Want to Publish Your Music? Use Silver Clef Music.

Silver Clef Music is where you want to be. We offer the most generous commission schedule available, but we are selective about our listings, concerning both the “musical value” of our submissions and the professionalism with which they are presented.

This page will give you a summary of our guidelines, with links to pages detailing more explicitly what these guidelines are and how to follow them. There will also be a link through which you can submit your work, once you feel you have met all the guidelines.

Types of Music We Publish

Silver Clef Music was founded principally on band music, specifically music for concert bands and marching bands. We have branched out to include music for band instruments, such as brass quintets, trombone quartets, flute ensembles, clarinet ensembles, etc., and keyboards. However, we are willing to consider just about any kind of music, provided it meets our quality and format guidelines.

Quality Guidelines

We understand quality is usually a subjective thing. Each person has different tastes. That being said, we reserve the right to reject (or return for rewrite) any submissions that in our view do not meet minimum standards for quality and originality.

For example, one of the first submissions we rejected was a brass quintet arrangment of “You’re A Grand Old Flag” done entirely with I, IV and V chords. If you’re considering submitting music, then you should know what that means. Try playing that tune using only those chords and you’ll see why we rejected it.

To meet our quality guidelines, arrangements and original works must have bass lines and accompanying chords (where applicable) that fit appropriately with the principal melody line. Strange is okay. Weird is even okay. Awkward is not okay.

Bottom line, anything we accept must sound good.

To sound good, it must (well, should very probably) follow all the rules of music theory – they are rules for a reason.

As we said, it’s a subjective thing, and it will be our judgement call as to whether a submission meets our musical quality requirements.

Format of Submissions

PDF FORMAT: We require all submissions to be in well-laid-out PDF format. You can find our guidelines for formatting submissions here.

Engraving and PDF Guidelines

AUDIO FILES: Additionally, we believe that potential purchasers will be much more inclined to purchase a work if they can hear it before they buy it. To that end, you should be aware that your submission has a much greater chance of being accepted if you accompany it with either an audio or video where people can hear what it sounds like.

The acceptable ways of submitting these ways for prospective customers to hear the music are, in order of preference:

A link to a well-produced YouTube video of a live performance
A link to a well-produced audio file on SoundCloud of a live performance
A well-produced MP3 audio file of a live performance
A link to an amateur YouTube video of a live performance
An amateur MP3 audio file of a live performance
A computer rendering of the score done through Finale with Garritan Instruments
A computer rendering of the score done through a notation program using MIDI instruments
A MIDI file of the score

Note the higher up that list you go, the more likely your submission is to be accepted, and the more likely it is that a prospective customer will actually buy your work.

PROGRAM NOTES: It will also enhance your chances of your submission being accepted and your work being purchased if you will include some Program Notes about the work and yourself as writer/arranger. Please see our Program Notes page for guidance on this.

Copyright Considerations

You must own the copyright to any work you submit.

This means it must be your original work OR it must be a derivative work (arrangement) of verifiable public domain material OR you must submit documents giving you permission to create a derivative (arrangement) of a copyrighted work, from the copyright administrator of that work.

There will be no exceptions to this requirement.

Author Information

Purchasers frequently like to know some details about the people who write the music they buy.

Therefore, it would also be good if you could make sure you provide us with a headshot photo and a biographical sketch of who you are, your musical career, any awards you have won, and anything else you’d like to share with your potential customers.

Pricing and Commission Structure

You get to set the price on whatever you submit.

If you like, you can give your work away by setting the price as $0.

We suggest a price of under $50 for arrangements or transcriptions you make of others’ work, based on how much effort and creativity you have put into it.

For example, we have a listing of “Alamo March” by Will Huff that does little more than format the march onto concert-sized music instead of march-sized, and homogenize dynamics and articulations. The price on this one is $25.

A different example is our arrangement of Sousa’s “Liberty Bell,” which is specifically arranged to feature a guest bell-ringer, and adds a brand new countermelody in the trio. This one will be listed at $45.

For original works, we suggest a price of $55 and up, depending on length and effort taken to create it.

Whatever price you set, you will receive 70% of the revenue received for all sales of the tune. To receive this rate, you must furnish us with publication-quality PDFs of your work (all scores and all parts) and an audio or video file (or link to such) that we can post on the listing page. Including program notes and bio info will enhance the probabililty of your getting a sale.

At this time, all payments are accepted through PayPal, which charges a small fee for each transaction. Whatever the net receipt is for any sale, you will get 70% of that, and Silver Clef will keep 30% as our administrative fee.

If Silver Clef Music is required to do, or even help you with ANY of the above (PDFs, sound files, program notes, etc.), your royalty payments will decrease from 70%, depending on the amount of work required.

For example, if we have to create a condensed and/or a compressed score, or if we have to reformat any parts according to our Engraving and PDF Guidelines, that will decrease your royalty percentage. For example, if we have to produce or find the audio or video rendition, that would be another reason for altering the royalty schedule. You can maximize your royalty percentage by taking care of as much of making your work publication-ready as possible.

For an explanation of why our base percentage starts at 30%, please see Work Involved In Adding Works to our Catalog.

We do have a limited staff, so the more complete your submission is, the greater the chance we will accept it for publication.

As an example, we have received several submissions of works that did not meet our publication guidelines, and for which the musical quality was not sufficiently high for us to put in the work needed to make it publishable.

Finally, you will receive your payments more quickly if you can furnish us with a PayPal account to which we can transfer the money.

Submission Form

The button below will take you to the form through which you can submit your work.

Silver Clef Music Submission Form

Transpositions Available for Each Part in the ENSEMBLE CONCERT BOOKS SERIES

This chart describes each transposition available for each voice in the Ensemble Concert Books Series, along with a list of most of the instruments that can be appropriate for playing that part. This will give you a good idea of which books to order, based on which instruments you have. The preferred instruments for each part are highlighted in red.

SOPRANO 1:

In C. This part includes both the high octave, suitable for flute, piccolo, and violin, and the low octave, suitable for oboe or brass instruments in C.
In Bb. This part is suitable for trumpets, (soprano) clarinets, and soprano saxophones.
In Eb. This part is suitable for and voiced for the Eb soprano clarinet. It can also be played by an Eb sopranino saxophone. If necessary, it can be played by an alto saxophone, but it will not be in the right register, and it would be good if the alto sax player could play it an octave above the written notes.
In F. This part will be available only on request. Please allow six weeks for us to produce it. It is available in the event that a French horn or F trumpet is the only instrument you have to play this voice, and it will require a horn player with a good high range to play it.

SOPRANO 2:

In C. This part is voiced for oboe and violin. It is possible for a flute to play it as well, but this part will frequently be in the lower range for a flute and therefore might lose some power.
In Bb. This is the part to get for (soprano) clarinets, trumpets, and soprano saxophones.
In Eb. This part is voiced for alto saxophones and alto clarinets. It can also be played by an Eb soprano clarinet, but should be played an octave below the written notes.
In F. For French Horns.
In Alto Clef. For violas. This part is only available on request. Please allow six weeks for production.

ALTO:

In C. For violin, viola, or any other C-pitched instrument playing treble clef n the alto range.
In Bb. For soprano clarinets. It can also be played by a trumpet, as it has higher-octave cue notes for those notes that go below the range of a trumpet. It can also be played by tenor saxophones and treble clef baritone horn, but that player should play an octave above the written notes.
In Eb. For alto saxophones, and alto clarinets.
In F. For French Horns.
In Alto Clef. For violas, and those rare (and strange) trombone players who prefer to read alto clef. This part is only available on request. Please allow six weeks to produce it.
In Bass Clef. For trombones and baritone B.C. players. This part will usually be in the higher end of the range of these players, but not uncomfortably so.

TENOR:

In Bb. This is for tenor saxophones and baritone horns who play treble clef.
In Eb. This can be played by alto saxophones, although it will be somewhat low in their register.
In F. For French Horns. This is not the preferred instrument for this part, but they CAN play it.
In Tenor Clef. For violas, and others who prefer tenor clef. This part is only available on request. Please allow six weeks to produce it.
In Bass Clef. For trombones, baritone horns, and cellos. It can also be played by bassoons when needed.

BASS:

In Bb. For Bass clarinet and contra-bass clarinet. Also for Bass Saxophone and brass band type tuba/bass players who read Bb treble clef bass parts.
In Eb. For baritone saxophones and Eb Contra-alto Clarinets.
In F. For experienced horn players only. This part is only available on request. Please allow six weeks to produce it.
In Bass Clef - High. For string bass players.
In Bass Clef - Low - for tubas and bassoons.

MISCELLANEOUS PARTS:

Piano. If you cannot fill in all five other parts, adding a piano player may give you all the extra harmony notes you need.
Drum Set. While not required, adding a drum set to your performances, especially when you are using ten or more players, will definitely enhance the presentation.

Submissions

Want to Publish Your Music? Use Silver Clef Music.

Types of Music We Publish

Quality Guidelines

Format of Submissions

Copyright Considerations

Author Information

Pricing and Commission Structure

Submission Form

Like this:

Transpositions Available for Each Part in the ENSEMBLE CONCERT BOOKS SERIES

What is a VIRTUAL CONCERT?

And how do we make one?

Submissions

Want to Publish Your Music? Use Silver Clef Music.

Types of Music We Publish

Quality Guidelines

Format of Submissions

Copyright Considerations

Author Information

Pricing and Commission Structure

Submission Form

Share this:

Like this:

Transpositions Available for Each Part in the ENSEMBLE CONCERT BOOKS SERIES

What is a VIRTUAL CONCERT?

And how do we make one?