sight reading is the ability of a musician to perform an unfamiliar work of music upon viewing the sheet music for the first time. Sight reading ability is expected of professional musicians and serious amateurs who play classical music and related forms. Sheet music may come in several different forms. If a piece is written for just one instrument (for example, a piano), all the music will be written on just one piece of sheet music. If a piece is intended to be played by more than one person, each person will usually have their own piece of sheet music, called a part. If there are a large number of performers required for a piece, there may also be a score, which is a piece of sheet music which shows all or most of the instruments' music in one place. A lead sheet, also known as fake music, indicates the melody and lyrics, but usually shows the harmony only by naming the underlying chords above the melody. It is commonly used in popular and jazz music. A collection of fake sheets is known as a fake book. These are frequently somewhat illegal transcriptions of music still under copyright, and so may contain errors. The term score can also refer to the incidental music written for something such as a play, television program. A full score is a large book showing the music of all instruments. It is large enough for a conductor to use in rehearsals and performance. A miniature score is like a full score, but reduced in size. It is too small for practical use, but handy for studying a piece of music. A study score is a rather vague term, sometimes used as a synonym for miniature score, and sometimes used to mean a score somewhere between the size of a full and a miniature score; in addition, a study score may have extra comments and notes about the music for learning purposes.
