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Legal issues for contestDate: February 2, 2012 by Shelley Kline  Views: 1541
I have 2 questions about music for solo/ensemble contest. Firstly, I have a student who got an arrangement of "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" online. On the bottom of the page, it says "Copies may be made for non-commercial use." I'm in Minnesota and I think we're pretty picky about using published music but this piece was published....just to the internet, not a book per se. What do you think? Can the student use the piece?
Secondly, I have a small group of girls (The Chambermaids!) who are singing a 4 pt. "O Musick dein ganz." This is a publshed octavo but I have them sing it a cappella...as it should be performed. However, there is a piano part in the music. Our rules state that things that are to be accompanied must be accompanied or the group will be disqualified. I looked on cpdl.org but all versions are SATB and have somewhat different texts.
Anyone have any ideas about these questions?
Thanks so much,
Shelley Kline
John Howell on February 2, 2012 9:38am
Shelley: Those are not in fact legal questions. They are questions about the policy your own governing association has adopted and is prepared to enforce. Therefore we can't help you. You should contact whoever is in charge of the judging this year and simply ask.
Your questions are good ones, mind you! And organizations that adopt simplistic, one-size-fits-all policies are going to get bitten by exactly such questions sooner rather than later. But if you're choosing to compete, you're stuck with the policies and rules that exist, whether they're intelligent or simplistic.
To your second question, if the piano part is "for rehearsal only" or simply doubles the voice parts, it is not an "accompaniment." But that's just my opinion, and you still need a ruling from the judges.
All the best,
John
on February 3, 2012 5:13am
Shelley,
I had a group of girls perform "Come Thou Fount" from the internet 2 years ago. it was a trio. I did contact the arranger and she wrote a permission slip for me to hand to the judges.
Rita Sapp
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