Klarinet Archive - Posting 000110.txt from 1998/08

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausman@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Copywrite Question for "Experts"!
Date: Mon, 3 Aug 1998 22:14:22 -0400

At 03:06 PM 8/3/98 -0500, Ed Lacy wrote:
>On Mon, 3 Aug 1998, Lee Hickling wrote:
>> Or how about this: Every week I play the organ for services in two
>> different churches. Both of them have hymnals that they bought, and I
>> assume satisfied the copyright holders that way. Thanks to a jazz
>> background, I'm able to adlib transpositions to make a singer more
>> comfortable, or adapt a piano arrangement for organ as I play it, or
>> fake different voicings and bass lines so every verse of a hymn doesn't
>> sound the same as the one before. Church organists do those things
>> routinely. Being able to do them is expected. It's one of the
>> qualifications for the job.
>
>The church hymnal will have been publised and distributed with the
>understanding that works in it will be performed each week in the churches
>which perform it. The hymnal itself will be copyrighted, and some of the
>hymns will have their individual copyrights, for which the publisher will
>have secured the right of publication. To play an improvised version, if
>the law is interpreted rigidly, is probably a violation of the copyright,
>but I have never heard of a church or any musician being prosecuted for
>doing so.
>
I believe the subtle distinction here is between improvising during a
performance and writing your variations down. The former is OK, but the
latter could land you in hot water.

Bill Hausmann bhausman@-----.com
451 Old Orchard Drive http://www.concentric.net/~bhausman
Essexville, MI 48732 http://members.wbs.net/homepages/z/o/o/zoot14.html
ICQ UIN 4862265

If you have to mic a saxophone, the rest of the band is too loud.

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