your questions answered
We’ve put together some commonly asked questions to give you more information about the Clarinet Institute and the music we offer.
CHECK YOUR SPAM FOLDER NOW! – We respond to every inquiry. If you wrote to us and didn’t hear back, that’s because our response landed in your spam folder.
Yes — absolutely. All the music on this site is completely legal to share.
Our scores fall into two categories:
New music, shared with the composer’s permission.
Old music, published before 1923 and now in the public domain.
Newer works are under copyright, but the composers have given permission for you to print, play, and perform them — just not sell or redistribute them.
Many of our scores were written or arranged by contemporary composers who generously donated their work. Others come from editions old enough to be copyright-free in nearly all countries. You’re free to download and use them legally — but not to resell or republish them without permission.
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://get2.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 drop down 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.
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 Internet Explorer. We recommend using Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or any browser other than Internet Explorer.
Popup blockers cause all kinds of problems for shopping carts. Try disabling your popup blocker. Here is an article that describes how to do it for most browsers.
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 order doesn’t arrive right away. We are musicians just like you. We want you to get your music!
Your order will likely arrive in a plain business envelope delivered by normal mail delivery. It is easy for these envelopes to get lost in amongst the junk mail flyers that clog our mailboxes. Please sift through your mail carefully.
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 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.
Check to make sure you have the latest version of Adobe Reader installed. You can get it here: https://get.adobe.com/reader/
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 times. 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!
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.
Back it up immediately! Flash drives do not last forever. We warranty our flash drives for 2 weeks after you receive them. That gives you plenty of time to make a back up copy. We do this because flash drives are very sensitive to many different environmental factors that can cause them to fail. We cannot control what you do with your flash drive after you get it, so we cannot guarantee that the flash drive is going to work months later.
We have people write to us saying, “I bought a flash drive six months ago and now it doesn’t work…..” Our response is always the same, “Please access the backup copy you made when you first received the flash drive.”
Check you spam folder! We reply to all emails within 1-2 days of receiving them. Your response is very likely sitting in your spam folder. Spam filters have become very aggressive lately and we have found that a lot of important messages end up there. Check yours now. You may find a lot of important emails!
No. We do not provide purchase orders or W-9 forms. We sell only through the shopping cart on our web site. We don’t make special side deals or volume discounts.
Yes! You may use our music for auditions, festivals, performances and to post online for non-commercial purposes. We have prepared a “Festival Letter” for you to show those who don’t take your word for it. You can see, download, and print it HERE
The short answer is “no.” We don’t insure our archives. Once you download an archive, it is yours and it is your responsibility to back it up properly. We understand that disasters do happen. That’s why we tell our customers to back up everything to at least two different locations. We highly recommend uploading your archives to the cloud. There are lots of free cloud storage options out there.