You seem to have plentiful sources of repertoire at your fingertips. I am having a hard time finding good supplemental music for my small, beginning studio. The closest music store is about an hour away, so I rely heavily on internet searching and shopping. However, I find it difficult to know the level of the piece I’m considering and would especially like to “see” part of the piece to judge its appropriateness and sound. Do you have any websites that you think do a good job of making this information available and clear? I am most immediately interested in Christmas sheet music at the elementary level. Any suggestions?
Yes, I have managed to accumulate a large collection of printed music over the years. My first rule now when I need a new piece for a student is that I have to go “shopping” through my own books before I can go to the store. 
We actually have two fabulous music stores in our area, so I do have the opportunity to play through lots of music before I purchase it, but here are a few suggestions for those who don’t have easy access to music stores:
1. Subscribe to a New Release Club for music teachers to get a nice selection of new books at a discounted price. (Additionally, if you get on the list for some of these publishers, periodically throughout the year you will receive a sampler, often accompanied with a CD.)
2.Visit the publisher websites. I’ve noticed that Hal Leonard in particular has developed a very user-friendly site that allows you to view and listen to samples from many of their books.
3. Attend national conferences. I’ve attended both the Music Teachers National Association conference and the National Center for Keyboard Pedagogy conference, and in both cases came home with enough free music to more than cover the registration fee. Publisher showcases at these conferences are a great way to listen to composers discuss and play their own music.
4. Use on-line databases. If you’re looking for good Classical repertoire, the PianoWorks website is a great resource! The 20th Century Intermediate Piano Literature database may also be helpful.
5. Get together with other music teachers and have everyone play some of their (and their students!) favorite pieces. We’ve done this on a number of occasions with our local associations and I always come away with some new ideas. (Here’s a link to a Student Saver Pieces handout I put together for a workshop I did at one of our meetings.)
6. Subscribe to a music teacher magazine. I enjoy receiving the Clavier Companion (combination of the former Keyboard Companion and Clavier). I read through it, underlining and making notes and bookmarking pages for future reference – both teaching ideas and insights, and repertoire suggestions.
These are a few general ideas about finding music. Tomorrow I’ll specifically address Christmas music. If anyone has other suggestions for finding appropriate music when you don’t have access to a music store, please do share!
Remember, if you have a question you’d like to contribute to next week’s Monday Mailbag, leave it in the comments below or send me an e-mail sometime this week with Monday Mailbag in the subject line!
I, too, am an hour away from a really good-sized music store. When I need to actually buy music, I use JW Pepper’s http://www.pianoatpepper.com website. Many of their selections include previews of the music. Shipping is very reasonable (free for orders over $50). Their customer service is awesome, shipping is fast and they will accept returns of printed music if it turns out you ordered something that didn’t suit you once it arrived. I can’t say enough good things about them, I’ve never been disappointed by JW Pepper.
I, too, live quite a long drive away from a decent music store. I enjoy using Sheet Music Plus to browse music because it gives you the option of viewing the first page or two so you can get an idea of the difficulty level of the piece. Other websites such as 8notes.com let you download some sheet music for free, which is nice just to have incase you need it.
Here is a website with music appropriate for intermediate music students, and music teachers. http://www.soloinstrumentalsheetmusic.com/
index.html
All the music is arranged as solos for most orchestral and band instruments at the intermediate level. You can view the first page of each piece, and hear a sound byte of each piece.
You can always subscribe to Virtual Sheet Music for a year (about $30) and then print off or save to your computer all the music you can ever want! They, of course, wouldn’t have things under copyright, but they have a lot of Christmas and classical music!
This is a very tough spot to be in. If you were closer, you could have a look through, but you can’t. And from one publisher’s idea of elementary to another can vary hugely.If you are connected with an music teachers association, I would immediately tap into them and ask them what are their top 5 easy, medium and hard elementary or books. Then if you have the money- buy them. You have to start somewhere. Also, if you can get the repetoire from local competitions, you can build from some solid winners.
As for specific places, I have liked FJH for their 40% off 2 copies. It helps a ton. I’m also trying out PrimaMusic.com as you can build your percentage off and get free shipping with qualifying order.
Here’s a final tip for having money to buy this music that I got from another teacher: Set up a student account for every student in your studio. My deposit is $50 at the beginning of the year. Then I subtract all materials costs as they occur. That way, I have the money to go get what I need and I don’t wait on parents to get it. Then I either reimburse the difference at the end of the year, or transfer it to next year’s account. (I personally prefer reimbursing to help eliminate the awkward “Um, we’re quitting and you have my money.” thing.)
I took Steve’s advice.
http://www.SoloInstrumentalSheetMusic.com is excellent.
Their prices are good, the delivery is quick, and they have sheet music for virtually every instrument. It comes with a CD you can practice with at home, or perform with if you don’t have a pianist. I like the melodies, too. The music is kind of high school level.
Thanks Steve.