A search for Jamie Duffy’s Solas can lead to a piano recording, a later vocal collaboration and several different scores. Even two legitimate piano editions can divide the music into different bars. Getting the version and the file format right saves a second purchase later.
For the instrumental piece, start with Duffy’s original recording and a score labelled piano solo. Faber, Virtual Sheet Music and Musicnotes offer specific editions below. Compare their previews before choosing: downloadable PDF access, printing and a copy inside a store’s app are separate things.
Have your preferred recording link, the device or paper you will read from, and your country of purchase ready. Prices and access details were checked on 12 October 2026.
Find the recording you actually want to play
Duffy describes Solas, meaning “light” in Irish, as his debut piano single. His official Bandcamp page dates it to 4 February 2022 and says it was composed in Belfast in late 2021, then recorded at Windmill Lane in Dublin. That is a useful starting point when search results mix the original with covers and later uploads.
The official music video provides an identifiable reference you can save with your score. Rubyworks announced the video in October 2022; the video’s upload date should not be mistaken for the piece’s first release date.
Solas (with Sarah Cothran) is a separate vocal release. Duffy’s collaboration announcement identifies Cothran as the singer, and his news archive dates it to 15 March 2024. Someone hoping to accompany that version needs to establish the sung melody, key and accompaniment arrangement before buying a score intended for a pianist playing alone.
A solo arrangement may place the melody in the pianist’s hands; an accompaniment may leave it to a singer. The words “piano” and “Solas” on a listing do not resolve that difference. The three products here are solo-piano choices, not verified accompaniment editions for the Cothran recording. For the broader format distinction, see lead sheets, piano arrangements and what each actually gives you.
Keep the recording decision separate from the purchase decision. This short map shows where the two searches diverge.
Reference: Jamie Duffy’s Solas.
Compare the exact Faber, Hal Leonard/VSM and Musicnotes products below.
Reference: Solas (with Sarah Cothran).
Check the vocal key and scoring separately. The solo listings do not establish a match.
Three licensed piano-score routes
These are exact catalogue entries, rather than three interchangeable links to “the sheet music.” Jamie Duffy is the composer; none of these selected listings names a separate arranger in its main product credits. Keep the product identifier when asking a teacher or the seller about a passage.
d49947
A five-page PDF purchase
Faber lists piano solo in E minor, five pages, with its own intermediate-level label. Its product page marks availability as Europe, so confirm eligibility for your actual country before paying. This is the straightforward option here for an eligible buyer who wants a PDF without a separate file add-on.
HL-1265995
Hal Leonard’s seven-page digital edition
Virtual Sheet Music sells a Hal Leonard-licensed piano-solo product with a PDF included, plus interactive playback and transposition. It lists seven pages and an intermediate level. The ordinary one-item quantity permits one print; a membership is not required for the nonmember purchase.
This route is worth comparing when both a saved file and interactive notation matter. The sample’s layout differs visibly from Faber’s, as the next section explains.
MN0278594
An app copy, with PDF access priced separately
This seven-page instrumental-solo listing specifies piano and E minor, with Sony/ATV Music Publishing in its publisher field. The standard purchase includes one print and an interactive copy in Musicnotes’ free apps. A separate PDF add-on is offered.
It is a useful route for someone already reading in Musicnotes. For a different PDF reader, check the file option before comparing prices. Other arrangements appear beside this product, so confirm MN0278594 rather than treating every Solas result as the same edition.
Faber’s and Virtual Sheet Music’s level descriptions are the sellers’ classifications. They are not an exam-grade equivalence or a verdict that every intermediate pianist will find every section comfortable. A familiar recording can still lead to an unsuitable arrangement; the preview gives you a more useful first check.
What the previews reveal: 12/8, 6/8 and page count
The Faber sample begins in 12/8. The Hal Leonard first-page sample at Virtual Sheet Music begins in 6/8. Both show a one-sharp key signature. This is a visible notation difference, even before considering the five-page versus seven-page totals.
In their usual compound-meter grouping, 12/8 contains four dotted-quarter beats per bar and 6/8 contains two. Each beat divides into three eighth notes. Open Music Theory’s explanation of compound meter gives the underlying counting principle. The same number of eighth-note divisions can therefore occupy one bar in the first layout and two in the second.
The barline is the important change in this counting illustration:
This makes a tutorial’s bar numbers edition-dependent. Before following “start again at bar 12,” locate the same musical passage on your own page. A doubled bar count does not, by itself, mean twice as much music. Equally, the meter comparison does not establish that every note, repeat or ending matches across the complete scores.
Faber’s opening sample includes chord names above the notation and a drawn pedal line. The Hal Leonard preview presents its opening with text instructions and no chord names above that first page. Those details may affect which layout you prefer to read, but they do not prove one arrangement is easier or more faithful to Duffy’s recording.
For a useful comparison, look at the same three things in each permitted preview: where the opening gives way to continuous movement, what the lower staff is doing there, and how repeats or changes of section are marked. A clear first line is not enough if the part you want to learn arrives later. Musicnotes explains that preview access varies by product and browser; ask the seller about an unseen passage using the product number.
Page totals also reflect spacing, staff size, page dimensions and how repeats are written out. Seven pages could be more spacious or differently barred than five. It is not a reliable difficulty ranking, and matching page counts do not establish that two shops sell the same engraving.
What the download and print options actually cost
The amounts below are the listed, one-off digital purchase prices checked on 12 October 2026. They use each displayed storefront’s currency: Faber’s GBP listing with European availability, Virtual Sheet Music’s USD listing, and Musicnotes’ Spain/EUR storefront. These are not currency-converted comparisons or guaranteed tax-inclusive totals. Confirm the final tax treatment, territorial eligibility and any payment-conversion charge at checkout.
Digital delivery has no physical postage. Existing computer/tablet access is assumed. Printing supplies and any optional paid score-reader app are outside these purchase amounts; there is no need to buy a new tablet or printer for this one piece.
| Purchase | Listed amount | File / print distinction |
|---|---|---|
| Faber d49947 | £3.50 | PDF supplied; one print under Faber’s digital terms. |
| VSM HL-1265995 | US$6.97 nonmember | PDF and interactive score; quantity one allows one print. |
| Musicnotes MN0278594 | €5.24 | One print and Musicnotes app copy; separate PDF costs extra. |
| Same Musicnotes product + PDF | €5.24 + €2.63 = €7.87 | Adds a file for digital viewing; it does not add a print licence. |
The Musicnotes PDF add-on is not its printing product. Musicnotes’ PDF guidance distinguishes personal digital viewing in other applications from the print available with the standard purchase. For paper, use the purchased print route. For a separate PDF reader, account for the add-on. Musicnotes also documents a forScore account-access route that does not require buying that add-on, so existing forScore users should check that option first.
Faber’s digital-download terms say the purchase link remains active for seven days. Save the file promptly and keep the receipt; the seven-day limit concerns retrieving it, not a seven-day lifespan for the PDF you saved. The same terms permit one print and describe the file as personal-use material. A teacher and student needing separate copies should establish the required quantities with the seller.
A failed download is different from choosing the wrong arrangement. In the first case, keep the order number and contact support. In the second, identify the exact mismatch: instrumentation, key, missing section or intended recording. That gives the seller something more useful to investigate than “this doesn’t sound like Solas.”
A worked before-purchase check
Suppose you want to learn the instrumental Solas, read it on an existing tablet and take a paper copy to a lesson. You do not need a vocal part or a new subscription. The following check keeps the musical choice and the access cost connected.
Reference: save Duffy’s official video or original single link.
Edition: record the seller and exact product ID, then inspect the available sample at a readable size.
Access: confirm a file for your chosen reader and the purchased paper-print route.
Unresolved question: ask about any later passage or version match that the sample does not establish.
With an eligible Faber purchase, the saved PDF and permitted print address that example’s two reading formats. Check the territorial restriction first. At Musicnotes, the app copy may already satisfy the tablet requirement; a separate file becomes relevant when you want to read outside that app, subject to the documented forScore exception. The cost comparison changes with the actual reader you plan to use.
The harder question is an exact recording match. None of the catalogue facts above proves a note-for-note transcription of every gesture in the video. Musicnotes’ explanation of arrangements versus recorded transcriptions makes the broader distinction clear: published arrangements may alter or simplify material. When matching a particular performance is essential, send the seller both the recording URL and the exact score ID, and ask whether that edition transcribes that recording. A shared title and key do not answer it.
If you plan to work with a teacher, sending the product link before buying is more useful than sending a cropped image with no edition information. Ask whether the available preview is suitable for your present reading and whether the teacher uses the same edition. That also avoids spending lesson time translating someone else’s bar references.
Prepare the copy you will use
Once the purchase is complete, open it on the device that will sit at the piano. Check that every purchased page loads, that the filename identifies the edition, and that you can retrieve it again. A useful filename is Solas-Jamie-Duffy-Faber-d49947.pdf; retain a seller-provided filename separately if it contains order information you need.
Check readability at playing distance before covering the page in annotations. On paper, inspect the print preview for cut-off margins and unexpected scaling. On a tablet, turn through the pages in the orientation you will use and note where the screen changes fall. Our sheet-music printing comparison includes A4 and Letter test pages if you need to check an existing printer before using a purchased print.
Keep the recording reference and product ID together. If a lesson note says “page 2, second system,” it should still be clear which file that means next month. Anyone considering a shorter or simpler arrangement can use the same checks with another licensed product; the guide to choosing playable versions of popular piano music covers that broader decision. For this purchase, finish with one identified recording, one chosen edition and a copy that opens where you intend to read it.
Photo: İsmail Bulut / Pexels.
