Frequently Asked Questions
Is this really legal?
Yes! This site is completely legal! The editions of music presented on this site were either
- written recently and published here with permission of the author, or
- published long enough ago, so their copyright has expired.
We can therefore copy them and distribute them freely. Many pieces are covered by copyright, however. The copyright owners give permission for you to print, play and perform the music, but not to sell or distribute the music.
Many of our scores were either written or arranged by modern composers who have donated their music to the Clarinet Institute. Others featured in this archive are from pre-1923 music editions. These are all old enough to be out of copyright in essentially all countries. We can therefore distribute them on-line without royalty, and users can legally download them. They may not be distributed or sold.
There are also many works by Clarinet Institute arrangers and composers. These are under copyright and may not be distributed without our permission.
- written recently and published here with permission of the author, or
- published long enough ago, so their copyright has expired.
We can therefore copy them and distribute them freely. Many pieces are covered by copyright, however. The copyright owners give permission for you to print, play and perform the music, but not to sell or distribute the music.
Many of our scores were either written or arranged by modern composers who have donated their music to the Clarinet Institute. Others featured in this archive are from pre-1923 music editions. These are all old enough to be out of copyright in essentially all countries. We can therefore distribute them on-line without royalty, and users can legally download them. They may not be distributed or sold.
There are also many works by Clarinet Institute arrangers and composers. These are under copyright and may not be distributed without our permission.
help! my disk won't play!
There are many potential reasons why your disk may not work. First of all, please understand that our disks are all digital copies and we check each disk for readability before we send it out. It is very unlikely that you received a "bad" disk. Here are some things to consider that may solve your problem:
1. If you tried to play your disk in a standard CD player or a video DVD player, it won't work. Our disks are data disks. They are designed to work with your computer.
2. While some of our disks are on CD's, many are on DVD's. All computers produced in the past 5 years have disk drives that can read both CD's and DVD's. If you have an older computer, you may have a disk drive that cannot read a DVD. If you suspect this is the case, try loading a video DVD in your disk drive to see if it plays. If you have a really old computer (and can't bring yourself to throw it out the window and get a new one) please write to us and we can recommend a low cost external DVD disk player.
3. Try taking the disk to a library or a friend's computer and see if it plays. If it does, you may have some technical problems with your computer.
1. If you tried to play your disk in a standard CD player or a video DVD player, it won't work. Our disks are data disks. They are designed to work with your computer.
2. While some of our disks are on CD's, many are on DVD's. All computers produced in the past 5 years have disk drives that can read both CD's and DVD's. If you have an older computer, you may have a disk drive that cannot read a DVD. If you suspect this is the case, try loading a video DVD in your disk drive to see if it plays. If you have a really old computer (and can't bring yourself to throw it out the window and get a new one) please write to us and we can recommend a low cost external DVD disk player.
3. Try taking the disk to a library or a friend's computer and see if it plays. If it does, you may have some technical problems with your computer.
my disk won't print. what's going on?
Whether you have a mac or a pc, you will need the latest version of Adobe Reader. It is a free program and safe for all computers to use. You can get it here: https://get.adobe.com/reader/
After you have the latest version of Adobe Reader installed, you may still have problems printing the right size. That's because our library consists of scans of music of all shapes and sizes. Also, the U.S. uses "letter" size paper and Europe uses "A4" paper. With all these different sizes, there are bound to be (small) problems.
When you click on "print," a box will open that has various options to select. These are determined by your printer's driver. Look through the box for "scaling." Every printer we have encountered has a "scaling" option, so yours' should have either that or something similar.
There will be a dropdown box where you can make a selection. Most common options are "none," "shrink to printable area," and "fit to printable area." Play around with these settings to find the one that is right for you. We prefer using "fit to printable area" for our printer.
After you have the latest version of Adobe Reader installed, you may still have problems printing the right size. That's because our library consists of scans of music of all shapes and sizes. Also, the U.S. uses "letter" size paper and Europe uses "A4" paper. With all these different sizes, there are bound to be (small) problems.
When you click on "print," a box will open that has various options to select. These are determined by your printer's driver. Look through the box for "scaling." Every printer we have encountered has a "scaling" option, so yours' should have either that or something similar.
There will be a dropdown box where you can make a selection. Most common options are "none," "shrink to printable area," and "fit to printable area." Play around with these settings to find the one that is right for you. We prefer using "fit to printable area" for our printer.
I am unable to check out / my shopping cart doesn't work right
A full cache can effect how any store's shopping cart works. Clearing out your browser's cache can fix shopping cart and checkout problems. If you don't know how to clear your browser's cache, check out these instructions.
If you are having trouble checking out with PayPal, you are not alone! Here is a site that may help you with PayPal headaches.
An older version of Internet Explorer may also effect how shopping carts work. Microsoft no longer supports older versions of Internet Explorer. We recommend updating Internet Explorer to its latest version. Better still, we recommend using Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or any browser other than Internet Explorer.
If you are having trouble checking out with PayPal, you are not alone! Here is a site that may help you with PayPal headaches.
An older version of Internet Explorer may also effect how shopping carts work. Microsoft no longer supports older versions of Internet Explorer. We recommend updating Internet Explorer to its latest version. Better still, we recommend using Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or any browser other than Internet Explorer.
I ordered a disk but it hasn't arrived. where is it?
It can take anywhere from 3 to 20 days for mail delivery in the United States. We don't know why there is this huge variation. Chalk that one up to the mysteries of the post office. Don't panic if your disk doesn't arrive right away. We are musicians just like you. We want you to get your music!
If you are worried about your order, please write to us. We always respond to messages within one or two days. If you don't hear from us, please check your spam folder. Lots of important mail ends up in our spam folders and your spam filter is probably at least as aggressive as ours.
Mail outside the U.S. takes anywhere from 6 to 25 days from delivery. We deliver our packages directly to the main postal facility in Los Angeles the day after you place your order. After that, it takes a few days to actually get shipped to your country. Then it sits in your country's customs department awaiting processing. Most of the time it gets processed quickly. However, sometimes the mail gets backed up and it takes longer.
If you are worried about your order, please write to us. We always respond to messages within one or two days. If you don't hear from us, please check your spam folder. Lots of important mail ends up in our spam folders and your spam filter is probably at least as aggressive as ours.
Mail outside the U.S. takes anywhere from 6 to 25 days from delivery. We deliver our packages directly to the main postal facility in Los Angeles the day after you place your order. After that, it takes a few days to actually get shipped to your country. Then it sits in your country's customs department awaiting processing. Most of the time it gets processed quickly. However, sometimes the mail gets backed up and it takes longer.
I downloaded a piece, but it won't open!
Check to make sure you have the latest version of Adobe Reader installed. You can get it here: https://get.adobe.com/reader/
help! my flash drive won't play!
Dirt, dust and gunk floats around in the air and eventually it will all land on the connections in your USB port. Try plugging and unplugging the flash drive into the port several time. This will scrape it up a bit and remove some of the gunk, allowing that all-important connection to be made. If that doesn't work, try it on a friend's computer. If THAT doesn't work, then contact us. We are here to help!
My flash drive looks strange and it doesn't fit in my usb port!
Most flash drives that people generally see have a little band of metal around the part that plugs into the computer. Our flash drives are exactly the same as every other flash drive except they don't have that little band of metal. We figure that it serves no real purpose and can get bent during shipping, so we don't include it. If the flash drive doesn't fit into your USB port, just flip it around and try it again. Take a good look at the USB port on your computer and you can see how the flash drive fits.
Why don't you offer the archives for download?
We had the same idea a short time ago! We tried it out for awhile, but it didn't work. Our archive files are truly enormous, so downloading them requires a long wait even at fast speeds. Any interruption in the connection causes the download to fail. Because we have no way of controlling what happens on your end of the connection, there is no way that we can guarantee that the download will work. In short, the vast majority of attempted downloads failed and it was a mess for everyone.