[Harp-L] Plagiarism - Observations and Questions

[Robert Coble <robertpcoble@xxxxxxxx>]

Glenn Weiser (is Weiser pronounced "Weezer" or "Wiser"?) posed an
interesting question regarding plagiarism of a complete note-for-note
solo from one song, inserted into another song and passed off AS IF
IT WAS ORIGINAL IMPROVISATION - without acknowledgement or attribution
to the original artist/song.

If I got the gist of Glenn's argument correctly, it seems that he
was artistically (and perhaps legally) offended by the attempt to
pass off a COMPLETE classical solo (NOT a riff or lick) as ORIGINAL
improvisation by playing it inside a different song, with no attribution
or acknowledgement to the audience. Personally, I think it was tacky
and low-class (regardless of the fame or skill of the player), but I don't
think it was illegal. I don't think it would have hurt the performance to
acknowledge the source, but then, I wasn't there.

I also think that the majority of the audience most likely did not recognize
that the solo had been copied note-for-note from some other famous solo.
Most people don't have the musical ability to hear individual "wrong" notes,
much less discern that an entire solo has been copied into a new context.

I, for one, am just as amazed at Glenn's (and others) ability to
identify (in a live performance) a complete note-for-note solo
(not a quote) that runs for more than 4 bars. That seems to indicate
(to me) that Glenn has memorized note-for-note at least some of the
many Little Walter's solos (and others, probably) that he was (is?)
planning to publish (hopefully soon!).

I know in the realm of chess that masters can often "quote" entire
games from memory - and sometimes (often?) do, for a number of reasons
- none of which seem artistically acceptable to patzers (German:
bungler) like me. I guess I had not stopped to consider that "masters"
of the harp could do (much less actually did) the same thing.

As a patzer harp player, I'm advised in almost all tutorial material
to study the masters, to learn their riffs/licks VERBATIM, in order to
(eventually, hopefully) learn to develop my own unique "style" or "voice"
using those very same memorized riffs/licks.

Given a particular song with a particular solo, and given that I'm
supposed to spend my formative years learning to copy this material
note-for-note, could I copy this solo into another song if I felt that
it "fit"? Is there not at least some artistic talent involved in finding
a new setting for an old diamond (assuming that the copied solo actually
fit the new song)? 

Even more pertinent for us patzers, are we in danger of violating someone's
copyright or offending someone's artistic sensibilities when we use a book
to learn, and we learn to play the songs note-for-note as given in the book?
If a master publishes a book of arrangements of songs for harmonica, with
note-for-note tablature, are we supposed to learn the song note-for-note and
then, prior to performing that song, stop everybody and acknowledge our
plagiarism? Or, are we supposed to creatively improvise our own variation
on-the-fly, even though our technique is insufficient to do this? Or, are we
to just not play anything in public until we develop our playing ability
sufficiently to create a new and original variation from the smorgasbord of
riffs/licks we've memorized?

In the interest of proper attribution, I use the following book (as one of
several reference books) to learn traditional bluegrass tunes. I have
actually tried to learn to play some of them note-for-note (gasp!). When
gigging at a bluegrass jam or church, I don't try to play Glenn's
arrangements note-for-note when I take a break (I play by ear) - but I don't
waste any time or effort trying to avoid it either. I just go where I think
the melody wants to go, based on what I've learned, sometimes playing around
the melody rather than the exact melody. (That drives my older brother nuts;
he is a superb sheet reading pianist; he'll tell me afterwards that I hit
"wrong" notes while I was soloing - my bad! I should have copied it
note-for-note, I guess!)

"Irish and American Fiddle Tunes for Harmonica" (CD Included)
by Glenn Weiser
ISBN 0-931759-10-2
Copyright 1998 Centerstream Publishing/Hal Leonard

Thanks to Glenn and all of you masters who provide instructional material!

Regards,
Crazy ('bout harp!) Bob