The purpose of the Sheet Music sections on mfiles is to provide our visitors with a source of quality sheet music. For copyright reasons this will focus primarily on Classical Sheet Music and Traditional Sheet Music for music with is public domain, or Original Sheet Music where we have permission to publish from the composer, but we still aim to cover as many music styles as possible. Much of our sheet music is for piano, which is the most popular instrument to learn, 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 grown substantially 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. Since 2009 the site has been managed as a business by Music Files Ltd, but we are still very much a hobby website and aim to give our content a personal touch. We have now completed our programme to update all our music files to make best use of the new features in Sibelius, so our Sheet Music is even better than before.
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 follow the score 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. The Sheet Music in mfiles is available in the industry-standard 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.
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.
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, Firefox and Chrome. 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.
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.
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