Overview

This site is intended to help you, the player of a melody instrument, learn to play faster and better by replicating the experience of performance as you practice. By hearing the accompaniment of a full band or piano, you can prepare for the experience of live performance.
Each piece has been adapted for your instrument and transposed to fit the sound file. All you need to do is download the chart and play the sound file. There is also a demo version of each piece that will show you what it sounds like before you try it.

If you know other musicians, you can come up with just about any ensemble or duet combination by downloading the appropriate sheets. Since the charts are already transposed, you can find a part for just about anyone who has an instrument.

This site is not a substitute for a real music teacher! We're really just able to provide some source material, we can't be there with you to show you how to hold your instrument, show you what you may not be doing the best way, or motivate you as much as a good teacher can. So, if you need to find a music teacher, try this:

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In addition, this site may not be suitable for real beginners; when you're just starting, you have enough to do just to get a sound out of your instrument! Playing in ensembles and with accompaniment is a further step. Also, much of our material uses the full range of the instrument, something great for the developing musician but not easy for the beginner.

Most of our charts leave you the option of adding dynamics, articulation, and the like. This can be done with your teacher. It is good training for you to interpret your own music.

And, we are providing pieces adapted for as many instruments as possible. We understand some pieces weren't meant to be played on some instruments, for instance, it may seem inappropriate to take a famous flute piece and play it on trombone. Whether or not a piece works well in performance with your instrument is up to you. If you don't like it, don't play it. But, it is good training to learn unusual music, and who knows, an unusual combination may just sound great.

Technical Details

Sheets are supplied in the Adobe *.pdf format which can be viewed with the Adobe Acrobat Reader. They were created using Adobe Acrobat 4.0.

Information on Our Sound Files

Our sound files are in midi format. Midi files are compact and a versatile tool for musicians. For our purposes they work well because they load immediately and don't require a lot of processing power. If you select the soundfile you want and click "Get the Soundfile" it should start playing in your browser.

For better sound, you should plug your soundcard into your stereo. Small computer speakers are ok for monitoring a music file, but won't give you the full experience of a band or pianist playing with you. Many soundcards have a headphone jack in addition to the stereo output. If you have your computer set up with tiny speakers and want to leave it that way, consider buying some quality headphones and plugging into the headphone jack on your soundcard. This will give better sound quality which will improve your playing. The sound quality of these files also varies with the equipment. A better sound card or separate midi sound module give great results. Setting those things up can take some research, but is well worth it.

All our files are in General Midi format, which is universally supported.
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