Still the best alternative for the music teacher
Written: Oct 13 '05 (Updated Oct 15 '05)
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Pros: 2-for teacher pricing, extensive selection, low-cost shipping
Cons: recent teacher price increase, low-cost shipping is SLOW
Bottom line: The teacher pricing and selection makes this a great choice for teachers and really for any musician, although you should look around for a better price.
I’ve been ordering music through Sheetmusicplus.com for years, for a number of reasons:
1. Great Selection
They really shine with instrument method books, for all instruments. They list the more popular beginning band books, such as Essential Elements, Yamaha and the Rubank series, for all instruments. In my area, some of the major sheet music stores have closed and the general music stores will stock only what’s popular. Plus, they stock a couple of very obscure books I like to use with my advancing students, Daily Studies For All Saxophones by Trent Kynaston and Foundation Studies by Baermann.
They have an excellent selection of solo material for all band instruments, including for Bass Clarinet. One of my clarinet students switched to Bass Clarinet and I was able to find materials on this site, specifically for Bass Clarinet, that I would not be able to find elsewhere.
I am aware that they have an extensive selection of popular music. I had to find some specific music for a wedding I was providing music for about a year ago and they had everything I needed.
2. Discounts on multiple copies
Most of the method books have a 10% discount for purchases of multiple copies. This is outstanding because the books I listed above are not only hard to find elsewhere but when I do find them are at full retail price. I’m a little disappointed because the 2-for discount until very recently was 15%.
3. Low Cost Shipping
They will ship surface any number of books for $2.99 total per order. That is very good news. The flip side is that it’s REAL slow. They take longer before mailing on this type shipping, much longer than even the lead times on the book say. It’s not uncommon for items to ship a week after the longest lead time book should be in. They can ship faster, if they want. One time, they sent me the wrong book and I got a replacement in less than a week.
More expensive shipping options with quotes for a recent 3 book order include standard, $5.99 for arrival 3 to 7 days after the order is complete; second day air, $9.99; next day air, $19.95.
4. Easy To Use Site
The search function works well, having the options to choose 1 of the following:
Artist
Songbook Title
Song Name
Composer
Composition
Instrument
Methods
Product #
They also have a power search function that permits conditional searches of title and artist. The power search has a help sheet which offers tips. When I want a specific book, it is easy to target. When I want to see what is available for an instrument or type of music, such as “Jazz scales”, I’ll get a fairly large list of items, which I can then narrow, using a search within a search function.
5. Discounts for repeat customers
Each invoice has a coupon good for $1.50 off on a future order within 60 days. It’s not a lot, but every little bit helps.
I choose to pass through books to my students at cost, figuring that they pay for my teaching services. Sometimes, I’ll give a parent a choice between slow and cheap and not as slow and twice as much and they usually agree with me that it’s not worth paying extra for shipping.
For me, it’s not worth the time to go looking for particular music in music stores most of the time if I know what I want. I will browse occasionally if I am not sure, particularly for solo contest material.
That having been said, there are some cons:
1. SLOW shipping
I mentioned this before. My experience is that they process the orders with expedited shipping faster. So, sometimes a kid waits for a while for a book. That’s not an issue for me. I keep a library copy of a lot of the books I assign, so I can loan a copy to a student, if necessary.
2. Descriptions
These are sometimes rather pithy. If you are familiar with what you are getting, it is not a problem. If not, you might have to surf the net to get a more thorough description. There have been a couple of times where I bought a solo book thinking the piano accompaniment part was included and it wasn’t’.
3. Price increase
I’m not pleased that my 15% teacher discount has become 10% in the last week. Still, I’m ordering some books tonight for my students. Only Sheet Music Plus has all the books at a discount.
Checkout is easy and safe. You can pay by credit card through the internet, credit card through the phone for an order entered online, and check or money order, again for an order entered online. They are certified by Verisign and TrustE.
They have a robust safe shopping guarantee against unauthorized charges occurring because of data transacted on their web site. They have a less robust low price guarantee which provides that they will refund the price difference within 30 days of order, if a low price is found in a print ad or a catalog. The internet doesn’t count.
To sum up, their selection and teacher discount meets my needs. The slow, cheap shipping doesn’t bother me. I am a little concerned about a recent price increase, so I will look for better online prices. However, they are likely to continue to be my predominant source of sheet music.
Three stars.
Thanks for reading. God bless!
You might be interested in some of my other music-related reviews:
Being a one man band for fun and profit
My worst gig
What music has helped me learn about myself
My Top Ten Favorite Jazz Albums
Our Favorite Romance Mix
The Soundtrack of my Life
Recommended:
Yes
What product did you purchase or try to purchase? Foundation Studies for Saxophone by Baermann
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About the Author
Member: John Temmerman
Location: near Chicago, Illinois
Reviews written: 697
Trusted by: 352 members
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