Although there are over 90% of the songs on the site that a user may download through an external link (musicnotes.com, sheetmusicplus.com, amazon.com,), obtain through their local library (www.worldcat.org), upload if the songs are in the public domain (PDF format), or contact the composer/lyricist directly through the link to their website or show, there are a number of songs that are not yet available through these avenues. To find published songs not linked from this site, consult the American Society of Composers and Publishers (www.ascap.com) and Broadcast Music Incorporated (www.bmi.com). Users can also check with the New York Public Library (www.nypl.org) and their own teachers and coaches. Some music may also be available on ebay (www.ebay.com) and Powell's Books (www.powells.com). Musical Theater Songs data base has links for sheet music for over 90% of its holdings and is constantly striving to increase that number.
Musical Theater Songs is constantly striving to meet our users' needs. We are in the process of adding Karaoke links for many of our songs. In the intermittent time, users are encouraged to broaden their iTunes or Spotify searches to include these options. Examples include "I don't know how to Love him Karaoke version", or "Defying Gravity Karaoke version".
No. The sole purpose of Musical Theater Songs is to provide the data base/search engine for the user to create a list of material suited to their particular needs at that moment. As an added service Musical Theater Songs will provide direct 3rd party links, to sites such as Amazon, and individual composer's websites where available, for the user to purchase material such as sheet music and/or recordings.
A Constrasting Song is a song that is the opposite in style, mood or tempo from a previous selection. Musical Theater Songs allows the user to immediately choose a contrasting song option directly on their song list page. This function only appears when the user selects Easy Ballad which will switch to Up-Tempo and Vice-Versa and either Comedic or Dramatic in style. All other pre-selected search parameters will stay the same.
Musical Theater Songs provides you the original key of the song so you can sing the song as it was conceived. Many singers do want to transpose songs for their own use. Musical Theater Songs suggests that if you are going to transpose the song more than 1 and 1/2 steps either up or down, you invest in a new professional piano arrangement. While Musicnotes.com is a useful site, it does not have the technology to make the necessary musical adjustments for a larger transposition.
Musical Theater Songs tries to streamline all of your search parameters. We include page numbers from original piano/vocal, or piano/conductor scores to allow you find your song more quickly. If another edition is referenced, that information will be included in the comments section. Songs with page ranges 1-1 will either indicate a stand alone song, or a single selection that is purchased through a composer's website or other 3rd party site.
A stand alone song is a song that is not written for a specific musical. These may be individual songs or within a song cycle. Examples include individual songs by composer/lyricists such as Jason Robert Brown, Kerrigan & Lowdermilk, Brett Macias etc. or “Here In My Bed” from Songs from An Unmade Bed (2005 Song Cycle).
2 reasons. 1: While the content on YouTube can be informative, it is also fluid, meaning that material will come and go without any notice. In order to provide the most consistent links, Musical Theater Songs has elected to selectively link to YouTube. Secondly: While there are many high quality performances available on YouTube, the fact of a user viewing say the All-White, 4-Hour, Community Theater version of "Dreamgirls", may not be informative, instructional or practical. Users of Musical Theater Songs may always view YouTube on their own. We do provide a YouTube search link for each song, so the user may search for their desired material.
Yes. As NATS (National Alliance of Teachers of Singing) requires all entrants to sing material in original keys, Musical Theater Songs provides that information for all of its songs. Also as there are strict guidelines with regards to photocopies and editions, Musical Theater Songs connects the user to access to full scores and directly to composer's websites so all music is in its most original format.
Any full score in the data base published prior to 1923 and in public domain, (no longer under copyright restriction), is available as a PDF on the site. Users may download scores or songs from these selections. Users should note that the downloading of this material does not constitute a license to perform the material without consulting the appropriate theatrical licensing firms. Musical Theater Songs also provides links to sites such as Archive.org and IMSLP Petrucci Music Library http://imslp.org/ which also offer direct links to public domain scores.
As most songs on this website are from full shows, the most effective way to find sheet music through a library system is to request the ENTIRE score. Unlike musicnotes.com where the user can request/download an individual song, individual songs are almost NEVER available through library loan. Musical Theater Songs links automatically to Worldcat.org. If a score/song is available, use the OCLC number provided, and then once you get the full score, use the reference pages provided by Musical Theater Songs to locate your selection and then dupicate as necessary.
Musical Theater Songs links users directly to recordings on Amazon.com, ITunes, Spotify, Composers Websites (if applicable), Soundcloud and several other data bases. Musical Theater Songs does not license these recordings and the user is responsible for their own individual purchase/download of any song if applicable.
We collect two kinds of statistics which you can access at any time from the "Account" area of your institutional subscription:
Logins When a user first accesses our website from your campus (or via your proxy, if you have one set up), that is considered a login.
Searches A "search" is recorded whenever a user enters search parameters on the homepage and clicks the Search button. So if someone goes to the website and performs two searches in a single sitting, that would be recorded as 1 login and 2 searches.
