About mfiles Sheet Music

The purpose of the Sheet Music section is simply to provide our visitors with a source of quality sheet music. For copyright reasons this will focus primarily on classical and traditional music whose compositions are public domain, or original music where we have permission from the composer, but we aim to cover as many other styles as possible. Since much of our sheet music is for piano, and this is the most popular instrument for sheet music, we will focus a lot of attention on this instrument, but we will also try to cover other musical instruments where possible.

The mfiles site started in a small way back in the year 2000 and our sheet music catalogue has gradually grown since then. The Sibelius software which we use to create the Sheet Music has evolved and improved since those days, with new features being added in later releases of Sibelius. In 2010 with the site now managed by Music Files Ltd, we have started on a programme to review and improve all our content, including our sheet music. This process will take some time, but you will notice improvements taking place over time. Don't worry though - our classical sheet music will remain free for personal use.

Sheet Music formats

The first thing to notice about mfiles sheet music is that it comes in two formats. Firstly once you have installed the Scorch Plug-in you can just click on a score to see it on your screen, and watch while it plays. You can do all the expected things, like starting and stopping the playback. Just click anywhere on the score to start playback from that point. You can even transpose the score into a different key for playback or change the instrument settings. Secondly if you like a piece and would like to play it yourself, you can click on a printable version of the score. Sheet Music in mfiles now comes in Adobe PDF format, so provided you have the free Adobe Acrobat Reader (from the Adobe web-site) installed you can print the sheet music using a single click of the mouse.

A lot of our classical sheet music is for a single instrument such as the piano, but some of our music (such as our traditional or Christmas Carols) has been created in a number of different formats, ranges and keys to suit different instruments. If that is the case, then we try to make each version suitable for multiple instruments with the same range and key. These are the mnemonics we use to describe our formats:

The keyboard part is for piano, organ manuals or electronic keyboard showing chords.
The guitar part is notated in various ways including a classical guitar stave, guitar tabulature (TAB) notation, with chords and fret diagrams
The accompaniment part is similar to the keyboard part but including a solo part for reference.
The main part is suitable for any instrument in C playing notes from middle C upwards written in the treble clef, e.g. Oboe, Flute, Violin, Piccolo, Trumpet in C, Tuned Percussion, Soprano, Alto, Descant or Soprano Recorder.
The high part is also for instruments in C but notated an octave higher in the treble clef, suitable for Flute, Piccolo, Violin, etc.
The bass part is written in C and notated an octave lower than the "main" part in the bass clef, suitable for Bassoon, Contrabassoon, Tenor Trombone, Bass Tuba, Cello, Double Bass, Bass, etc.
The viola part is for viola notated using the alto clef.
The horn part is for instruments in F playing notes written from roughly the F below middle C, suitable for French Horn (in F), Cor Anglais (English Horn), Treble/Alto or Sopranino Recorder, etc.
The clar part is for instruments in B-flat playing notes written from roughly the D below middle C, in particular B-flat Clarinet and B-flat Bass Clarinet.
The sax part is in E-flat playing notes from about the E-flat below middle C, suitable for Alto Saxophone.

All the Sheet Music on this site has been created using Sibelius, which is a leading music setting package. You can find out more about the file creation process at file types.

Problems with Play or Print

Technology always moves forward, and software is part of that ongoing evolution. Occasionally you might experience problems with viewing or printing our scores from mfiles, depending on your computer and the browser you use. If you do experience any problems, we always recommend that you upgrade to the most recent versions of the Scorch Plug-in and Adobe Reader, noting that there are different versions of the Scorch Plug-in if you switch between browsers such as Internet Explorer and Firefox. If this fails to resolve any problems, then check online for any known problems related to your browser and software configuration and consider any relevant upgrades.