Hi, me again. Somewhere on the FAQ you put gnu-misc-discuss instead of gnu-music-discuss. Also I can answer the sheet music copyright one, having looked into this a lot myself because I'm partially sighted and need to enlarge music: There are several aspects to sheet music copyright: 1. The music itself - copyright for the composer's life plus 70 years (so not applicable to Bach). 2. If the music is an arrangement, then the arranger holds copyright on that arrangement. However, you can produce your own arrangement using that arrangement as a reference point. Obviously your arrangement must be sufficently different to be called your own arrangement - you need to do more than change one note! 3. In some countries, the same applies for editions. This could be relevant to the Bach example. If a modern person has edited the music, then they hold the copyright on the edition. This does not stop you from removing the editorial features - remove all editorial slurs, phrasemarks, ornaments etc and only leave those that you know to be original. You can then add some of your own if you want to be your own editor. 4. If there are lyrics, then the lyricist also holds copyright. This does not stop you from using the music without the lyrics if it is otherwise out of copyright. 5. The copyright of the printed page is held by the publisher for 30 years after printing (25 in some countries). This stops you from photocopying (unless it's "fair use" eg. you're partially sighted and need to enlarge the music) or otherwise reproducing the typesetting that is used on it. But the copyright is only held over the typesetting work, not the music itself. Since Mudela specifies the notes, independently of any typesetting work that went into your reference copy, you are not duplicating any of the publisher's work. 6. If you want to violate copyright, there are two main cases where you may do so: fair use, and with permission. The former is rather fuzzily defined, but it includes such things as including small extracts of a score in a critique, and making a large print or Braille copy for a blind or partially-sighted performer (many people argue that in this case it should always be kept with the original copy and/or destroyed after it is no longer needed). The latter is obvious: You can always write to the composer, arranger, editor, lyricist or publisher in question and ask if you can do whatever it is you're trying to do. Some will respond more readily than others, but anything that they say will override any copyright that they held. Regards -- Silas S Brown, St John's College Cambridge UK http://www.biosys.net/silas/ (Not using my usual mail program) "Let us not become egotistical, stirring up competition with one another, envying one another" - Galatians 5:26
