Saved by the Computer!

I found Thursday’s discussion about music copyright laws to be quite interesting. How can one claim a certain progression of chords or a short melodic fragment as their creation? It’s one thing to take someone’s music and change the lyrics, or take large portions of someone’s lyrics and change the music, but if it’s just something that vaguely reminds the listener of another piece of music…. I don’t really know where the line should be drawn. Liechtenstein has the same music, just different words, as England for their national anthem. Did they have to ask permission before borrowing that melody? I guess it depends on when it was done: whether the composer was still alive, and what the copyright laws were at the time. Then the Americans borrowed that same melody for My Country Tis of Thee. Was anyone given credit for that melody? Were the Brits referenced or thanked? How many people thought that music was newly composed, just for that situation?

            On a completely different note… I have to say how grateful I was this weekend for technology. I’m currently sitting in the Ottawa airport, on my way to New York for my audition. As I was packing last night…I know, I know, I shouldn’t have left it to the last minute…I discovered that my metronome was dead. “Why does she need a metronome for a musical theatre audition?” you may ask. Seeing as I won’t have a piano to use as a pitch reference for warming up, I figured I would use the chromatic pitches that my metronome sounds instead. Alas the batteries were dead, and so were the only other two triple-A’s I could find in the house. In a state of desperation, I pounded out pitches on my piano and recorded them onto my computer. Into iTunes they went, and subsequently onto my iPod. Success, I still have a warm-up method. Thank you technology!
              As an after thought, I hope I haven't violated any copyright laws...the creator of the chromatic scale may have a problem with this. [sarcasm!]