Sources of Sheet Music

OK, so you have decided to collect and now you wonder, "where on earth can I find sheet music?" If you are willing to look, you will find it just about anywhere. One of the most inexpensive and fun methods is through estate sales or home goods auctions. Usually, the best finds are in older towns where classic original homes are still in existence. Usually the "midtown", older areas are where you will find the greatest lots of old music. In most cases, estate sellers are not really tuned in to the value of old sheet music (more on that later) and tend to look on heaps of old music as trash. As a result, you can sometimes find a treasure trove of music for a song --- humm, would that be songs for a song? Though midtown older neighborhoods are good sources, sometimes isolated rural area sales are great sources too. Often the older rural homes had no other entertainment except the salon piano so they may have an attic full of songs.

Another source is often antique shops or even collectible shops if you have them. The problem with these locations is that they are more profit-motivated and prices will tend to be higher. Most dealers understand the value of certain collectibles and it is likely that they will be selling items individually priced rather than in bargain lots. Generally, if they do have bargain lots, they will tend to contain common items that are not significant. That is not to say that you cannot find important additions to your collection in shops, only that you are dealing with a more sophisticated seller who will tend to price items more closely to market value. That's fair, not a thing wrong with it. At some point, price is not as important as acquisition. I know that when there is a specific item I need to round out a part of my collection, or to make a monthly feature better, I'll often pay much more for it than I usually would.

A really fun and exciting source for sheet music are flea markets. Flea markets have become a national past-time (obsession?) and sometimes present you with opportunities to obtain large lots of covers at low prices, or the opportunity to "pick through" a lot and be selective. In many cases flea markets can be a better source than estate sales. One of this country's most prominent collectors and experts on sheet music, Sandy Marrone has amassed a mind-boggling collection of over 200,000 sheets, many of which she has found in flea markets. Sandy graciously assisted us with this essay and said "We've made a point of going to flea markets all over the country and I've found music at flea markets in California, Black Hills (Dakotas), Nashville, Maui (Hawaii), Arizona, Omaha, Des Moines (Iowa), St. Louis, Chicago, Atlanta to name a few, and all over the Northeast. I always go to a lot of them in London and also those in Paris. I do far better at flea markets than house sales, etc. Well, let me rephrase that. I'm sure I'd get better music cheaper at house sales, etc. but the chance of me finding any at all at those places is too slim. If I go to a flea market, I ALWAYS find some sheet music to look at. Maybe it's not always anything worthwhile, but at least it gives me a 'fix'!!" We sincerely appreciate Sandy's guidance in preparing this article, especially her excellent editorial assistance and generous advice. We do want to point out that she acted in an advisory capacity and any errors and mistakes in this essay are ours, not hers! Sandy also suggests watching for auction notices. "Any auctions that mention pianos or music cabinets are sometimes apt to have some sheet music. You can even go to used and rare book shops and find sheet music."

A main source these days is the Internet. You can not only find dealers on line who sell sheets but the most lively market right now is the online auction. In many respects, the online auction has really opened up the sheet music market and made sheet music much more available than ever before. It has also been good for sellers, creating outlets that never existed until now. I have checked them all out and it seems that the largest selection and variety at this time is on EBay. I check every day and have found many excellent sheets at reasonable cost. You encounter good sellers and bad sellers on-line so be sure to check the sellers' feedback if the auction site has a ratings system. You also find the same sort of people on line that you find on the street. You find honest ones and dishonest ones. You find gougers and cheaters as well as fair dealing sellers, so, as in any venture, "caveat emptor" is an important point. Here is a great transportation subject song, Taxi, I obtained through an EBay seller at a great price.

I recommend EBay as an auction site as they do have a system for policing their sellers and you can easily view a seller's feedback from previous transactions. In spite of that, there are a number of methods that I have observed that tend to either misrepresent music or shall we say, fail to disclose everything. I could spend an entire issue on this alone but for the sake of brevity, I will just outline some of the things to watch out for that could result in a less than satisfactory transaction.

• Photos: Most auction sellers do include photos now so you at least get some idea of what is for sale. Beware the big stack of music with a few nice ones visible on top. Some sellers will "salt" the pile with a couple of nice ones assuming you will think the entire stack is similar. You will often find that the rest is junk. If you have questions, send them an e-mail. Otherwise, it will be at your own risk.
• Qualifiers: Beware of some of the qualifiers use to sell music. Often they will claim an item is rare when it is far from it. Remember, most of the music printed over the years sold in the millions and, as a result, there are few truly rare ones. Some are scarcer than others, but rare ones are, well, rare!
• Price Gougers: This ties in somewhat to the above issue. There are some sellers who make a good living by inflating prices and claiming rarity when that is not the case. They will often post an item at an inflated price which they hope will make the buyer believe that they have a highly sought after rare item. Usually, that is not the case. There is one seller I have tracked who makes it a practice to price items at $30 or more that can be found elsewhere for $3 . Through the use of clever images and distortions of the truth, he often sells items to the unknowing buyer. This great Casey Jones cover can easily be found for prices from $10 - $25, or even less, yet one seller recently advertised it as a "rare" item and priced it at $99, a pure rip-off artist. Know your sheet music and shop around.
• Some terms to look out for and other tips: There are some words or phrases used in some of the sheet music postings for auction that carry certain words or phrases that are alarm bells for me. Whenever I see them I always have to either laugh or pull back. They are; WOW, MUST SEE, L@@K. Those often indicate some pretty lame covers and more times than not, when you go look at the listing, they are pretty lousy. Another one is; "I don't know anything about sheet music." Right, and neither do I! Folks who use this phrase are often very knowledgeable but they want you to think they have something great and you can get away with something. When you see one of these, check his/her feedback count and you'll probably see that he or she is a very experienced seller. Be careful when you see a listing which says it is a grab bag, unsorted lot, or similar terms. This usually means they have thrown in all the stuff from the junk drawer. Chances are you will get one or two nice ones and the rest will be rubbish.

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