Re: music sharing and intellectual property

[LSalvay <LSalvay...>]

Just fyi, the Shalom Aleichem in question is not the I. Goldfarb version, but
a new one taught by Debbie Friedman at Hava Nashira earlier this month. I'm
not sure she attributed it to a particular composer (it's definitely not her
own composition), but she said that carloads of Borough Park residents drive
around singing this very lively, infectious, foot-stomping, table thumping
rendition out their car windows. Interesting that Debbie, whose music/lyric
copyrights seem to be a major point of discussion here, taught a number of
songs at Hava Nashira for which she had no information on the composer --
saying simply, "It was written by someone." If she can use that approach in
the name of songleading, why not the rest of us? Of course, it is by far
preferable to attribute authorship, but lack of such information shouldn't
preclude the teaching and singing of good music. It is, after all, "what we
do."