Zuyd Library and Conservatorium Maastricht have reached an agreement with the nkoda sheet music streaming service. As of December 2020 students and staff will have free access to a huge collection of digital sheet music.
About nkoda
nkoda is the Spotify of sheet music with access to over 100,000 titles from the world’s leading music publishers. It is a streaming service, to use the sheet music you have to install the nkoda app on your mobile, tablet or any other computing device.
How to get free access?
As of December 2020 you will find nkoda for Conservatorium Maastricht in Zuyd Library’s ’Databases A-Z list’. To get free access you have to create an individual nkoda account via a unique one-time link that you can request via this form. The unique, personal link will be sent to you by email; then proceed with the steps as indicated in the "Creating your free nkoda account" box at this page.
Student findings
Last June members of the Conservatorium Maastricht Student Council tested ‘nkoda’.
Some of their findings:
Pros
“It would be useful to have nkoda alongside the physical scores of the Conservatorium so that I can compare score editions and build up a potential repertoire online, even when the library is closed.”
“The size and scope of the nkoda library is impressive; for students who regularly wish to view a large number of scores it is extremely handy. This would include all instrumentalists, but also conductors, composers, music theorists.”
“(..) the ease of access is a huge asset and the availability of multiple high-quality editions/urtexts is a big plus.”
“There is also a large amount of jazz, film and musical theatre music. It’s very easy to take notes on the scores.”
“Users can use this immense library for different purposes: Theory lessons, instrumental lessons, listening to orchestral works and studying orchestral parts.”
“It’s very helpful that beside all the parts you have access to the full score without having to carry heavy and big scores.”
Cons
“On laptops/desktops the experience is very much subpar compared to on say an iPad.”
“It’s not possible to print. When you would like to make a screenshot you are blocked after three times. Understandable of course, but this makes it less attractive to use during main subject lessons, masterclasses and performances because these are notes you want to save.”
“For playing music, I would not prefer to use nkoda over printed sheet music. For theory classes like History and Analysis, it could be a very useful tool that would reduce the amount of scores that need to be printed out for only one time use.”
“I would definitely prefer to use forScore in performances because it is more stable and reliable. But in the practice room nkoda is extremely useful for things like sight reading and looking for repertoire.”
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