On Friday 27 December 2002 04:21 pm, Frank Nordberg wrote:
> Ed Skinner wrote:
> > Can I make my own lead sheets to use when performing even though the
> > chords, melody and lyrics are identical to those in a copyrighted work
> > such as The Real Book or other published source? (This would be "for
> > convenience" rather than having to carry around half a dozen books.)
>
> Strictly speaking you can't, but who's gonna check?
> If you want to be absolutely safe, you can make your own copies, but
> keep the originals backstage so that you can produce them if anybody
> should actually ask.
Thanks for the comments, Frank.
Several years ago my wife, myself, and two others were Christmas
Caroling at a local store. We performed our four-part arrangements from books
cobbled together with photocopies. Yeah, that's a definate "No-No."
Anyway, a (over?) zealous individual from the audience (er, a customer
of the store) took great pains to get a look at our book, presumably to
confirm they were photocopies. He smilingly asked for our business card and
then contacted the local ASCAP organization. Contacted by them, we, in turn,
immediately realized the error of our ways and destroyed the books (which we
had memorized by then, anyway). Luckily, the store that had hired us was 100%
paid up for live and recorded music used in the store so there were no actual
"damages" suffered by the composers or arrangers.
Regardless, I'm now very wary of showing my book.
--
Ed Skinner, [EMAIL PROTECTED], http://www.flat5.net/
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