Frequently asked questions

What is wikipiano?

Wikipiano was launched in September 2008 with the aim of indexing as many piano scores as possible. It also aims to be an archive with free music lessons and piano recordings, covering any style, at various levels of difficulty.

The sheet music and audio files in Wikipiano should belong to the Public Domain or should be created under a Creative Commons license - to respect their copyright , while at the same time trying to make the music learning and training accessible to everyone.

Free scores, audio and video listed by composer - title.

The music lessons aim to cover theory, techniques, tips and tricks for playing piano and often they will be based on the analysis of a particular piece of music or a given genre.

Music lessons.

Wikipiano is a "wiki" website, it is based on collaboration between its members, which can add or edit content in the archive. The authors of each contribution is credited and their pages are rated by the community.
Users can also exchange musical ideas, recommend music, offer private tuition or otherwise interact through our forum.

Wikipiano is also a tool for promoting new artists. We encourage members to submit their own compositions and listen to the work of new musicians.

How can I contribute?

If you would like to contribute to this wiki, you should Join this site. (Your account and all wikipiano services are free.)

  • Add a page in the music archive.
    • Fill the dialogue box after Add sheet music (at the left of the page) with the Artist - Title of the piece of music, and click new score.
    • Then you can include a link to the score, a preview of it, a recording, video or simply a musical analysis. There is a template of the page by default, so filling it shouldn't be too difficult. The wiki syntax is explain here.
  • Add a music lesson
    • Fill the dialogue box after Create music lesson with the title of the lesson and click new lesson.
    • Write your lesson or include a link to it if it is already written in another site.
  • Edit any of the existing pages
    • Complete them. Click Edit at the bottom of the page.
    • Correct them. It is particularly important to help us check that we are not infringing Copyright. If you have doubts, don't feel afraid to ask at the forum thread dedicated to copyright violations.

Can I upload scores/recordings to wikipiano?

Yes you can, just click Files at the bottom of the page and attach the files. (We have only 300MB of space at the moment, but it can be upgraded if required.) Alternatively you could upload them in a different site and include a link to them here. An advise: try Scribd for the scores, it is easy to use and it creates a preview of the document for many different file formats (we like previews at wikipiano…)

What kind of scores/recordings can be included (linked to) in wikipiano?

This page gives an introduction to contributing scores by the sheet music project IMSPL. The principles here are the same: the scores must be licensed as Public Domain, Creative Commons or otherwise free-content. Music published over 75 years old is no longer under copyright whatsoever and is now in the public domain. That's a hard and fast rule you CAN apply.
Apart from the license, there is no restrictions, in style, difficulty or file format.

How should I scan a music score?

Tips given by ISMPL on how to obtain the best scans:

Also you may want to read this guide to sharing documents.

How can I embed audio in a page of Wikipiano?

You need to upload the audio (click Files at the bottom of the page and attach the file) and follow these instructions to embed it.

Alternatively you may host the audio in odeo.com and embed it here using the wiki syntax.