strathspey@strathspey.org:27778

e.ferguson

Give credit to Devisers

Oct. 8, 2001, 2:37 p.m. (Message 27778)

On 7 Oct 2001, at 22:24, Oberdan Otto wrote:

> I most wholeheartedly agree. The Wee Green Book is a wonderful
> product at a most reasonable price. <...> 

> However stories about Pillings heirs taking hard positions on 
> copyright infringement of the contents of their book are a bit much to
> bear, considering that neither they nor the original Mr. Pillings
> sought permission from the creators of all those dances to include
> them in the book. <...>

Far worse: no Pilling diagrams carry the deviser's name.  Whatever 
the legal position may be, it is ethically unacceptable to cite or 
describe any work of art in any form without giving credit to its 
creator.  Just fancy doing that for a play, a book, a painting, a 
sculpture, a piece of music !  Depriving a deviser of credit for his 
creation does him far more harm than would an illegal copy which 
might cause some small loss of sales.  

We can understand how this improper habit arose: the original (R)SCDS 
booklets contained "traditional" dances only, with no known deviser.  
But ever since the Reel of the 51st Division new devisers have added 
beautiful dances to our repertoire.  There is no excuse for denying 
them the credit for their creations.  All descriptions, cribs and 
Ball programmes should ALWAYS mention the deviser for every dance.  

Happy dancing,

Eric
Eric T. Ferguson, van Dormaalstraat 15, NL-5624 KH  EINDHOVEN, Netherlands
tel: (+31)(0)40-243 2878 fax:40-246 7036  e-mail: x.xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxx.xx