Among the many resources for acquiring printed music today is downloading sheet music from various websites. The
practice of downloading music from the internet is infrequent at this point, although it may become more popular with
teachers and their students.
Because the Piano Exam program (and MMTA, generally) has a strict rule prohibiting the
use of photocopied repertoire, this article addresses the verification of legitimately obtained music for purposes of
the exam.
As you are probably aware, several websites offer free printed music as non-copyrighted or public domain works which
some of you may use to fulfill syllabus needs for piano exams. Other websites sell sheet music for instant download
and usually include “permission granted to...” or “copyright granted to…” which prints at the bottom of each page of
the music. This article will not go into the names or legitimacy of the various websites, which is rather complex and
certainly beyond our scope.
In order to respect a composer's copyright and to protect ourselves as teachers, and MMTA, from copyright infringement, the Piano Exam Program is
requiring compliance regarding downloaded sheet music. Basically, piano exams will use the same policy adopted by
the Young Artist Program.
If your student is using printed music from a website, the MMTA Music Release Form included in this article will be
available at the exam site and will need to be signed by a parent of the student before testing. Please make your
student aware of this extra step on exam day.
Although the form contains a lot of legalese, it is essentially declaring the music has been obtained without copyright
infringement and without holding MMTA responsible in any capacity.
No comments:
Post a Comment