Where to find sheet music?

[Caraxes]

Dd is 12 and plays piano at around grade 3-4. She's recently started to be more interested in playing more variety rather than just going through the motions of lessons and practice. I can hear her trying to work out the melodies of various pop songs etc. Where can I point her to to find a range of playable pieces to experiment with?

Obviously I can buy individual books or search for specific pieces, but as a non-musician I find it tricky to judge whether things are the right standard or the right thing for her. Obviously I expect to pay for music, but I can imagine wasting a reasonable amount getting the wrong books! And I imagine that nowadays there is a better digital way to do this or a subscription to be had or something? Please forgive my ignorance, I'm trying! 😆

MuseScore and IMSLP are two big free sources of sheet music. (You can also subscribe to MuseScore to get access to official scores. The advertised price is quite expensive but they constantly have offers on)

Edit to add : IMSLP is incredibly confusing to navigate and I'm not sure how much modern music is on there, so MuseScore is probably a better bet !

Sheetmusicdirect is brilliant. I think they have loads of free stuff but I pay annually, well worth it (I do use it for my job though. But if she’s keen it will hopefully keep her keen!). The app just works which is valuable as so many are crap!

@PollyannaWhittier MuseScore is for transcribing music is it not? That’s what I use it for.

Thank you! I'll check those out 😊

Her teacher should be able to help if your dd asks.

There'll be plenty secondhand on eBay. Also oxfam bookshops often have a sheet music section

Try your local library. Many 'central' libraries (ie, the biggest one in your county/local authority) will have a music section, with lots of books of every genre of piano music, available to borrow for free!

Trinity College London publish graded books pop and rock song music for different instruments, including keyboards.

It has a massive library of sheet music. I think maybe there are two different apps / websites ? I know I got very confused when it was first recommended to me, before I found the right place !

Can't her teacher make recommendations for specific books?

If you look up the full ABRSM list of pieces for the exam she is on you will find they are from about twenty different books, all at the same grade level - if you look those books up on Amazon you can find a couple that she might like.

Yes, of course we can ask her teacher. She would probably reply but she's not taking lessons for a few weeks over the summer so I am reluctant to bother her, and I thought it would be nice to keep rolling with it while dd's got the free time and current interest!

Thanks all for the suggestions, I'm sure we'll find plenty to be getting on with! x

If she wants to experiement with pop music she could look at Trinity Rock & Pop & Rockschool pop syllabus pieces.

My son used to like the Really Easy Piano series of books when he first started playing.

Oh that’s cool! That’s a completely different company to what I was talking about I guess - different logo! Weird!