Re: [h2o-discuss] Not all music are the same...

["Tuyet A. Ngoc Tran" <tatn2000@yahoo.com>]

Thanks (EE,RT) for sharing your thoughts regarding the
issues of artists "plagiarizing" their own works and,
the copyright infringement. I think these lawsuits
occured more readily among the popular music and
musical theater songwriters where there is an enormous
amount of money involved in this industry.

My initial response derived from a classical musical
training background.  Therefore, as I previously wrote
that I could only discussed as a composer but,
neglected to mention the specific type of music. My
hope is that I don't wake up one morning in the 21st
century to find that the New York Times reporting on:
Boosey and Hawkes publishing house has decided to sue
some of the currently popular famous singers who had
literally stolen musical lines from Sergei
Rachmaninoff. This is a blatant copyright infringement
issue, is it not?

BTW, this borrowing process has gone on for quite some
time now. Movie scores is another area where musical
lines have been taken and used liberally. In many
instances, when the so-called "composers" or
"songwriters" would inevitably claim that they have
merely re-arranged public domain property.  After all,
a couple of lines from the second movement of
Rachmaninoff's piano concerto No.2 isn't exactly
something that most people would necessarily picked up
those two measures from the original score. I am more
than certain that famous classical music publishing
houses are aware of this endemic problem just as any
music student, such as myself and my friends.  

Boosey and Hawkes is a venerable publishing house for,
and owned the copyrights of many known composers such
as Bela Bartok, Sergei Prokofieff, Sergei Rachmaninoff
and others. Numerous popular songs have lifted lines
from Claude Debussy although, Rachmaninoff's works
seem to be lifted most frequently. To date, as far as
I know, there haven't been any pending lawsuits from
classical composers, publishing houses and major
recording labels in this category addressing to any of
these popular music singers. My concern deals with 
classical, contemporary classical music and multimedia
music installations. For example, when Alexander
Borodin (1833-1887) died while composing the opera
Prince Igor, composers, Nicolay Rimsky-Korsakoff and
Alexander Glazunov completed the four-act opera for
Borodin. Debussy, Ravel, Stravinsky, Hindemith, and
Milhaud imitated the rhythms of jazz, typical
harmonies clearly influenced by George Gershwin. In
reverse, Duke Ellington's composition Black, Brown and
Beige used complex symphonic orchestration of his
European contemporaries, albeit classical music
composers. 

Composers Young, Riley, Glass, Reich, and Adams have a
great deal in common enough to be known as Minimalists
which, constituted a musical school of thinking.
Philip Glass's works are more popular and known among
non-concert audience. John Adams's works ranked as the
most frequently performed music by the national
orchestration organization and overseas. To date, as
far as I know, neither composer tried to edge the
other out in his turf, sort to speak or their
recording labels fought over the revenues due to the
same Minimalism concepts. 

My concern is about the spillover restrictions,
lawsuits, and disputes from popular music to affect
the legal system that might encompass other form of
music mentioned above. At the moment, there aren't
enough societal and financial support for young
artists to develop their talents. These people pursue
their passion for performing and composing music in
spite of the uncertainty of financial rewards. It is
my hope that these legal maneuverings in the popular
music industry would not become a murky body of law
adversely affecting the creativity of contemporary
classical music. 

I understood both viewpoints and/or implicit messages,
expressed by other discussants insofar as the United
States is concerned. I once wrote about how many
American musicians and/or composers have chosen to
become expatriates in Europe in order to pursue their
professions. That is another choice for some but, not
others who choose to struggle through in the US. 

Contemporary classical music composers do not need to
be driven away or be intimidated by the possibility
that in the US s/he will be somehow be sued for her/is
original musical lines due to some songwriter's
inventive lifting of her/is work in the future. The
proliferation of lawsuits can still be regulated by
the judicial process somewhere along the line. That is
where an informed public will help a great deal rather
than, resigning to cynicism or worse, indifferences. 

One last point, EE & RT are referring to
musicians/songwriters who wrote music for hired,
presumably fallen under a different category than the
average contemporary classical music composer who
compose works not knowing whether s/he will ever get
to hear the works live or not. It is in the latter
category that I have been referring to in my previous
discussion and this one as well.  

Furthermore, these composers regardless of experience
in life, will compose at home on her/is desk or
outside, on a parkbench, or wherever that's convenient
to write and not requiring and needing a piano. I grew
up composing works that I don't hear live performances
until well into my adulthood. I also went back to my
original scores and reshaped these works, submit these
works for copyright along with all the previous
versions. The process of registering my written scores
and sound recordings is something that I've learned on
my own. To date, I have only written for commissioned
projects where the benefactors and performers have
granted copyrights to the composer. After all, my
field of music isn't exactly competing with rappers,
rock-n-roll, new age, show tunes, and so on.
Therefore, it's important that the public such the
discussants and readers of this forum will give the
contemporary classical music composers and performers
a helping hand by extending their understanding and
future support to countless unknown works to be
performed and heard. You can help promoting rather
than critiquing from wherever you are.  

I think many of us are aware that we run the risk of a
continual struggling life therefore, some of us are
versatile to the sources of work for self-support.
Just as a ballet dancer in training, s/he doesn't know
whether s/he will ever even make it to the big league
of say, ABT or NYB but, that dancer continues to train
as if her/is life depends on it.

If my writing to this panel seems to indicate that I'm
oblivious to the 'real' worldly machinations, well, I
am learning but, I am not ready to be cynical and
resigning yet. Music was a gift that my parents gave
to me. I am mindful of the pratical needs just as
everyone else But, I also continue to compose and
write with the full hope that someday, my works will
be heard and shared with others in the 21st century. 

Tuyet



===
Tuyet A. Tran
_________________________ 
Life shrinks and expands in proportion to one's courage.
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Et la democratie? En depit des illusions de certains Etats,
il n'existe aucun environnement propice la democratie sous 
le regime des sanctions.
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