JamesGilbertMusic.com FAQ

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See our Terms of Use page for details.

Tell me a bit about the website?

We are a web-based sheet-music and mp3 publisher. The music catalog represents a variety of compositions, arrangements and MP3 audio files. In addition to the titles available for purchase, there are several free titles available. Visit the Music Catalog to see the sheet-music and mp3 files.
We also provide information for anyone in the Ocala, Micanopy, and Gainesville area who might be interested in learning to play the piano. Please see the Piano Lessons page for questions about piano lessons.
If you are in need of typesetting, arranging, composing or recording services, please contact us for details.
We also have a section of used music (Used Music) that contains a variety of music no longer in print.

Who composed, arranged or recorded the music on your website?

The majority of the sheet-music was either composed, arranged or recorded by James Gilbert, the founder of the website. The remaining titles were produced by several artists. Read more about them and find out how to Submit your music for consideration for publication.

When I order a piece of music or MP3 from the main catalog, in what form will the music be? Do I need to purchase multiple copies of non-keyboard or non-orchestral music?

Our sheet-music titles are available for immediate download in the PDF format. If you own a MusicPadPro, we have several titles available in that format and we are happy to custom provide all of our titles in the MP format for no additional cost -- just ask us.

For music requiring multiple copies in order to be performed (eg. Handbells, Choral, Piano trios, Chimes, etc.), you need only purchase one copy. We make available a letter of permission that allows you to print out as many copies as you need for performance by your group only.

All of the MP3 audio files available for purchase are in MP3 format. They are the highest quality that the MP3 format allows for. If you are interested in purchasing WAV or FLAC files of any of the mp3 titles, let us know and we can make them available at no additional cost.

All of our used music is in traditional printed sheet-music format and will be mailed to you. Details about used music is available on the used music page.

Can you explain about the PDF format and how you provide music in that form?

The PDF format (sometimes called Adobe Acrobat format) is an industry standard documentation presentation method and is used by millions of websites to display content every day. The sheet-music is optimized for printing and looks great when printed. The printed quality is only limited by the quality of your printer.

Can you explain about the MP (MusicPad) format and how you provide music in that form?

The MusicPad pro is an electronic music display unit available from various sources. It is an excellent way to view and store your music library. If there are any titles not in the MP format that you would like, drop us a note and we will make them available at no additional cost.

Can you explain about the MP3 (Audio) format and how you provide music in that form?

The MP3 files are audio recordings just like you might use in an mp3 player or play on your computer. The full length, audio mp3 files available for sale are high-quality mp3 files.
The audio samples linked to on the description pages of our sheet-music and audio mp3 files are only samples and are lower quality mp3 files than the full length audio mp3 files. You may hear some loss of quality in the sample audio files. The full MP3 files you purchase are of the highest quality allowed for by the MP3 format. We can make audio files available in WAV or other higher quality files at no additional cost, just ask.

How do I obtain any of this music?

You can obtain MP3, PDF & MP music by adding it to your shopping cart in the Music Catalog. Once you have an item in your shopping cart, a link to your cart will appear. When you are ready to checkout, follow that link and the instructions that follow.
For used music, go to the used music page and add to your cart the titles you wish to purchase. Once you are done, click on the view cart button at the top of the page and follow the instructions.

What is your privacy policy?

We do collect personal information as it is necessary to process your order, respond to your inquiries, discuss your order or other communication with you and collect payment. All information you provide is considered confidential and is not made available to anyone else outside of JamesGilbertMusic.com unless legally compelled to do so. No information is stored on this website and cannot be accessed via the internet. We use your information to process and deliver orders, to respond to your inquires and provide you information. We only use cookies if you have them turned on. They are used to keep track of your shopping cart but only while you are online. Cookies disappear when you close your browser. Please note that online payments are processed by another company which has its own privacy policy - available to read during checkout.

What software do you use to enter the music into the computer?

We use a variety of notation software to typeset our music and make recordings. Sibelius, Finale, Reaper and other programs are just some of the long list of software that goes into producing the sheet-music and recordings you find on the site.

You mention that some music is sold with a letter of permission. Would you explain?

In purchasing music from traditional print music publishers, you typically would buy as many copies as needed for the group. However, at this site, for pieces requiring multiple copies, you download a single file and then with the letter of permission, print as many copies as needed for your group. The letter is available here: Copyright Letter.

I really am looking for xxxx type of arrangement or an arrangement of yyyy but I can't find it and you don't carry it. Can you write an arrangement for me?

Yes we can, just use the contact form and ask us. As to how long that might take and how much it might cost, that would depend on the nature of the request. But, our prices are reasonable.

I am having problems downloading my music. Sometimes it seems to baffle logic. Can you help?

If you paid for an order and never saw a way to download your order, you are not the first this happened to. There was a link on the PayPal page that redirects one back to this site to download. Apparently the link is not as obvious as we would like and you probably didn't see it to click on. With every order we send a confirmation email that includes a link to the download page. If that doesn't get to you within 36 hours, check your spam filters to allow mail from us to come through, then send us a message via the contact form (or the email address provided during the order process) and we will send you a link where you can download your music.
We have also encountered some situations where various combinations of events beyond our control have conspired to make it difficult to download order music. Here is a checklist that we've put together that might help:

1. Do you have Adobe Acrobat (version 5.0 or better) installed? Go no further until you do have it installed. We recommend the latest version of whatever software you use.
2. See if your browser has security options that can be changed. (For Internet Explorer go to Tools->Internet Options->Security and look at the options available). Some of these settings may make it impossible to use our site. Consider marking us as a trusted site.
3. On the download your music now page do you see the titles of the various pieces you've ordered along with a 'Download' button to the right of each title? If not, you aren't on the right page for downloading music or you have nothing to download (eg. special orders).
4. When you do a mouse click on the 'Download' button, *EXACTLY* what happens? What do you see? You should be prompted to either open or save the file. In some cases the music is automatically loaded into your browser and you will need to save the file from there. If none of these things happen, make sure the other tips listed here have been considered.
5. If a completely different web page comes up, what is the address shown in the address bar of your browser? If index.php comes up, please use the contact form to let us know.
6. Are you on a local area network and behind a firewall? If so, contact your system administrator.
7. Do you have a personal, non-network firewall installed? If so, try adjusting its settings or temporarily disabling it.
8. Do you have any anti-virus software installed that might be blocking downloads from web sites? If so, turn off those options that are blocking the downloads.
9. Are you using an internet provider that likes to add its own content inside your web browser, such as a logo or ad at the top, just above our own logo? Are you using a proprietary viewer? Are you viewing the site inside a frame, perhaps via a search engine? If so, you need to break out of the frames and view *just* our website. Usually typing in the web address into the browser will do this. We've tried to design the web pages so they will eventually break out of the frames, but sometimes the internet providers find ways to work around this. If you are stuck viewing within a frame or some other proprietary method your provider uses, it is possible that you may not be able to properly use this web site. If you do have problems with the ordering or downloading process and you are sure it is not your problem or ours, please complain fiercely to your internet provider as there is nothing we can do.
10. You've tried everything above and you still can't get the downloads to work? Use the contact form to let us know and we'll see what can be done to get your music to you.

I am buying for a church or school and need to be invoiced and/or need to see a printed catalog. What do I do? I don't trust PayPal or don't have a credit card.

Use the contact form and we will provide you with all the the information you need to be invoiced.
PayPal really is safe and even if you don't have a PayPal account, you can still purchase music using a credit card at the PayPal site and not have to become a member

Why all the advertisements on the website?

I'm not a fan of advertisements either, but it is a necessary evil. Having advertisements on the website helps allow us to continue to provide the quality website and content at a reasonable price to you. As to the details that some have asked, the advertisements are typical internet advertisements. When a person visits the website, they see the advertisements. If they are interested in the product or subject mentioned in the advertisement, they click on it and find out more. As is public information and general knowledge, when the user clicks on it, the website makes a little bit of money. If people don't click on them, the website doesn't make money.

I think I've written the next great [fill in the blank] but my handwritten music is terrible looking. Nobody can read it.

I wrote a great piece of music, spent a lot of money on music notation software, spent even more time trying to learn how to use it and even more time entering my music into the program. I printed it out and thought it looked good. I gave to the instrumentalists and they laughed at all the typesetting mistakes and, according to them, generally bad layout of the music.

I know how to typeset music but all the money and time I'd have to spend on doing it myself isn't worth it.

Can you help?

YES AND YES. If you have any music, whether it is handwritten or done using a notation software's default settings (which is not good enough for most musicians), then you need to let someone else typeset it for you. We will take your handwritten music or a printout of your music and professionally typeset it so that everyone will think it came from a big name publisher. (It is possible that a few of the most critical nitpickers (is that a word?) will not like it, but then again, they probably wouldn't like it if it did come from a major publisher). We can even take your midi files and convert them to standard notation (including guitar TAB if you so desire). Use the Contact page to request a quote. It isn't as expensive as you might think.

Do you have any questions? Feel free to ask them by using our contact us link.

To see some information about the founder of this site, please Visit this page.