Klarinet Archive - Posting 001314.txt from 1998/03

From: Hat NYC 62 <HatNYC62@-----.com>
Subj: urgent plea
Date: Sat, 28 Mar 1998 17:40:27 -0500

In a message dated 3/28/98 3:16:45 AM, you wrote:

<<This is a wonderful idea. It is also, unfortunately, illegal. Contrary
to popular belief, there is no "fair use" right to make an extra copy
for performance purposes. Should your orchestra be the one that gets
"checked on" (rare, but you just never know when ASCAP might send over a
couple of investigators in bad suits . . .) you are going to be out some
money.>>

Bull! It is perfectly legal to copy music for page turns, etc. If you have
paid for the purchase or rental of a piece of music, copies can be made as
long as they are destroyed after the performance. Sure beats destroying the
music for future use.

I was not referring to show books, I was referring to fairly standard concert
works. I remember playing a symphony by Peter Mennin last year in which all of
the dynamic markings were darkened over with heavy pencil and new ones
inserted. Also, 'idiot marks' were put in heavily to indicate the beats in
EVERY syncopated bar. This is the kind of defacement I am talking about.
Basically, if you have to mark items that will not help a future performance
(basically this means correcting misprints), you should use a copy. Of course,
it is mostly too late anyway.

The same comments apply to LIBRARY music. Almost every quintet I have played
from a school or public library has been filled with the most useless kind of
markings. Most common in chamber parts? Writing the NAME of the person giving
the cue rather than the instrument!