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Is there a computer programme that I can use to play my PDFs so that I can listen to them before I actualy start learning the music on my piano .

No, there isn't, as far as I'm aware. That would be what youtube does more or less, if you find the right youtube vids with scores in the video...

A PDF file is not playable... Especially some PDF you may have found anywhere...

Ok is there a programme that can convert PDF music into a midi file .

There are some OCR programs for music, but they do not work particularly well.

Nope, there's none to do a proper work. There's one program which could translate AUDIO to MIDI, but not a pdf. I think you'll have to do the work manually!

How well does that work? I'd love to take some vintage recordings and re-record them with a software piano.

You might look into Neuratron's Photoscore (I bought it bundled with Sibelius). I would not describe it as a software tool for the beginner, and it can take a great deal of adjustment by hand. But, there it is. It is not inexpensive, but demand drives development. With enough effort, you may be able to make it work for you.

In other words, about what BDB said.

I think that I lied a bit... I'm talking about 'melodyne' which is able to alter the notes in an audio setting (as they were midi), even polyphonic ones with some success. I mean you can grab a Horowitz recording of the 3rd Rach and turn it into D major should you wish for! So it's great.

But I'm not sure if it actually translated anything to midi...

Sorry about that.

But it WORKS! It DOES work!

why? can't you play the piano/read notes? the fun begins with starting to let your fingers find the way on the keys, and then discover the piece, the sound, the harmonies, if you want to skip that stage I would advice you to never become a pianist in the first place.

uh, your brain! If you take your brain as a computer. But this software is pretty hard and expensive to get.

If the PDF was originally created using notation software, there is a program that will convert it to audio. (There are thousands of such PDF scores available on the internet)

It will even 'sing' any lyrics on the score!
You can get a free trial here:


http://www.myriad-online.com/en/products/pdftomusic.htm

Yes.

Smartscore can do it, but the results depend on a lot of variables like the complexity of the score and the quality of the pdf - if you are hoping for the ability to create an accurate MIDI version of scores like, say, much of Ravel's music, it won't work very well. But for a Mendelssohn Song Without Words, it might work pretty well. You often have to tweak the results a little, though, even in simple music taken from a good quality pdf.

They offer a less expensive version of their full-blown software that is limited to this specific function.

The website is http://www.musitek.com/

I'll have to second this. I've used a trial of Photoscore Ultimate and it works very well. Finds the tempo, key, time signature, and of course the notes very well.

Right. I have used that a few times, and each time I've eventually given up. There was just too much adjustment and corrections that were necessary.

Thanks for all your replys and suggestions.
I have started to download my sheetmusic using musicnotes and downloaded their musicnotes player ,which syncs any of the sheets I purchase and works very well at playing as a midi file .