Frequently Asked Questions

Last Updated: March 31, 2024

General questions

About the tunes

Requests

General questions

What is flutetunes.com?

First and foremost, flutetunes.com publishes free sheet music for the flute (but most pieces can also be played on other instruments). We also provide fingering charts, scales, an online metronome, an interactive tuner, a music glossary and general information that a flutist may find useful. And all this for free.

Do you really mean for free?

Yes, all of our services are free!

The site is not sponsored by, or affiliated with, any institution or company. The only source of income of this site is constituted by the few ads we have put on it.

Do you accept donations?

We do not currently accept donations. If you sincerely want to help the project, the best way is by spreading the word. Telling your flute fellows about the site, or writing about it on your blog are the best ways to support the site. The more followers we have, the more we are motivated to keep up with our mission.

The short answer is: yes, the site and its content are legal.

Copyright can be a very complex matter. For sheet music, one must distinguish two kinds of copyright, the copyright of the musical work and the copyright of the edition.

  • Almost all of the music we have on the site is old enough to be clearly in the public domain worldwide. Please note that copyright laws can be slightly different from country to country; therefore, if you want to play one of the few post-1900 pieces that we host please inform yourself about the copyright status of the piece in your country. If you have no clue how to do this, contact us and we'll try to help you out.
  • As regards the editions, that is no problem at all for us, since we personally do all the typesetting from scratch. Therefore, we own full rights over our scores.

We do not host any scanned or pirated sheet music on this site!

Can I use your sheet music for playing at a contest/recital/event?

The first thing that you want to check is whether the piece you want to play is in the public domain in your country. As stated above, almost all of the music on this site is in the public domain worldwide, but there are exceptions. If you are unsure about a certain piece, feel free to contact us and we'll try to help you out.

As stated in our Terms of Use, we own full rights over the sheet music that you can download from this site, but you are allowed to use it for public performance purposes without paying any fee as long as there is no profit involved.

If you are taking part in a contest or examination, however, make sure that the rules do not require you to use a specific edition of the piece that you want to play.

Why is flutetunes.com better than other sheet music websites?

We can think of several reasons.

  • Most of the other websites are selling sheet music; we provide it for free.
  • Many of the scores one can find on the net are, simply put, horrible. We are proud of the quality of our scores.
  • Our sheet music is prepared by flute players for flute players. We make a point of respecting the capabilities of the flute, while aiming at emphasizing the melodic nature of pieces.
  • We provide free play-along tracks.

How should I use this site?

The sheet music we post every day is great for your practice sessions. We suggest to practice sight-reading at the end of your usual practice routine, just like a dessert at the end of the meal. You'll soon find out that this is not only beneficial to your playing, but also incredibly fun! Maybe at first it won't be so easy to read all those notes on the fly, but you can rest assured that your abilities will improve very quickly!

Is this site family safe?

Absolutely. We carefully check everything that is posted on the site. We do not accept any content that incites, advocates, or expresses obscenity, vulgarity, profanity, racism, hatred, or gratuitous violence.

Who maintains the site?

The site is currently maintained by two flutists who prefer to keep their identities secret. We are not looking for personal publicity with this site.

How did you come up with the idea for the site?

The idea first came up during late fall 2008. Our goal was (and still is) to set up a place where flutists of all levels could find every day something new to play and have fun.

Thinking of younger students and amateurs, we also decided to include fingering charts, a metronome and a searchable music glossary, to answer questions like “What does rallentando mean?”

Of course, it took some time to develop all these features, not to mention the time we spent optimizing the sheet music making process in order to be able to publish one new tune every day. Luckily enough one of us is also a consummate programmer, so the technical side didn't prove to be that huge of a problem after all.

Finally, after a week of online beta testing, flutetunes.com went public on March 31, 2009.

About the tunes

How often are new tunes published?

We have published a new tune every single day during our first 15 years, from 2009 to 2024. Having amassed quite a collection, we have now dialled it back a little, but we are still posting new pieces regularly.

Do you only publish flute solos?

No! We provide sheet music for many instrumentations: flute duets, flute and piano, flute and guitar... You can browse our tunes by instrumentation.

Please note that the instrumentations we suggest serve just as an indication. Obviously all of the accompaniments may be performed on a piano or similar instrument.

What do you mean by “bass instrument”?

The pieces we arrange for “flute and bass instrument” feature an accompanying bass line that can ideally be played by any instrument that can read the bass clef. This line is usually monophonic, i.e. it uses few or no chords: only one note is played at a time, just like on the flute. Examples of instruments that can play these parts include cello, piano, guitar, harp, bassoon, trombone, double bass, etc.

Why doesn't the key signature of some pieces match the listed key?

This is normal in the case of modal tunes, since we follow the classical convention of distinguishing between major and minor modes only. You may therefore find, for example, a tune in A Dorian (with an F# in the key signature) listed as being in the key of A minor, because the Dorian mode is a minor mode.

It may also happen, in the case of Baroque and earlier pieces, that the key signature differs from the modern standard by one or even two flats or sharps. This is often due solely to a matter of different conventions, and does not necessarily mean that the piece is modal.

Have all of the tunes originally been written for the flute?

No. We often write transcriptions of music originally written for other instruments. This is a common practice, and we think that it is a good thing as long as the original spirit of a piece can be preserved. For this reason, we rarely transpose melodies, as we believe that the key of a tune conveys much of its character.

If you want to search only for pieces that were originally written for flute, you can add the keywords “written for flute” to your search query.

How should I use the play-along accompaniment tracks?

You may want to listen to the complete track to get a feel of how the melody interweaves with the accompaniment first. Then, when you feel ready, just play the accompaniment MIDI or MP3 file, and get ready to start playing the melody on your flute at the right moment! If the piece has no introductory part, in which the accompanying instrument plays alone, then the play-along track will start with an extra bar with the accompaniment just beating the time, so that you can get ready and at the same time understand what the tempo is.

Should I download the MIDI or the MP3? What is the difference?

First of all, you should know that both the MIDI and the MP3 versions of each track contain the exact same notes. You should choose between the two based on your specific needs, keeping in mind the following differences.

  • MIDI files are very small, just a few kilobytes, so the download is very fast. Moreover, they allow the tempo to be easily changed, so for example you can get a slower version of a piece for practice purposes. However, the quality of the music will largely depend on your computer's soundcard capabilities, and will generally be somewhat poor.
  • MP3 files are larger, but will generally sound more realistic. Moreover, you can download them to your smartphone and take them with you wherever you go.

The bottom line: unless you are on a slow Internet connection (dial-up), go for the MP3s.

How can I download an MP3 on my computer?

If when you click on an “MP3” link the file opens in your browser, and you want to save it on your computer instead, then do the following:

  • On Windows, right-click on the link and choose “Save Target As...” or “Save Link As...” (the actual text depends on what browser you are using).
  • On macOS, holding down the Option key (⌥) and then clicking the link should download the file directly to your downloads folder.

The sheet music does not display or print correctly.

That is most likely an issue with your PDF reader. Try upgrading or reinstalling it.

If the sheet music still doesn't display correctly, please drop us a message.

How do I submit a recording of my performance for listing?

First of all, you have to upload your recording on YouTube. Please make sure to add a link to the tune page in the description of your video, so that other flutists will be able to find the sheet music and other associated resources easily.

Once the video is uploaded, send us a message with a link to the video.

Why are some pieces “not available for download in my country”?

There are a few pieces which are already in the public domain in the USA, but still protected by copyright laws in other countries. Please see our answer to “So what can I do if I need the score to a copyrighted piece?”

Requests

I'm desperately looking for the sheet music to [your song title here]!

You can check if the piece you are looking for is already present in our free sheet music collection. If you don't find it, you can send us a request. Before you do, please take a look at the answer to the following question.

Are there any limitations to what I can request?

Unfortunately there are a couple issues that limit what you can request.

  • The first concern regards the copyright status of the piece you'd like to request. Copyright can be a very complex matter, but to make it simple we may say that most of the music published before 1929 is usually fine. After this date it becomes increasingly difficult to find pieces that are not still covered by copyright law in at least some major country. Sadly, this excludes most Jazz standards, as well as most 20th-century classical music. Needless to say, Rock and Pop music is completely out of the question.
  • The second problem is of practical nature. We cannot take requests for works that are too long or too complex. A piece of average complexity lasting three-four minutes is usually fine; a full concerto less so.

So what can I do if I need the score to a copyrighted piece?

There are only two legal ways to get this kind of sheet music.

  • You can try asking at your local library. If you are lucky, they might have a copy for you to borrow.
  • Otherwise, the only legitimate solution is to buy the piece, either at your local store or online. Sheet Music Plus has the world's largest selection of sheet music, and their prices tend to be pretty good.

How long does it take for a request to be posted?

It depends upon the length and complexity of the requested piece, as well as the number of requests we have in queue. For short pieces, it may take just a week or two.