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RR 2014/229 Choral Public Domain Library ChoralWiki Community URL: www.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page 1998 Last visited May 2014 Gratis
Keywords Choral music, Electronic media
Review DOI 10.1108/RR-05-2014-0131
The Choral Public Domain Library (CPDL) is an online portal of free downloadable choral music scores, texts and translations. CPDL was founded in 1998 by Rafael Ornes, minister of music at Valley Presbyterian Church in Portola Valley, California. The project was transferred to a Wiki platform in 2005 and became an official tax-exempt charitable organization in May 2010. The goal of the site is to provide users with free, easily accessible choral music that is distributed legally, as well as a platform for discussion within a music-loving community. The Wiki platform of CPDL makes it much more community-oriented than other choral music sites. Scores and texts are contributed by volunteers, many of the site's functions are volunteer-run, and some financial support is generated through donations from the site's users. In keeping with its community focus, CPDL offers a community portal that lists news, events and activities, and a bulletin board made up of forum pages covering topics such as sheet music requests and site operation issues.
New content is constantly being added to the site. At the time of this review, the CPDL includes more than 17,874 music scores, representing works by over 2,372 composers. In addition to making available public domain works, CPDL allows composers to submit their own works and make stipulations on their performance rights. One of the goals of CPDL is to provide access to rare or...