Raymond Horton wrote:
Another thought:
For another way of thinking of these yodels, compare them to theme and
variations, like "Carnival of Venice." For each of these tunes,
everybody (Amish) in Adams County sings the tune, then does variations
(the yodels). Everybody knows "Carnival of Venice, " nobody owns it,
but Arbans wrote the best set of variations, but his might have been
based on earlier ones. Fannie K. (the woman on the recordings) is the
Arban of the yodels, but her versions only exist on records. Even if
she owns her set of variations, which she might, does she own "Carnival
of Venice?"
Carnival of Venice is public domain, nobody owns it, many other
composers have written their own sets of variations on it with no fear
of breaking Arban's long-expired copyright.
So as long as you can discern the original "theme" and can sort out any
"variations" you are free to use the themes as you see fit without
paying any royalties.
--
David H. Bailey
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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