About The Orchestra Musician’s CD-ROM Library

How did we start?

The Orchestra Musician’s CD-ROM Library™ – a revolutionary development in the distribution of printed music – makes available the original orchestra parts from the great orchestral repertoire (Classical, Romantic, Modern) collected on individual CD-ROMs (CDRs) by instrument. These are the standard parts used by orchestras in the United States and around the world. The series currently encompasses over 500 symphonic masterworks in eight volumes, including music by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Dvorak, Ravel, Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Elgar, Vaughan Williams, Bartok, Stravinsky, and more. All the parts for each work are included on individual CDRs for violin (1st & 2nd parts), viola, cello, bass, flute (piccolo), clarinet (all parts), oboe (English horn), bassoon (contra-bassoon), horn, trumpet, low brass, timpani/percussion, and harp/keyboard/other (including piano, organ, guitar, saxophone, etc.).

The Orchestra Musician’s CD-ROM Library™ offers incredible economic advantage over the cost of purchasing printed sheet music for instrumentalists, conductors, and ensembles. Each CDR includes all parts for which that instrument is scored. By acquiring the complete set of parts in a particular Volume (e.g. “Beethoven, Schubert and more”), an ensemble can perform any of the works in that series. At a cost of $19.95 per CDR, purchasing the complete set of 103 parts included in Volumes I-VIII represents an investment of $2054.85. Purchasing the set of printed materials for the same 511 works currently available in The Orchestra Musician’s CDROM Library™ would cost approximately $300 per work or $153,300 for the entire collection.

With the advent of The Orchestra Musician’s CD-Rom Library™ a vast collection of printed music is now available and affordable to both individuals and organizations.

What is it?

The Orchestra Musician’s CD-Rom Library™ makes printed sheet music electronically available on a CD-ROM (CDR) scanned in an easy-to-read searchable and printable format. Each individual CDR disc includes anywhere from 40-90 individual works.

EDITIONS

Where does the music come from?

The primary requirement is that both the music and the editions used in The Orchestra Musician’s CD-ROM Library™ series are out of copyright (that is, in the public domain) in the United States. Generally, this means that the edition was first published in 1922 or before. The edition for each work is not identified but the materials are selected from the best available 19th and early 20th century editions including publishers such as Breitkopf and Härtel, C.F. Peters, G. Schirmer, Ricordi, Durand, Simrock, Novello, Ditson, and Carl Fischer, and many others.

Modern editions from such publishers as Henle, Barenreiter, and Universal are currently under copyright and cannot be used in The Orchestra Musician’s CD-Rom Library™ series. However, since these are standard editions used by orchestras around the world, instrumentalists can build a personal library of parts from the standard orchestral repertoire for auditions, rehearsals, and individual study. For orchestras, ensembles or music departments, these materials can supplement existing libraries serving as a backup in emergencies or as replacements for lost or missing parts.

PRODUCTION

How is the series put together?

In producing each Orchestra Musician’s CD-Rom Library™ collection, we take a great deal of care to ensure both outstanding scholarship and state-of-the-art production values. Our editorial unit is headed by Juilliard graduate and music industry veteran Lawrence Rosen, an established composer who has developed over 50 printed music collections. We are very grateful for the help we have received from many libraries, musicians, and private collectors. Special thanks to the Juilliard Library, The Fleisher Collection (Free Library of Philadelphia), Montclair State University Library, and the Westminster College Library.

TECHNICAL PREPARATION

What will the music look like?

A single CDR can contain up to 4000 pages of scanned sheet music. However, The Orchestra Musician’s CD-Rom Library™ is much more just a collection of pages that are scanned and loaded onto a disc. Starting with as clean a copy of the original music as we can find (some of the music is new; some is used), we then use our specially-developed software to further clean any smudges or dirt marks on the original, straighten staff lines (if necessary) and re-optimize the margins to print at 8½ by 11 (“letter-size”) paper. While some reorganization, retitling, and touch-up of staff lines is done, we do not proofread the music or fix any of the original errors. Because of our special processing, in many cases, the music is clearer and actually looks better than the original.

USING THE ORCHESTRA MUSICIAN’S CD-ROM LIBRARY™

What do I do?

The Orchestra Musician’s CD-Rom Library™ is easy to use! It is formatted for Adobe Reader®. For PC users (with auto-run enabled), just put the CDR in your drive and wait for the opening screen to display. Mac users should click on the “Mac Table of Contents” icon. We have created many helpful features to make searching for individual works quick and intuitive. Our Table of Contents page is interactive and will lead you directly to each title.

UPCOMING DEVELOPMENTS

New Titles

We are constantly expanding our offerings in The Orchestra Musician’s CD-ROM Library™ series. Among the new titles currently in development is a collection devoted to works from the Baroque period (Vivaldi, J.S. Bach, and more), as well as collections for Opera (Mozart, Verdi, Wagner, Puccini) and Ballet. Updates on these forthcoming collections will be posted on our web site as the contents are finalized and the publication dates are imminent.