[HANASHIR:12774] Some copyright advise

[Marsha Fensin <mfsings...>]

HI all,
    I need some sage advise from all of you.  I try to be conscientious
about copyright law, buying all the music I need for programs, sevices,
etc. plus I have been trying to educate my congregation about the need
for a sufficient music budget in order to do so.
    However, when it comes to using a piece from a collection that is
not available as a single, I copy it and put it in the organist's book,
etc. Sometimes, the arrangement is either my own or something I have
picked up at a Jewish music conference that was handed out or part of a
piece of Nusach from a larger volume that, for practical purposes, needs
to be copied.  If at all possible I try to contact the composer as well.

    My organist has suddenly become ultra conscious of all of this and
last Friday night insisted on playing  all the pieces in their original
books.  He had quite a collection scattered around him.  For Friday
nights and Shabbat mornings, there are not that many pieces, but, for
the High Holidays, I can see this becoming overwhelming with all the
different pieces we use.
    My question:  What do you all do about the sometimes overwhelming
number of places that the music for a particular service might come
from.  I have always thought that a nice, neat 3 ring binder with music
all the same size would be the neatest, most convenient thing for both
accompanists and singers.  My organist is saying that everything should
be played from the original source. Imagine-he had the Union Songster,
the Gates of Song, NFTY in Harmony, etc. spread out all over the organ
and turned to each piece in turn to play them all.  It was quite a
juggling act.      What do you all out there do, especially you
keyboardist and organists.  How do you arrange your music for ease of
use and still be in compliancewwith the spirit of copyright law.  Any
and allof  your comments would be appreciated
Marsha




------------------------ hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org -----------------------+