Here you can download a free copy of the Open Arban Book. Please visit the openArbanProject website or github for more information.

The aim of the openArbanProject is the creation of sheet music in a format that musicians, teachers and students can use for playing, creating their own editions and sharing with others. A huge amount of the music that we use day to day for practise and teaching is public domain music that has been reproduced for profit by large publishing companies. People make money from small edits such as adding dynamics and articulations to music, and then adding copyright to someone else’s work. Often these edits aren’t even historically accurate – something that students don’t learn because they are not being actively encouraged to research and interpret the music themselves.

Unfortunately there is a culture online to pirate music publications and generally the only reason for doing so is that public domain copies are not easily available in a format that is clear to read. The openArbanProject aims to make a dent in this culture by creating and sharing music in both PDF and lilypond formats so that musicians are empowered to create, learn and share.