The "Downloadable" Gonzales

Chilly Gonzales has made practically every song from Solo Piano Notebooks 1 & 2 available online. That’s a total of 33 songs to download, print and start playing within minutes! There are a few options for downloading and using the sheet music; here a short guide.

A Gonzales update email in December hinted at downloadable versions of Solo Piano music, and on Dec 22, Chilly Gonzales confirmed it:

Solo Piano I and II sheet music is now downloadable! sheetmusicdirect.com/Search/gsearch…

— chilly gonzales (@chillygonzales) December 22, 2012

We’ve run through the sheet music purchase process on a PC, Mac, and iPad, and (although very straightforward), a brief FAQ is warranted:

Where is the sheet music available from?
From a company called Sheet Music Direct. From their “About” page:

“Sheet Music Direct® is a digital download site for sheet music. Here musicians can view sheet music on screen, interact with it, then buy and print it out for later use without leaving their chair. This site is an official, authorized, and licensed service; every sale generates a royalty for the relevant publishers and songwriters.”

Can I buy individual songs?
Yes! Actually, that’s the only way to purchase the songs as there isn’t a ‘Notebook’ of all the songs available per se.

What equipment do I need?
You require a computer that can install the “Scorch” plugin, and/or an iPad. From the Scorch website:

_System requirements

Windows: Windows XP SP2, Windows Vista 32-bit or Windows 7 32-bit or 64-bit, Internet Explorer 7 or later, Mozilla Firefox, 20MB hard disk space.

Mac OS X: Mac OS X 10.4.11, Mac OS X 10.5.8 or Mac OS X 10.6.8, Mac OS X 10.7 or later, Safari 5.0.6 or earlier (32-bit mode required on Mac OS X 10.6; not compatible with Safari 5.1 or later on Mac OS X 10.6 or Mac OS X 10.7), Mozilla Firefox 4 or later (32-bit mode required), 20MB hard disk space. Not currently compatible with Google Chrome.

What if I don’t meet the system requirements?
95% of computers run either Windows or OSX. If you don’t have Firefox, it’s not a big deal to download and install, plus it’s a great browser.
If you aren’t running Windows or OSX, someone you know must!

What is “Scorch”?
From the “About” page on the Scorch website:

Scorch is the free software which lets you view, play, customize and print Sibelius scores on the Internet.
• Scorch makes scores interactive
• Top print quality
• Scores download in moments

Note that you have to see the Scorch toolbar above the Score in order to ensure that you can view and print scores. You may have to refresh the web page after the plugin is installed. Here’s what it looks like:

How long does it take to buy a song?
If this is your first purchase from Sheet Music Direct, you will have to install the Scorch plug-in, which takes about 5 minutes to download and install (no restart required). After that, you create a userid and then purchase sheet music. Subsequent purchases take less than a minute.

Can I print the sheet music?
Yes, but after downloading the Scorch plugin, please run a test print of any preview (it will print a single page with a watermark) to ensure your printer is compatible for sheet music printing.

What about iPad support?
Sheet Music Direct has a free iPad application where you can purchase and view scores. You can’t print from the iPad, but you can open any purchases you made on the iPad in a browser on a PC for printing. Purchases on the iPad are processed as in-app purchases. As a bonus, the iPad version comes with 15 sample scores pre-loaded.

What about Android devices?
Currently, there is no Android application available from Sheet Music Direct.

Can I pay with PayPal?
Apart from in-app purchases on the iPad, the Sheet Music Direct website accepts Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover.

You said “practically” every song – what’s missing?
“One Evening”, from Solo Piano Notebook II. Presumably due to clearance issues because it was co-written with Feist.

Did you purchase Gonzales’ online sheet music? Should I buy the notebooks instead?
We did purchase sheet music, and the entire process is simple and convenient – even more so for subsequent purchases. If you want a few key songs, or if you ordered the Notebooks but can’t wait to start playing your favourite song, the online versions are great. The notebooks are beautifully printed and contain write-ups, images, and other goodies, but the downloadable versions are convenient and off the instant gratification scale!