Sheet Music

[reich_fan]

Hi,

I play guitar and usually download the sheet music (tab) from the net. I recently started playing the piano again, and was wondering if its possible to get Steve Reich sheet music for free on the net. I'm particularly interested in getting the sheet music or midi for - Six Pianos, Six Marimbas and Nagoya Marimbas.

I'm just a bit confused as to why guitar music is legally available of the Internet and contempory classical is not - I can find Bach, and Mozart and all that for free, but not Steve Reich.

 

[jake-owa]

Classical music is waaay past the copyright which is a limited time thing. I believe it is the lifetime of the author for music, I could be wrong.

Tab is available because most guitar tab you find is transcribed by people for fun and is not guaranteed correct. In other words it is a guess.

 

[dafduc]

The waiting time keeps changing - there's a 95-years-from-date-of-composition rule now, but life of the composer may play into it as well.

Guitar transcription issues are a little fuzzier, I think. A SONG is a melody and lyrics, and copyrightable. An ARRANGEMENT is everything else, and also copyrightable. But chord changes are neither, really, so chord tab is probably safe. If you're tabbing melody (for a song that is still under copyright), it's as illegal as it would be if it were sheet music. Same with posting lyrics.

I don't know about transcribing solos, though. Wouldn't a solo be a melody, and hence copyrightable? Anyone know?