This is the download page for Nerstrand Music Publications. Our mission is to provide high quality editions of standard organ repertoire unhindered by the usual restrictions of copyright. Each edition is based on an out-of-copyright source, and has been re-engraved and re-edited to incorporate modern notational conventions and to add any important changes based on current scholarship. While some editions do include editorial commentary, our goal is to provide a basic edition for those learning the repertoire as well as for use in worship, rather than a scholarly reference.

Except as noted, all publications are available under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA 3.0 license and can be freely shared and copied for personal, commercial, or worship use. See the Creative Commons website for license details.

Downloads are in PDF format. Lilypond source files are attached to each download and can be used if you wish to reformat, transpose, or otherwise modify these files. See the Lilypond web site for more information about this free, open-source music engraving program, or to download.

You may find the free PDF toolkit useful for extracting and rearranging pages to create a single PDF with the pieces you want. You can also use the PDF toolkit to extract the Lilypond attachments. You may wish to review our page on how to create your own practice book with music from various sources.

Finally, we have a page of print resources that lists commercial print publications we recommend, and some other web sites of interest.

Condition of scores

Since this is a volunteer project, we have limited resources available for editing and proofreading. The scores here are evolving, and do not yet meet the high standards for quality we have established for ourselves.

Scores marked Prepublication Draft have fewer than one error per 10 pages of music, but may lack cover pages, introductions, thematic indexes, and editorial notes and may not have final page layout. Scores marked Early Draft with errors typically have one or two errors per page, usually in octavation, accidentals, or ornamentation.

If you find a mistake in a prepublication draft or a published score, please let us know. Please specify piece and measure number, and if the error is not obvious, the source you used to determine the correct note(s). If you wish to become involved in editing early drafts, please contact us for details. In general we work from paper markup sheets at this point and may already be aware of any errors you might wish to report.

Formats

Letter downloads are formatted for 8.5x11" paper for U.S., Canada, and Mexico.

A4 downloads are formatted for the A4 paper used in most other places.

Landscape downloads are formatted for 14" wide by 10" high paper. In general, it will be necessary to cut down larger stock after printing to attain this size, which many consider the largest practical size for use on the organ console.

Red note downloads are formatted for 8.5x11" paper and show the pedal notes in red rather than using a separate staff. This technique was not uncommon for early manuscripts, since it saved paper, but fell out of favor when music began to be printed mechanically. We offer it for organists who like to experiment and who have a color printer at hand.

Alto clef downloads are formatted for 8.5x11" paper and utilize the alto clef where appropriate to reduce use of leger lines

Printing recommendations

We recommend the use of 70 pound offset paper and coil binding if you print out more than a few pages. Most print shops have this paper in stock and will provide coil binding for a nominal charge. 70 pound offset will sit straight on the music desk and will withstand erasures better than economy paper.