Resource: CPDL
One of the most well-known and beloved sites for choral educators and composer is the Choral Public Domain Library - better known as CPDL.org. The original site was launched 25 years ago - in December of 1998 and it has become one of the world's largest free (and LGELA) sheet music sites. In 2005 the site was ported over to a new Choral Wiki which allowed users to edit, post, and more. The site hosts a HUGE collection of music scores and other supporting files (including MIDI, audio, and proprietary notation software files) which are free to be downloaded and used for any purpose. Of the 46,846 scores (as of Nov. 8 2023), most are modern editions based on the original works whose copyright has lapsed (or which are otherwise in the public domain). There are also MANY new scores composed and offered for no charge by the composers who have posted their works so that they might be performed. CPDL is an incredible resource for any musican.
There are numerous ways to find choral scores on Choral Wiki. The easiest is to use the Search window (see above). Just type in the name of the song or composition that you are looking for and it is highly likely you will find it - UNLESS it is protected by copyright. One thing I truly respect about this site is that you won’t find infringing material like other sites. If you are looking for an arrangement of Beyoncé’s last hit, you won’t find it here. You can also dig in to the many Composer pages that are hosted. Believe it or not, there are 4,743 composers represented on the site - many that you know, and many more that you probably don’t. If you’re searching for Hildegard von Bingen, she’s there! J.S. Bach? No problem. Each composer has there own page that lists all of their works which are posted on the site. Once you have found the work that you are interested in, just click on the title to see what materials are posted.
As an example, I found ALL of 185 Bach’s Chorales in one place (you can download all of them in 4 PDF files). When you land on that page, you will see all of the individual chorales listed by title, but you’ll also see a lot of icons. Each icon represents a different file type that is available for download. I selected Als Jesus Christus in der Nacht, BWV 265 from the list. Once I landed on that page, this is what I saw:
There is a handy Legend on the right side which explains what each icon means. For this particular chorale, I can download a PDF,a MIDI file, a MusicXML file (which can then be imported into ANY notation editor) and a Capella file (which is a lesser known notation editor). Pretty cool, huh? The PDF copy of the score (the most popular format) is perfect for printing out and performing with your groups. Whatever type of choir you direct or sing with, these scores are an amazing resource - it’s FREE music! The scores are also perfect for score analysis and four-part writing examples for music theory teachers.
I am quite sure that CPDL is something that MANY of you already knew about, but for those of you that haven’t seen it, it is truly one of the best resources available for choral musicians and educators.