Adapted or modified musical arrangements

[gwyn]

I've often wondered...

Suppose, just suppose a choir had copies of a particular piece of choral music, sufficient copies for each member, the MD and the accompanist. The piece has a four-part chorus and a two-part verse.

Where would they stand legally/morally if they were to create a slightly modified version of this piece so as to include four parts in the verse too? Would this be a complete no-no? Or is it acceptable to do this?

Also, would it be ok to make new copies of an adapted/modified arrangement of equal number to those already purchased?

As ever, your thoughts and comments are appreciated.

Gwyn.

[Nick Baty]

At risk of correction, I always thought it was OK to make arrangements to suit local forces as long as copies were not circulated outside your own community. In other words, I can't send you a copy of my SAB Coventry Gloria. Having said that, I usually just drop the composer a line and have never had a refusal.

[gwyn]

Thanks Nick. Letting the composer know does makes a lot of sense.

[Nick Baty]

Although I must confess to having done terrible things with Allegri's Miserere without asking him!

[gwyn]

I'd give him a ring, he's really touchy about that sort of thing.

[Southern Comfort]

I do this all the time....

An example: Stephen Dean's "Lord, your love has drawn us near" — a great piece, but the choir parts in the refrain can easily put off the assembly. I therefore always do the refrain in unison and use my own (brilliant!) SATB version of Stephen's original unison verses. Works very well.

[Hare]

I do this all the time....

An example: Stephen Dean's "Lord, your love has drawn us near" — a great piece, but the choir parts in the refrain can easily put off the assembly. I therefore always do the refrain in unison and use my own (brilliant!) SATB version of Stephen's original unison verses. Works very well.

An excellent example. We've never done the choir parts in the refrain, and I am lucky to have some good sight-readers with musical perception who can fudge some harmony from the verse accompaniment. We do this in other ostensibly unison things, eg "Be still for the presence".

We also sometimes follow a suggestion of Chris Walker's, and go into improvised harmony for the last note of an alleluia or psalm response.

(Our cantors sometimes improvise unintentionally by swapping psalm tones mid-psalm! )

[alan29]

What about adapting well loved mass settings to accommodate the new "translation?" I'm sure that with just a little tweaking the Celtic Mass ........... nothing written down, a local "oral tradition" you see.

[musicus]

I think that both the Celtic Mass and the Celtic Liturgy have already been modified to accommodate the new texts. Take a look at the OCP website.

[Nick Baty]

Alas, I think it's only the former.
The latter (which is so very popular) doesn't appear.

[John Ainslie]

I do this all the time....

An example: Stephen Dean's "Lord, your love has drawn us near" — a great piece, but the choir parts in the refrain can easily put off the assembly. I therefore always do the refrain in unison and use my own (brilliant!) SATB version of Stephen's original unison verses. Works very well.

My rule of thumb is this: if you are using a copyright piece in any way, fulfil the stated copyright requirements if at all possible, e.g. by buying it. This fulfils the law and justice required by the copyright owners. If arrangement is then required by local resources (or the lack of them), then so be it, including copying and printing all or part up to the number of copies which you have bought or obtained permission for.

For instance, for the pre-Midnight Mass Vigil last Christmas, my choir sang a simplified version of Herbert Howells' 'A spotless rose'. For clarity (some of my elderly choir have poor eyesight) I wrote out (using music software) and printed as much of the whole piece as we were using, up to the number of copies of the original in my music store.

[alan29]

I do this all the time....

An example: Stephen Dean's "Lord, your love has drawn us near" — a great piece, but the choir parts in the refrain can easily put off the assembly. I therefore always do the refrain in unison and use my own (brilliant!) SATB version of Stephen's original unison verses. Works very well.

My rule of thumb is this: if you are using a copyright piece in any way, fulfil the stated copyright requirements if at all possible, e.g. by buying it. This fulfils the law and justice required by the copyright owners. If arrangement is then required by local resources (or the lack of them), then so be it, including copying and printing all or part up to the number of copies which you have bought or obtained permission for.

For instance, for the pre-Midnight Mass Vigil last Christmas, my choir sang a simplified version of Herbert Howells' 'A spotless rose'. For clarity (some of my elderly choir have poor eyesight) I wrote out (using music software) and printed as much of the whole piece as we were using, up to the number of copies of the original in my music store.

I am genuinely jealous.