Lesson in What NOT to Do!

[davewerden]

I was part of this conversation on Facebook tonight. I blocked out the original poster's name. It seems pretty flagrant to me, and as I say there, works against the best interest of all of us.

This should show you the image of the screen:

[John Morgan]

Good for you, Dave!! That bothers me as well. I make copies of the music I buy, for instance, my entire book of tuba/euphonium quartets. I keep the originals safe, and put copies in our folders. But I do not let those copies go anywhere or get duplicated, I treat them as originals. When I buy the band arrangement for solos I play, I make a copy of my solo for myself and keep the original with the folder the music came in.

But I don't ask people for copies of music like this schlep was. The "brothers that need helping out" are the composers and publishers, not some freeloader trying to get music without paying for it.

[Davidus1]

Thanks for sharing this. Definitely agree! That is someone else's living. Its theft. I treat mine the same as John mentions. I protect the originals that I purchase but don't give music away. It isn't mine to give.

[davewerden]

The post is gone now, but I didn't get a notice that the admin deleted it. Maybe the guy did. Anyway, I looked at his FB profile. He is apparently a member of one of the British Army bands and a student at the Royal College. Don't colleges still have music libraries?!?!

[daruby]

I have several unpublished piano reductions of pieces that are only available with brass band accomp. One of these is Euphonium Fantasia. Steve did the reduction for me when I played the piece as a solo on baritone at NABBA in Cincinnati. I finished just out of the the top 3.

In cases where the piano reduction is unavailable, AND THE REQUESTOR HAS SHOWN ME THEY HAVE PURCHASED THE ORIGINAL, I will share the piano reduction with the approval of the composer. I prefer to direct the person to the composer directly as I have done with Philip Harper (Lark in the Clear Air), Paul Lovatt-Cooper, and others. They are often quite responsive.

Doug

[davewerden]

That's a good policy, Doug.

To me it becomes a bit less black & white when a piece is permanently out of print or unavailable for some other reason. In the case of this guy, before I responded and reported the post, I checked to see if they were easily available. They both were, so the line was pretty clear.

I'm already getting requests for this arrangement, but it is tricky. The song is public domain, but the arrangement is by a professor who died 50+ years ago. I have not been able to find it published anywhere, but in theory he could have it under copyright (his estate would own it in that case). I only have a pencil copy to go from, which I made from some hard copy in college. No idea what the original looked like! I'm tempted to share the arrangement privately when asked, but not make it public. Still considering...

[RickF]

Very nice arrangement Dave and nicely played! I like the close harmony and the only vibrato is lead. Nice!

[Davidus1]

Are copyrights in force during the life of the author plus 70 years? I believe that's the case but I could be wrong.

That's a good policy, Doug.

To me it becomes a bit less black & white when a piece is permanently out of print or unavailable for some other reason. In the case of this guy, before I responded and reported the post, I checked to see if they were easily available. They both were, so the line was pretty clear.

I'm already getting requests for this arrangement, but it is tricky. The song is public domain, but the arrangement is by a professor who died 50+ years ago. I have not been able to find it published anywhere, but in theory he could have it under copyright (his estate would own it in that case). I only have a pencil copy to go from, which I made from some hard copy in college. No idea what the original looked like! I'm tempted to share the arrangement privately when asked, but not make it public. Still considering...

[davewerden]

Are copyrights in force during the life of the author plus 70 years? I believe that's the case but I could be wrong.

It depends. According to this site:

connollymusic.com

Copyrights don’t last forever. (Although don’t tell that to Walt Disney.) If a work was published in the United States before 1923, it’s mostly likely in the public domain and can be copied freely. If it was published in the United States between 1923 and 1978, the work enjoys copyright protection for 95 years from the date of publication. For works published after 1978, the copyright holds until 70 years after the composer has died.

[dsurkin]

It depends. According to this site:

connollymusic.com

Yes, that's right.

A number of years ago I found a rare book in the library on Isabelle Vengerova, the great piano pedagogue. I wrote to the author (care of the University his bio said he was associated with) asking for a copy, and I received a reply from his widow, who was then the owner of the copyright. She told me that in exchange for a donation to the University of only $15, I could make three copies of the book for the use of myself and two colleagues. I gratefully accepted the proposal.

A year later, a friend of mine found a copy of the book in a used bookstore, remembered that I was looking for it, and had the bookstore contact me.

[tbonesullivan]

YIKES. "Send me the dots mate"... uhh no.

The only thing I can think of is that maybe it's very hard to get those pieces in the UK? Looks like you can get the Fantasia by Bulla, but it's listed as 63 GBP, while in the U.S. it's 19-29 for the brass band set.