Re: Whammer-Jammer Tablature

[Bobbie Giordano <bobg@xxxxxxxxx>]

Er... Um...  Mail check.  Just in, I see:

At 12:10 AM 9/11/2003 +0100, Douglas Tate wrote:
>
>Coolrays sounds like someone I know!
>
>For the record.  On behalf of SPAH I asked for permission from
Coast2Coast 
>John Watts to  publish this in the 40th Anniversary  edition of
Harmonica 
>Happenings.  I asked because I couldn't find hide nor tail of Rick
Barker 
>who I knew a few years ago but had lost contact with. (He wrote out
the tab)
>John gave permission having said that he didn't know where Rick was
either.

Hoo boy.  Opinion[s] to follow...

>Knowing what a nice guy he is/was  hoped he wouldn't mind
>Hmmm ... I still owe him a steak, now I owe him for this, and he
owes me 
>for doing up his harmonica and ....

Hey... I remember that! ;)

>That's the story.
>
>Douglas Tate
>President ... SPAH
>(AND FALL GUY)

Agreed... sort of.

Doug was responding to this...
Cinnamon Reive <coolrays@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>That tab was written for a friend a long time ago and was never
meant for 
>>public consumption. You absolutely have to know the song well for
the tab 
>>to be useful. It was written before we could dump a song from CD to
our 
>>computer and play it back at half speed or slower to learn it.
>>
>>It was emailed privately to a couple of harp-ler's several years
ago and 
>>now it's showing up on web sites and in print. It is not in the
public 
>>domain and Coast to Coast Music are the only folks that have
permission to 
>>post it and that's because they asked.

And I was just about to post on this.  One difference for me, though,
is the permission given as mentioned above; yet, it doesn't really
alter my take on things; and even jibes.  So... as I had begun to
say..... :)

>>>>>>>

Ok... my turn.  My comp died... I'm on "Old Pokey" -- Win98, no
soundcard, no CD-R, no DVD... but THIS is one area I just have to
wrangle this sad, tired computer into semi-cooperation.

Several things... first:  I thought for sure the world was coming to
an abrupt end when I noted a new subject onlist, authored by [!?!]
Vern, concerning the TAB for "Whammer Jammer".  Once composure
regained, I realized it was only our old nemesistic comrade flailing
at windmills again.  ;)  I see his points, feel his pain, and so on.
But I must inject... if no need ever existed for tab, had it never
had a place in the universe, then surely, standard notation would
have won the day hands down.  Yet, even in the presence of standard
notation, as Mojo Red points out, tab can help illuminate the
composer's intent in ways found lacking in SN alone.  Therefore, if I
see tab, I personally PREFER to see it [blasphemous as it may seem,]
in conjunction with SN, because it likens to adding adjectives,
adverbs, metaphors, similes, and so forth to basic language,
providing hints for adding color, mood, emphasis, vocalizations, and
more via expressive instrumental execution and techniques.  And all
the while, the tab reader is subtly being exposed to sightreading
standard notation.  Why not?

If anything, perhaps more instrumentalists would benefit from their
own individualized "tab notes" accompanying the more generic printed
music they normally read.  Certainly, I think, it might assist the
authors of the music in insinuating the style or feeling of what
they've written for others to interpret.  And after all, where does
one think the encyclopedic array of terms such as Allegro, Legato,
Adagio, Largo, etc., etc. [into 50% of the Italian language ;)]
sprang from?  The need to imply more meaning than what is found in
the black dots, flags, rests, bars, etc.!  Ooooh... and what about
that long wavy line to indicate a trill???  Tsk, tsk!  Sacrilege!  ;)

On the second issue, as Doug indicated, Rick, an outstanding,
underrated and original, thinking and resourceful harmonica player,
songwriter and more, is who compiled this tab for Whammer Jammer, and
of which, with his express permission, I sent out several beautifully
detailed GIF images in the earlier and even recent years of Harp-L
and other lists.  This particular version, however, was not so long
ago a source or irritation and seemingly anger for Rick, because it
appeared on the C2C website, [supposedly without prior consent?]
Nothing has yet put it in the "public domain", however, there it is!
As one who constantly rails against all sorts of copyright, first
use, fair use, and various intellectual property right infringements,
I completely concur with how Rick must feel regarding how this one
document is getting mishandled, however well-intended.  Been there,
done that... Got LOTS of t-shirts!!

Oops!!!
>>>>Insert Note:
I gather now that Rick actually has given permission to John Watts at
C2C for publication of the Whammer Jammer tab.  However, my comments
above were based on a Harp-L post by Rick, August 1, 2003, expressing
discontent over the tab being published without permission... Quote:

>I wouldn't have had a problem if it had been posted on a 
>non-commercial site or if I had been asked. 
<...>
- --- John Watts <coast2coastmusic@xxxx> wrote:
>You can see Rick's tab here:
>
>http://www.coast2coastmusic.com/diatonic/whammerjammer.shtml

I apologize if I was mistaken.  But, let me continue...
>>>>

So, not only do I side with him with respect to the publishing on
C2C's site, I have to take issue with .... ahem ... my partner!

At 11:41 PM 9/10/2003 +0100, Douglas Tate wrote:
>
>We published it because I asked for it to be published :))

And a good item to publish, I agree.  But, sorry... the one to ask
was not, however, C2C.  They do not have a right to transfer
publication rights of what others have let them publish at their site
without those owners' express permission to do so... unless
publishing rights were themselves transferred, which I doubt in this
case.

It's still Rick's creation, and even if there had been permission
given, that's who should have been contacted first.  I've had his
address awhile, as has also [apparently?] C2C and another person or
two I know.  It might then have been learned whether the document was
published with or without his permission; also, a supremely better
copy would probably have been obtained for publication in HH.  I have
one such copy, in fact, but was not approached.  However, if I had
been, I would have still checked with Rick first, because this is
beyond what he told me I was entitled to do [i.e., send it to those
individual harpers asking for a copy of the tab.]  No, this is
"publication"... a whole different matter, whether on the Net, in a
magazine, newspaper article, whatever.  We SPAH folks might be lucky
that Rick's not surrounded by a dozen high-priced lawyers [Um... I
don't think so, anyway!] 

>If you have a better version it may be a good idea to publish 
>that.

No, I have to disagree completely, as stated above.

>However, this was the version on the Coast2Coast website and was 
>done by Rick Barker, a much underrated harp player and erstwhile 
>friend who I have lost contact with.

Credit was given, but not the opportunity to decide whether to allow
the tab's publication elsewhere.  If anything at Harp-L, we must take
care to avert injustice to our fellow harmonicists, and speak out
where it has already occurred, with not just correction, but
education as the goal.  While I'm at it, I might as well squeeze this
in:

At 08:46 PM 9/10/2003 -0400, Gatorharp@xxxxxxx wrote:
>i get the insinuation here, and this isn't meant to be smart-alecky, 
>but is my tab of someone else's song really ~my~ intellectual
property? 
>especially if i didn't ask the original artist.

Point taken, so consider... If I paint a picture of Little Walter's
likeness, does that mean I have to get his permission to sell it on
eBay?  Or... if Doug takes one of Larry Adler's harmonicas,
customizes it a bit, but keeps all the parts in it, does that mean he
can't sell it and claim it was originally played by Larry Adler?
[Actually, I own it, and I ain't sellin'!! ;)]  And, of course I
ask... how do we get their permission??  Intellectual property rights
can paint a wide swath, as perpetual court tests illustrate so well
these days.

One last point... It seems long ago when I first met Rick and
discussed this tabulature, which I understand was given to Joe
Filisko, [Rick will surely correct me if I'm wrong! :)] who has since
done up his own version, and of which I also have a copy.  I may
still give out Rick's version, unless he changes his mind on the
matter, but Joe asks my protection of his version from distribution
without his knowledge.  I abide by the wishes of both my friends.

Nevertheless... Tab does have its place.
It makes no sense to me for harmonica aficionados to denegrate any
method that serves to get people playing the instrument.  If that's
what works for them, what's wrong with that?

=[BOBBIE]=
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