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Originally Ours - Question for George or others
Steve Wyrick
Dec. 4, 2006, 5:44 p.m. (Message 47283)
I've been using Originally Ours a lot since I got my copy a few months ago; it's a great resource for us newer SCD musicians that haven't built up a collection of the original Society publications. However in talking to a long-time SCD musician recently something came up that I'm curious about. I mentioned that I'd transposed one of the tunes to fit better on the fiddle and he said that when that dance was published, no name tune was included (offhand I don't recall which dance but I think it was from one of the Miscellanies). This made me wonder if there are tunes included in Originally Ours that aren't "official" name tunes (and if so, if it's possible to get a list of these dances). Can anyone speak to this? -Steve -- Steve Wyrick - Concord, California
Steve, When "Originally Ours" was put together we realised that there were several dances (mainly in the Miscellanies Volumes 1 & 2) that did not have any suggested tune and were shown simply as "Any good tune". With a resource such as "Originally Ours" it was decided that the book should show appropriate tunes for every dance wherever possible. As Muriel Johnstone had already recorded many of the Miscellany dances on various recordings, and many of the dances had already taken on 'adopted' tunes, it was felt that the opportunity should not be missed to line it up with these tunes. This would also allow the opportunity to standardise the tunes for most of the dances rather than leaving it to the whim of musicians. The tunes are not set in stone but if we all use them, everybody will be cooking from the same recipe! From memory we came up with a tune for all but 3 or 4 dances and these are still shown as "any good tune". Unfortunately I do not have a list of the affected dances, but if you refer to both of the Miscellanies books you will soon see which ones were changed from "Any good tune". Kind regards George Meikle
George Meikle wrote: > As Muriel Johnstone > had already recorded many of the Miscellany dances on various recordings, > and many of the dances had already taken on 'adopted' tunes, it was felt > that the opportunity should not be missed to line it up with these tunes. > This would also allow the opportunity to standardise the tunes for most of > the dances rather than leaving it to the whim of musicians. Also note that many of the tunes for the Miscellany dances come from Nan Main's collections, which I understand are very difficult (if not impossible) to obtain these days. In this respect, »Originally Ours« is basically a gift from heaven as it makes these tunes easily accessible again. Will dances in the upcoming re-issue of the Miscellanies refer to these tunes instead of »Any good reel«? Anselm -- Anselm Lingnau, Frankfurt, Germany ..................... xxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxx.xxx It's more important to be a good driver than to have seven feet of sponge rubber all around your car. -- Larry Wall
Etienne wrote:- > I do think there should be some ways of differentiating between dances > that the devisor had no intended music and those to which the devisor > had made a musical determination. Etienne, It would take me some considerable time to go through the paperwork associated with the compilation of "Originally Ours" to come up with a list of the dances you are after. What with both band and other playing commitments at this time of year, I certainly do not have that amount of time available at the moment. If you do a comparison of "Originally Ours" and the relatively few books holding the dance instructions you will probably come up with the same information as I would. Kind regards George
| I do think there should be some ways of differentiating between dances that | the devisor had no intended music and those to which the devisor had made a | musical determination. | | Etienne Ozorak | Meadville, PA USA Well, I've long thought it would be nice if a three-way distinction could be made: "Title" tunes that have some strong relationship to the dance. "Recommended" tunes that the dance deviser thought have the right feel. "Appropriate" tunes that dancers think go well with the dance. These are sometimes different from the above tunes. Even when I don't use a recommended tune, I usually find them useful. The reason is that this usually happens when a dance leader doesn't give me the program soon enough, and I decide that there isn't time to (re)learn a particular tune well enough to do a good job of it. So I ask myself "What other tunes do I know that have the same feel?" I suppose you could have a fourth "We don't care; we like the dance to any music" classification. And maybe a fifth "We tried this one and it didn't feel right for that dance" to warn musicians away from a tune. ;-) -- What if the Hoky Poky really IS what it's all about?
Anselm wrote: "Also note that many of the tunes for the Miscellany dances come from Nan Main's collections, which I understand are very difficult (if not impossible) to obtain these days." I have recently been given some of Nan Main's music by the woman who was left it by Nan. Marilyn Healy, RSCDS Archivist, and I have been trying to sort out what already exists in the archive and the two books of Nan's The Ashley Album (Tunes for 38 of the dances from "99 More Scottish Country Dances") and Scottish Country Dance Tunes for 23 hitherto Unpublished Dances from "101 Scottish Country Dances" are already there. 101 and 99 were the basis for the Miscellanies. I have catalogued what I have and it will go to Coates Crescent with it all very soon. I propose doing a lot of photocopying as the donor requested that some of the music should remain in Aberdeen in the city archives and certainly there are tunes which have a very strong local interest. However everything available (some in poor condition) will be copied for the RSCDS archive. Hope this information is of interest. Jean Martin Aberdeen
Jean Martin wrote: | I have recently been given some of Nan Main's music by the woman who was | left it by Nan. Marilyn Healy, RSCDS Archivist, and I have been trying to | sort out what already exists in the archive and the two books of Nan's The | Ashley Album (Tunes for 38 of the dances from "99 More Scottish Country | Dances") and Scottish Country Dance Tunes for 23 hitherto Unpublished Dances | from "101 Scottish Country Dances" are already there. 101 and 99 were the | basis for the Miscellanies. | | I have catalogued what I have and it will go to Coates Crescent with it all | very soon. I propose doing a lot of photocopying as the donor requested that | some of the music should remain in Aberdeen in the city archives and | certainly there are tunes which have a very strong local interest. However | everything available (some in poor condition) will be copied for the RSCDS | archive. | | Hope this information is of interest. Any chance you could just scan them and put them online? Then we could probably get a few people to convert them to ABC and nice PDF copies in a short time. I've seen a number of collections handled like this, and it's a very useful way to do it. (In one not so nice case, I helped transcribe a bunch of handwritten manuscripts that someone had "scanned" with their cell phone's camera. Talk about low-quality copies. ;-) -- What if the Hoky Poky really IS what it's all about?
John Chambers wrote:- > Any chance you could just scan them and put them online? > Then we could probably get a few people to convert them to ABC and > nice PDF copies in a short time. I've seen a number of collections > handled like this, and it's a very useful way to do it. John, I think you will find that the music Jean Martin is talking about is exactly what I have already included in "Originally Ours". I had copies of Nan Main's books when I did "Originally Ours" and these tunes were used where appropriate. I would hope that Jean would first of all send me copies so that I can check against the music I have already arranged. If they prove to be the same as already supplied in the book, it will save a pile of work transcribing tunes that are already in "Originally Ours". I wish folk would just realise the time, effort and research I put into that publication and that the tunes were not just picked out of thin air. If you want to put them on the web you will be directly affecting sales of the book and I, for one, would not be very amused to see all my work just broadcast for everyone to use free of charge. I am sure the RSCDS would not be too enamoured either at the thought of the music being made available for all to use free of charge. I went to considerable efforts to produce the book and it would be very hurtful if somebody thinks they can just publish it on the web. It seems to me that there are far too many people who are ready to pounce on the 'goodies' when someone else has done all the work. Come on give credit where credit is due and let the RSCDS get some return for their investment. Kind regards George
George Meikle wrote: > I wish folk would just realise the time, effort and research I put into > that publication and that the tunes were not just picked out of thin air. > If you want to put them on the web you will be directly affecting sales of > the book and I, for one, would not be very amused to see all my work just > broadcast for everyone to use free of charge. This is a valid point. As a matter of fact, I bought two copies of Originally Ours (one for myself, one to give to a friend), and have recommended it to a number of other people. However, I have personally typed into my computer about 90% of the material now in Originally Ours from the original books, and this is what I work with most of the time. (This work for the most part predates the announcement of the impending publication of Originally Ours.) Originally Ours, as a book to play tunes from directly, is of very little use to me as I find the format too distracting and inconvenient for regular use -- I use it mainly as a convenient source for difficult-to-find tunes such as those for dances from the Miscellanies, and as a stop-gap at workshops (in preference to lugging around 50-odd RSCDS books). I have a strong suspicion that, in this day and age, many musicians work pretty much like I do and arrange their sets on a computer. I also suspect that many of those would actually be more than happy to *pay* to be able to obtain the content of Originally Ours in a machine-readable format that would not require them to re-enter tunes from the printed book. ABC as the de-facto standard for the sharing of »folk« music on the Net would probably lend itself well, but as the content of Originally Ours is (presumably) locked away in some proprietary program's file format this would be technically difficult even if everybody concerned thought it was a great idea. > It seems to me that there are far too many people who are ready to pounce > on the 'goodies' when someone else has done all the work. Come on give > credit where credit is due and let the RSCDS get some return for their > investment. Nobody said anything about not giving credit where credit is due. In fact you will find that the »creative commons« crowd which deals with material that is freely shared on the Internet (with the explicit consent of the copyright holders) is usually anal-retentively diligent about »credit where credit is due« -- more so than some »professional« outfits. As a further heretical thought, I understand the RSCDS is somewhat strapped for musicians. Part of the problem may be that it is difficult for a budding musician to get a handle on all the different tunes for all the different dances. It might, in my opinion, actually be worth thinking about making individual tunes from the RSCDS repertoire conveniently available for free on the Web (e.g., via John Chambers' tune finder or the DanceData database) just so new musicians will find it easier to start playing for SCD. It is likely that such a service will, if anything, provide an »appetiser« that will make musicians want to shell out for the whole book eventually. The Society would not have to publish *all* of the tunes from the book -- just the traditional ones that are long out of copyright, anyway, would already be a great help. In the long run this is likely to *increase* sales of books like Originally Ours as more musicians are enticed into SCD music, and to increase the pool of available musicians is, from the POV of the Society, surely a goal at least as desirable as a few piddling pounds Sterling in the short term. Anselm -- Anselm Lingnau, Frankfurt, Germany ..................... xxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxx.xxx For the record, in my opinion [George W. Bush] is the worst President in the history of the United States. He's dishonest, ignorant, religious in the worst ways and none of the good ones, and a spendthrift. [...] He should be impeached and tried for war crimes. This is just the beginning of my contempt for the man and what he represents. - Bill Poser, _Language Log_, July 2, 2006
Anselm wrote; | ... I bought two copies of Originally | Ours (one for myself, one to give to a friend), and have recommended it to a | number of other people. However, I have personally typed into my computer | about 90% of the material now in Originally Ours from the original books, and | this is what I work with most of the time. ... | ... I use it mainly as a convenient source for difficult-to-find tunes ... Same here. It's a marvelous addition to my collection of books, but I haven't yet taken it along to a dance, and I don't expect I ever will. It's designed well as a reference book, but it's not something you'd want to play from. The people I know with (nearly) complete RSCDS booklet collections also never take them anywhere. They're reference material, and you want them to last for the decades that you'll be using them. You make copies, and leave the books at home. | I have a strong suspicion that, in this day and age, many musicians work | pretty much like I do and arrange their sets on a computer. I also suspect | that many of those would actually be more than happy to *pay* to be able to | obtain the content of Originally Ours in a machine-readable format that would | not require them to re-enter tunes from the printed book. This is slowly becoming more and more true. Myself, I'd prefer the hard copy book. I can type ABC nearly as fast as I can play a tune, so getting it into my computer is easy. Then I can format it as I like, and get a page that's a lot better to read than you can get with cutting and pasting, even if you know how to do that with screen grabs (as I do sometimes). PDF or any other proprietary graphical format just isn't all that useful, even if you've paid for the editing software. | ABC as the de-facto | standard for the sharing of »folk« music on the Net would probably lend | itself well, but as the content of Originally Ours is (presumably) locked | away in some proprietary program's file format this would be technically | difficult even if everybody concerned thought it was a great idea. I didn't bother with computerized music until ABC came along. It was the first music format that made it possible for a programmer like me to write code that could extract titles, keys, etc. and do something useful with them. And I could email ABC to anyone, no matter what software they had, because you can read it directly. Unless a music file has these properties, I see no real motive to use it. | > It seems to me that there are far too many people who are ready to pounce | > on the 'goodies' when someone else has done all the work. Come on give | > credit where credit is due and let the RSCDS get some return for their | > investment. | | Nobody said anything about not giving credit where credit is due. In fact you | will find that the »creative commons« crowd which deals with material that is | freely shared on the Internet (with the explicit consent of the copyright | holders) is usually anal-retentively diligent about »credit where credit is | due« -- more so than some »professional« outfits. One funny thing is that ABC makes this easier. With printed music, you mostly see cut-and-paste copies, with all the credits stripped out. You often can't learn what book it came from or where to buy it. Granted, a lot of ABC lacks this, too, but it has provision in the headers for full attribution. There are explicit header lines for the composer's name and for lists of books and recordings that contain the tune. I'm one of those anal-retentive types who tries to include it all in the ABC. This especially includes any book names (with editor and publisher) that I can find. Then when someone emails the ABC file around, it carries the credits along with the tune. | As a further heretical thought, I understand the RSCDS is somewhat strapped | for musicians. Part of the problem may be that it is difficult for a budding | musician to get a handle on all the different tunes for all the different | dances. That's already happened. Actually, I and several others that I know carry it a step further. I usually don't transcribe the RSCDS version of a tune. I look up several versions of the tune, play them all several times, and type in a version that I like that is usually a combination. I also try variations of any chords that may be present, and type in the chords that I like best. I originally started writing my Tune Finder so that I could do this quickly. Part of my motive for this is to avoid infringement charges, of course, but my main motive is wanting to really learn a tune. There's the old saying that "Copying from one source is theft; copying from several sources is research." And even when I start with an RSCDS page, what ends up in my collection is usually a different setting, especially after I've played it with a few friends, each of them has criticised my printed version of the tune, and I've typed in their suggestions that I like. (One result is that if the RSCDS does decide to make an online ABC version of everything, my collection isn't a very good place to start. ;-) I've also heard from quite a number of SCD musicians who say that they've copied a lot of my dance sets. I usually tell them "Make up your own sets, dammit!" Then I add a ";-)". I started putting my sets online so that I could quickly find them from anywhere there was Net access. I don't mind others using them, but I do think it's better if people take the sets apart and assemble their own. This is very easy with ABC. -- What if the Hoky Poky really IS what it's all about?
I am relatively new to playing for SCD and before attending St.A. in the summer one of the greatest problems I had was finding the original set tunes for particular dances. Finding George's "Original Ours" has been a godsend for me and I had no compunction in purchasing the book. The problem still arises with new dances and I agree that there should be some way simple in which musicians can obtain copies of the music. A web based subscription system would possibly be the answer, perhaps maintained by the RSCDs. Like many, I have spent hours transposing sheet music from the printed page onto a software based system and the work involved is considerable. I do not think it is unreasonable for anyone to try and recoup the cost of time and effort in researching the tunes and producing them in a printed format. Georges book has a limited market and costs must be considerable and it is not expensive when you consider the volume of music it contains and the way it has been compiled. It is also in a format that everyone can use. Yes, I would find it useful if the material in the book was produced in a format which could be loaded and read on a computer. Cutting and pasting would make producing dance sets much easier and would also allow me to make my own arrangements of the tunes. The problem that then arises on what software format should be used. I use "Finale" for my own work and if I recall correctly George used "Sibelius". ABC is a useful format but very simple and a little fiddly. Free is a word that I love but it is unreasonable to accept that people should be not rewarded for work done. George, please keep up the good work. Rod
On Wed, 6 Dec 2006 11:45:41 +0000 (GMT) RODERICK JOHNSTON <xxxxxxxx.xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx> wrote: <snip> > Yes, I would find it useful if the material in the book was produced in a >format which could be loaded and read on a computer. Cutting and pasting >would make producing dance sets much easier and would also allow me to make >my own arrangements of the tunes. The problem that then arises on what >software format should be used. I use "Finale" for my own work and if I >recall correctly George used "Sibelius". ABC is a useful format but very >simple and a little fiddly. > > Free is a word that I love but it is unreasonable to accept that people >should be not rewarded for work done. > I believe that nobody has suggested that anybody's work shouldn't be compensated, if that's what they want. John and others have freely given their time to input and post electronic files of un-copyrighted tunes so that they're available online, but that was their own choice. I would be happy to pay at least as much as the printed copy for an electronic version of this that I could cut and paste into my sets, since it would be much handier to me than the current format (my typical usage involves either photocopying the page, cutting out the tune I need and pasting it into my set; or transcribing the needed tune into Sibelius for inclusion in my sets). I'd be happy with individual tunes in PDF, GIF or some other graphic format, however realize that this would probably entail some reformatting of the volume (however if George used Sibelius, he probably has the tunes as individual files and creating separate files for each tune isn't especially onerous). By the way, PDF has the advantage that it can be password-protected; I know of one sheet music publisher that sells electronic music files on-line; when you "buy" the sheet music they send you the password that allows opening and printing the file. Publishing in this manner gets rid of most up-front costs, and is great for low-volume publications (like SCD dance books?). By the way, in thinking about this I looked at the copyright notice in the front of Originally Ours. Does anyone besides me think it is overly restrictive and unenforceable (at least in the US)? It appears to prohibit almost every use of the book without express permission from the publishers! (I don't have it in front of me but if I recall it prohibits reproduction in any form, including photocopying, computer input, and performance of any sort.) Can it really be possible to copyright tunes that are in the public domain, as are the majority of the tunes included in this volume? What is actually being copyrighted here, is it the specific arrangement of the tune, or the layout, or something else? Am I in violation of this copyright when I photocopy a page, cut and paste a tune into an arrangement, then distribute it to my band for a dance? How about when I re-enter a tune into Sibelius, "Americanize" the chords and include it in a set? -- Steve Wyrick - Concord, California
Steve Wyrick wrote: | By the way, in thinking about this I looked at the copyright notice in the | front of Originally Ours. Does anyone besides me think it is overly | restrictive and unenforceable (at least in the US)? It appears to prohibit | almost every use of the book without express permission from the publishers! | (I don't have it in front of me but if I recall it prohibits reproduction in | any form, including photocopying, computer input, and performance of any | sort.) Can it really be possible to copyright tunes that are in the public | domain, as are the majority of the tunes included in this volume? What is | actually being copyrighted here, is it the specific arrangement of the tune, | or the layout, or something else? Am I in violation of this copyright when I | photocopy a page, cut and paste a tune into an arrangement, then distribute it | to my band for a dance? How about when I re-enter a tune into Sibelius, | "Americanize" the chords and include it in a set? The main point here is probably that the RSCDS isn't about to take anyone to court for using Originally Ours or any of the booklets as they were obviously intended to be used. The RSCDS isn't some far-off, money-making corporation. We are the RSCDS, and the organization exists to support our dancing, which includes supporting and encouraging musicians. Their publications include printed music so that we can play the tunes at dances. But there is the fact that, in much of the world, what you're doing is, strictly speaking, illegal. The legal system has gone somewhat insane over such things. Commercial companies are suing their customers for reasonable and expected uses of their products. The music recording industry has gotten most of the publicity for their insanity, but many publishers (who are money-making corporations) have gotten into the act. There is generally a legal difference between copyright for a tune and for the printed representation of a tune. For older tunes, the notes can't be copyrighted, but a printed edition can be. It's legal to copy older tunes by hand or play them in public, but it's illegal to copy the published page itself without permission. For newer tunes, since the notes themeselves are covered by copyright, you can't legally copy or perform them in any fashion without permission. You should check with local lawyers, but it's almost certain that any copy of any page of Originally Ours is in fact illegal where you live. Mechanical copies of any page are probably illegal, and if there's a new copyrighted tune on the page, you can't legally copy it by any method (including playing it on your instrument). Maybe the RSCDS isn't going to sue anyone for the usual sort of cut-and-paste page for a dance set, but this is legally irrelevant. The people who wrote the new tunes presumably want them played at dances, so they're not going to sue you, either. But if any of the musicians is paid even a penny for playing, the copying is almost certainly illegal, and it may be illegal even if they're not paid. We all do it, of course, and we will continue to get away with it for at least a few more years. But the fact that lots of people are committing a crime doesn't make it legal. Now, given that we aren't going to be sued for such usage, this is mostly an academic exercise. But the RSCDS might consider adding a few words to the next edition, to the effect that the usual copying of a few pages for use during dancing is permitted. Especially to RSCDS members. ;-) Actually, considering the "customary use" or similar phrasing used in some laws, this could already be legal where you live. And an RSCDS membership could be legally considered a license to use their material at dances. But you'd have to ask a local lawyer about that. (Warning: This may be expensive.) At least we haven't (yet) reached the stage where whistling a tune while walking down the street is considered an unauthorized public performance of copyrighted material. It'll take a few more years before the laws reach that level of insanity. Myself, I sorta enjoy the image of a bunch of musicians publicly flaunting their disregard for the law by playing from a copyrighted page at a public dance. And the fact that the RSCDS, an organization working under the auspices of Her Majesty's government, is openly encouraging such activity, is even more fun. At your next dance, you might remind yourself those aren't stuffy RSCDS types; they are vicious criminal elements going about their nefarious business of copyright violation. You know, like those grandmothers who have illegally copied music on their computers. And maybe soon like those criminals whistling a tune in public. -- What if the Hoky Poky really IS what it's all about?
The copyright issue is confusing to many, but musicians, composers and promoters in the UK should visit www.prs.co.uk or telephone 0207-580 5544. The Scottish MCPS/PRS contact is Duncan McCrone and his office number is 0141-204 4030. Performing of tunes in or out of copyright is not generally an issue that musicians need concern themselves about (unless they are being recorded onto a commercially available product such as CD, DVD or video). Whoever is organising an event must have a PRS licence (unless one is already held by the venue). Therefore anyone running a dance class, whether using live music or CDs, should check if the premises have a licence; if not, the organiser of the class is breaking the law and runs a very real risk of being prosecuted. For those interested I will start a new thread with an explanation of copyright taken from the PRS site. Best wishes, Karin Ingram (Editor "Dance On!" & "Box and Fiddle") Scottish Borders
John Chambers wrote: 'Any chance you could just scan them and put them online?' We're at a very early stage in this exercise and George is right - Nan's tunes which were used as 'originals' for the dances in '101' and '99 More' are in the two books mentioned in my earlier posting. Best wishes, Jean Martin Aberdeen
Thanks for your response, George. The concern that came up was that since the "adopted tunes" aren't noted as such, musicians who buy Originally Ours and don't have access to the original publications (like me) will assume that these tunes are "official". I suppose this is no big deal and I appreciate your efforts in trying to standardize things however in the absence of a specified name tune I'd prefer to know that the presented tune is only a suggestion, even if from vastly experienced SCD musicians such as you and Muriel. I hope the Society will consider annotating these tunes in any future editions of Originally Ours. At any rate, do I understand correctly that it's only the tunes for the Miscellanies that are affected? Thanks again -Steve
Anselm asks: > Will dances in the upcoming re-issue of the Miscellanies refer to these tunes > instead of »Any good reel«?> The present intention is to adopt the approach that was used in the booklet of Medal Test dances and use the term 'Customary Tune' to describe tunes that have been adopted since the dance was originally published without a specific original. 'Original Tune' will be rtatined for, well, original tunes. The preface will refer to the distinction. BUT, if anyone has a better idea then let us have it. Jim Healy Perth, Monaco and, on this occasion, Coates Crescent.
Rod wrote: | Like many, I have spent hours transposing sheet music from the | printed page onto a software based system and the work involved is | considerable. I do not think it is unreasonable for anyone to try | and recoup the cost of time and effort in researching the tunes and | producing them in a printed format. Georges book has a limited | market and costs must be considerable and it is not expensive when | you consider the volume of music it contains and the way it has | been compiled. It is also in a format that everyone can use. Indeed. And I'll make a prediction that Originally Ours will become one of the standard references, in a class with the Gow and Skinner books. But then, you don't usually see those books' printed versions at dances; you see versions that the musicians have rewritten into the format that they like. The reference books stay at home on their shelves. I might add that there's one nice thing about the "format" of the new book: It has a spiral binding, so that it opens flat and sits nicely on a music stand. Now if we could only get all music publishers to do it this way ... | Yes, I would find it useful if the material in the book was | produced in a format which could be loaded and read on a computer. | Cutting and pasting would make producing dance sets much easier and | would also allow me to make my own arrangements of the tunes. The | problem that then arises on what software format should be used. I | use "Finale" for my own work and if I recall correctly George used | "Sibelius". ABC is a useful format but very simple and a little | fiddly. So far there isn't a perfect format. Finale and Sibelius use their own proprietary formats, and even if I could parse it in my code, it would be illegal for me to do so. PDF is a bit more legal, but isn't a music format, and things like titles, composers and keys aren't identifiable by software. ABC is very nice from a programmer's point of view, makes all the parts of the music identifiable,and is completely legal, but it's a bare-bones, plain-text notation like this text. It handles "fake-book" notation very nicely, but hardly works at all for keyboard music. | Free is a word that I love but it is unreasonable to accept that | people should be not rewarded for work done. Much of the future is with computerized documents, but we already have enough history to know that books are not becoming obsolete. There are uses for both. In the tech part of the publishing industry, people have found that putting a book online as PDF doesn't hurt sales; it's good advertising and often increases sales of the book. We have a lot of evidence now that the same is true of recorded music. But we don't know if this will be true of printed music. I suspect it will be true only for "good" printed music. For example, musicians will stop buying books that won't lie flat on their music stand. And a good, readable layout on the page will increase purchases. Printed music that's not "good" such ways will mostly result in musicians just using the electronic form, reformatting and printing single pages on their own. | George, please keep up the good work. If we encourage friends to buy his book, maybe he'll be encouraged. I know of a few people who have bought one after I showed them my copy. But it's not easy to get here in the US. I wonder if we could get it into amazon's listings? -- What if the Hoky Poky really IS what it's all about?
A little story to illustrate how useful Originally Ours can be. I tend to make up David's folder of original tunes for dances. A couple of weeks ago I was doing one for a group which has a regular series of dances. I made up the programme and put it in David's case and we went away to the dance. David set up his equipment, then pulled out his music. He looked at the programme for the night and looked through his music and asked me where the music was for "The Frisky" (the first dance that night). I thought "I don't remember that being on the programme", so had a look at the programme. I had managed to make up the programme for the dance four weeks after the one that David was playing for. Luckily, he keeps his copy of Originally Ours in his music case, so we were able to dance most of the dances to the correct music. I think he has just about forgiven me now, but there were some daggers being thrown from the stage that night!!! So thanks George, it is a great resource. Seonaid Markinch, Fife --------------------------------- The all-new Yahoo! Mail goes wherever you go - free your email address from your Internet provider.
