How to sing along with music*.

I have gathered a collection of CDs over the past few years.  I have ripped them, mostly into mp3 files, so that I can play the tracks on any of my personal computers.  I have a Mac laptop, two Ubuntu Linux desktops, and two Androids - one a tablet and one a mobile phone.  When I'm driving, I can play the music from one of the Androids, for example.

I have a limited selection, of course.  At present, I have over just over five days of tracks: 5d 4h 21m, of which 4d 10h 16m are in the classical categories (Renaissance, Opera, Classical).  Since I have all of these ripped to my device, I can play them anywhere with no radio (cell, WiFi) service.  All I need are headphones.

However, when sitting at home, just listening is often not enough.  I have several operas, and, as is now common live, I sometimes like to follow the vocalized text.  It is useful to have the original so that I can use a browser to scan for the text that I hear when I have been distracted or when I start in the middle.  There are several places on the web to find librettos in the original language with translations into English.

With other classical works, such as the Brandenburg Concertos, I like to hum along or to follow Bach's fantastic bass lines.  Since I haven't played an instrument in more than 30 years, the manual dexterity has long gone.  Violin parts are usually 'way beyond me.  Did I really play recorder 2 in Brandenburg IV (only a practice session)?  That's also beyond me now.  I no longer have a double bass, so I can't play along anyway.  I still have a piano, but I was never any good - I used it mainly to play vocal lines to rehearse for choral ensembles and solos.

Note that I still have vocal scores for some choral works, so I can sing along with the Messiah, Creation, Verdi Requiem, etc., but I have found wonderful resources that have downloadable scores to allow me to follow any piece of music I choose.

The first is for singing groups.  It must be a wonderful boon for choirmasters today.  ChoralWiki (https://www.cpdl.org/wiki/) was created in 2005 and has more than 30,000 works from more than 3,000 composers.  I remember looking for a setting of "Innsbruck, ich muss dich lassen" for a small casual group I directed when I was in Germany in the early 1970s.  It proved impossible.  Today, a search of ChoralWiki provides at least 15 hits.  What a wonderful resource, which I had no idea existed!

The second is more general.  The International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP) or Petrucci Music Library (https://imslp.org/wiki/Main_Page) has a huge volume of music scores.  It was created in 2006.  Today, it claims to have more than 500,000 scores from nearly 20,000 different composers, plus recordings of many of the works.  "The library consists mainly of scans of old musical editions out of copyright," but it also has a collaborative license for modern works.  I was able to download the scores for the Brandenburgs and enjoy listening to them while scrolling through the score, singing along as the mood took me.  Again, I had no idea that this existed.

Gareth Hunt, (updated) 17 April 2020

* For classical music, I mean.  I don't feel the need for text or scores for other styles that I have played and sung (Broadway musicals, blue grass) or others that I listen to (folk, jazz, etc.).