Finding Choral Sheet Music, Cheap

Links are provided in the Sheet Music post detailing the simplicity and ease of accessing brand new sacred sheet music through the internet. Sometimes it's cheaper to get secondhand music, so here's a TradeMe tip for folks in New Zealand and Australia. If you live outside this region, try the same trick on your local auction website such as eBay.com or Amazon.com.

Go to www.TradeMe.co.nz and in the search bar type “choral”. Musicians and retired music teachers frequently list choral sheet music arranged for soprano, alto, tenor, and bass voices (written as SATB). Examples of listings I’ve seen this week are “The Lord Bless You and Keep You”, “The Lord is My Light”, “Prayer” (Brahms), “O Jesu So Sweet” (J.S. Bach), “Written in Red”, “Christmas Gloria”, “Standing in the Presence of the King”, “Lord God Omnipotent”, and “You Alone Will Be Exalted”. Save the search and you can receive daily or weekly updates on music as it’s listed.

Note: It can take 1-2 weeks to process TradeMe membership, so if you plan to bid immediately, you need to already have membership, or ask someone you know who is a member to bid for you.

LYRIC CHECK

If the trader isn’t willing to go to the effort of listing the lyrics for you, it is often possible to find the lyrics on the internet. Do a Google search or use one of the many free lyric-finder websites. I generally use www.LyricsOnDemand.com and www.CyberHymnal.org.

I wanted to check that “He Is the Same” by Carol Cymbala was actually a sacred song, so I Googled for “Carol Cymbala” and found that she is the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir’s director and that she’s written and arranged a lot of sacred music. I didn’t find the exact lyrics I was looking for, but with the above history, it’s safe to assume “He is the Same” is about the one true God.

Google searches may also locate recordings you can listen to online, or playable sheet music, such as offered by www.MusicNotes.com.