Resource: BandMusicPDF.org

One of my favorite places to find public domain music for band is BandMusicPDF.org. It has an amazing back story and a HUGE collection of band music from the 1870’s through 1924.

A number of years ago a huge collection of old band music was donated to the North Royalton Community Band from Ohio. The majority of the old collection was tattered and weathered, so they decided to scan the music into a computer and share their collection with other bands. That’s how BandMusic PDF Library was born. Their collection has been online since February 2006 and has grown from 50 pieces to over 4,000 titles, with no end in sight. The library includes marches of every description, all kinds of dances, ragtime, major period concert works, and solos with band accompaniment for a wide variety of instruments including voice.

The site includes a VERY detailed search function that makes it easy to find what you are looking for. The very first time I visited the site, I searched for marches by John Philip Sousa. I was thrilled to see literally every Sousa march was available. When you click on the march you are interested in you have the option of downloading the parts and/or the score as a PDF - really simple. You can also see who the original publisher was, the date of the original copyright, and the grade of difficulty.

If you are interested in finding public domain band music to download and perform with your ensemble, this is the site for you. Thank you to the MANY volunteers on the site who have meticulously scanned music and worked on the site over the past 16+ years. You are keeping the band tradition alive and these compositions will continue to have a life in the future.

North Royalton Community Band