As a beginner-intermediate flautist, I find great satisfaction in sight reading a song I recognize and practicing until the notes sound like the songs I hear on my playlist. Sometimes, the melody comes immediately (like in “One Last Time” by Ariana Grande), other times I am breaking every bar down note-by-note until I no longer tumble over my own fingers (“my boy” by Billie Eilish took some getting used to the accidentals — the notes that don’t match the stated key).
So, where can you find modern day sheet music online easily? I want to be able to play radio songs or mainstream music I recognize more often than a pretty longform classical piece. Sure, finding royalty free compositions from long gone composers can be found online for personal and public playing, but if you feel like mixing your next practice session up, here are some websites you can find free flute sheet music from the last few decades. The first two websites mostly share the musical notes spelled out. Personally, I find reading sheet music easier but I am pushing myself to play music written out this way as well as it is a good practice for melody mapping.
Transposing music is a 2024 goal of mine!
The good news is a lot of sheet music sellers offer the first few pages via the demo window so you are able to catch the melody for the songs, or at least the key to figure out the rest of the notes should you decide to practice dictating your own sheet music. I particularly like how Billie Eilish and Ariana Grande’s songs sound in their flute version.
Five good online resources to find free modern flute music online
Fluter’s Music
This is a blogspot run by a flautist who figures out the key of popular songs then writes the notes out. If you need actual sheet music, some songs like Ariana Grande’s “One Last Time” are available. Poking around the website you can find more sheet music throughout. Looks like the website was updated end of January and added songs such as “Feather” by Sabrina Carpenter, “One of Your Girls” by Troye Sivan, and “Single Soon” by Selena Gomez. Glad this website is still active into 2024!
Ultimate Flute Notes
Although it’s been six years since its last update, Ultimate Flute Notes is a good resource for popular songs from 2012 – 2017. The website states the musical notes (without the sheet music).
Flute Cafe Music
This blogspot website has lots of modern sheet music and Flute Cafe Music’s YouTube account even has karaoke/backing tracks to play alongside!
YouTube Account “Andrew Weaver“
This is a great resource as the video descriptions include a Google Drive link to access hundreds of songs’ sheet music (for multiple instruments!) from the past twenty years.
Facebook Account “JawJX“
There’s a mix of a lot in here. Mitski, Blink182, Arctic Monkeys, too many to list. I even found some Clairo flute sheet music!
Where do you find your niche sheet music? Do you transpose your own flute arrangements? Share your flute knowledge in the comments with fellow flautists. Music doesn’t have to be boring.
Catsup Magazine does not sponsor nor receive compensation from any of the entities listed above. Just a flautist sharing resources. 🙂
