Who Owns the Tunes?: An Exploration of Composition Ownership in Irish Traditional Music
Written and donated by Margaret Farrell (CUNY) July 1, 2003
I have been struggling with the concept of tune ownership in Irish
traditional music ever since reading Anthony McCann's article "All
That is Not Given is Lost: Irish Traditional Music, Copyright and
Common Property." (EM 45/1: 89-106). He proposes to "address issues of
gift and commodity, ultimately concluding that grass-roots Irish
traditional music transmission rests upon an as yet unarticulated
system of gift or sharing." (McCann 2001: 89). I looked forward to
enlightenment regarding this system and the transmission he mentions.
Unfortunately, there turned out to be little talk of the music itself
and more about commons theory. I finished the article still unclear
about the Irish conception of composition ownership regarding Irish
traditional music.
Frustrated with McCann's comparison of the Irish session to the
kula exchange of Papua New Guinea, I began to search for discussions
of similar musical situations and how they might deal with the issue
of ownership. I found surprisingly few that dealt with ownership and
those that did were more often regarding ritual situations that are
quite different from the informal entertainment function of Irish
traditional music. It appears that although this subject has become
an important and even an urgent one for some musical communities it
is still understudied. Anthony Seeger expressed such concerns in his
1992 article on "Ethnomusicology and Music Law" (EM 36/2). He tells
of a questionnaire sent out by the International Council for Traditional
Music's Copyright Committee. Among its questions were ones regarding
traditional notions of ownership. Not only did they get very few
responses, "many of those who did respond appeared to know little
about music ownership in either of their communities." (Seeger 1992: 346).
I believe this is, as Seeger suggests, an important element to study
in musical cultures and that effective copyright strategies cannot be
developed without a clear understanding of ownership within a musical
community and thus what kind of copyright protection is needed.
I think there are three areas of inquiry that can help to more clearly
define composition ownership in Irish traditional music. First, we can
look at what is said about the origins of tunes, both those that are
routinely labeled as 'traditional' on liner notes of recordings and
those with known composers. The second area of inquiry is closely
related to the first in that it involves both the perceived origins
and the future of the tunes. These are the processes of 're-creation'
through which new tunes are generated. The third area of usage relates
to the second. What about actual practice? How do performers use the
tunes?
Tunes labeled as 'traditional' belong to the general canon of the
tradition. Their origins may be attributed to the country as a whole
or sometimes even supernatural sources. Caoimhin MacAoidh quotes Donegal
fiddler John Doherty as saying "And the song that the Banshee sang Paddy
had it all learned and it's called Paddy's Rambles Through the Park"
(MacAoidh 1994:72). This is not unlike the line from the Odyssey where
Odysseus says "For singers are given honour and respect by all people
on earth, since the Muse has taught them their songs." (Barker 1985: 29).
Anthony Seeger tells us that the "originator" of a song in Suyá culture
is often "a specific plant, fish or animal species." (Seeger 1992: 348).
In these cases the composition is not created by the individual but
handed to him fully formed. While this may have been a more seriously
considered kind of source for Irish tunes in the past, a player who
told you such a story today would probably do it with a wink.
In his article on "Music' Spirit Possession and the Copyright Law"
Martin Scherzinger reminds us "The idea of an autonomous composer of
an original work can probably be traced to nineteenth century romantic
assumptions about imagination, genius and inspiration."
(Scherzinger 1999: 106). Edward Lowinsky, in his exploration of
the Western concept of genius had earlier reported,
"Nineteenth-century Romanticism is often credited with having
originated the idea of musical genius." (Lowinsky 1989: 41).
However, he goes on to point out what I think is a significant
change in thinking about genius in the writing of the French
philosopher Diderot a century earlier. Lowinsky tells us
"Diderot (1713-84) is credited with changing the concept of
genius from the traditional avoir du génie to the novel être
un génie" (Lowinsky 1989: 46). Here the creativity lies at
last in the individual; they are the source of it rather than
a power outside of them. It appears that such conceptions of
individual genius in composition are quite recent in the thinking
of Irish traditional musicians. More often the genius of an individual
is seen to lie in their interpretation of a composition rather
than in its composition.
Some Irish tunes do have known composers and are routinely credited
to them. The compositions of seventeenth century blind harper
Turlough O'Carolan are noted as well as those of more recent
composers such as Ed Reavy, Charlie Lennon and Tommy Peoples.
However, in light of current copyright controversies it is
important to remember that these composers have not been financially
rewarded for performances of their compositions by other musicians.
In addition, apart from an acknowledgement of their authorship, these
tunes are treated in the same way as tunes with unknown authors.
All the tunes are available to all players.
Notions of communal ownership have appeared in writing about Irish
music as early as 1910 when Francis O'Neill wrote that Irish folk
music was "the common possession of the peasantry" (O'Neill 1910: 288).
In a recent statement, the organization Na Píobairí Uilleann declared,
"Irish music has existed for generations as a 'commons' over which no
one has exclusive rights." (Na Píobairí Uilleann 2001: 116).
The process through which new tunes are created may have something
to do with this conception. The only place in which Anthony McCann
makes reference to this process is in a paper given at a conference
of the International Association for the Study of Common Property.
He quotes Colin Quigley's analysis of fiddler Emile Benoit
commenting that "an acceptance of creativity in traditional
systems, or what we might call composition, does not
automatically mean that we must subscribe to the philosophical,
concept-laden frameworks of 'composer' and 'work' that has been
passed down in the Western Art of Classical music tradition."
(McCann 1998: 7). I agree, but would have liked to see him explore
how this creative process works in Irish traditional music. However,
that is not his focus, as he explains in the introduction to his
dissertation (McCann 2002: ix-xiii).
These are processes related to the concept of tune families first
suggested by Phillips Barry and later explored by Samuel P. Bayard.
Using the family metaphor, these scholars and others have considered
how new tunes are born from older ones. James Cowdery (1990) suggests
three principles at work in this process, those of "outlining",
"conjoining" and "recombining". Breandán Breathnach had earlier
suggested the importance of this process when he wrote,
"it is the re-fashioning and re-creation of the music by the community
that gives it its folk character." (Breathnach 1985: 92).
,p>"Outlining" should not pose a problem of ownership and copyright
as the actual notes of the original tunes may not be used or may be
used with enough notes in between to distinguish the melodies from
one another. Micheál Ó Súilleabháin proposes that "set accented tones"
are an important element in defining a tune, and even when the contour
is maintained in a modal shift of the tune the "relationship in
contour...is still perceived as existing between different tunes
rather than between two settings of the same tune." (Ó Súilleabhain 1990: 124)
"Conjoining" where tunes "have sections in common, while other
sections differ" (Cowdery 1990: 90) causes more of a problem.
The sections in common might come under dispute. Taking an eight-bar
phrase out of one tune and putting it into another is akin to taking
the chorus out of one song and using it in a new one. Such usage in
the pop world would certainly result in a legal tussle.
In the third process of "re-combining", the tunes are "built from
the same basic melodic motifs." (Cowdery 190: 92). These motifs or
melodic gestures form the building blocks of many tunes. They not
only help to define the compositional style of the tunes. They also
aid in the learning process. Tunes containing familiar motifs are
much easier to learn and this may be seen as part of how Irish
traditional musicians are able to acquire repertoires that contain
hundreds of tunes. These motifs may be small enough to escape the
copyright dispute. However, an emphasis on innovation in reaction
to copyright concerns may lead tune composers to shy away from
familiar motifs and may then change the character of the musical
style itself.
We can examine the "conjoining" process by looking at a commonly
played tune that has passed into the general canon. Combing through
my archives for an example, I came upon a recording of "An Buachaillín Buí"
by uilleann piper and collector Séamus Ennis. Peter Browne's liner
notes indicate that the tune is a variant of "the well-known jig"
"The Lark in the Morning". Indeed, The Lark in the Morning is a
commonly played tune and one with which I was quite familiar
as I play it myself. In its contemporary setting it shares one part
with "An Buachaillín Buí". The B part of "An Buachaillín Buí" is nearly
identical to the D part of "The Lark". In addition, there are some
similarities between the A parts of both tunes, particularly in the
cadence at the end of the part.
Further investigation led me to Alan Ng's "Tunography" website
where I found the names of several other related tunes.
Looking into O'Neill's Music of Ireland, I found four tunes that
appear to be closely related to "The Lark".
I. The Lark in the Morning [contemporary setting]
II. The Yellow Little Boy [O'Neill's #706]
III. Galway Tom [O'Neill's #745]
IV. The Goat's Horns [O'Neill's #926]
V. The Spotted Cow [O'Neill's #983]
I also found two tunes
given the title "The Lark in the Morning" that do not bear any relation
to either contemporary settings or the other variants. Interestingly,
these two tunes do bear a close resemblance to "The Lark" that was
recorded by Michael Coleman in 1927.
From a comparison of parts that each tune shares with the
other four, one can see that all the tunes share
what is the D part in "The Lark". It also appears that "Galway Tom"
has the most in common with the contemporary setting of "The Lark"
as they share three parts. "The Little Yellow Boy" (an English
translation of "An Buachaillín Buí") consists of parts D and E of
"Galway Tom" suggesting either an expansion of the former or an excerpt
taken from the latter. "The Goat's Horns" and "The Spotted Cow" are most
closely related to each other, utilizing only one part
(the shared D part) of the other tunes. However, their B
sections might be seen as variations on part D of "Galway Tom" and B of
"The Yellow Little Boy" and even bear some resemblance to the A part of
"The Lark".
Following this analysis it seems much more likely
that The Lark in the Morning evolved out of "Galway Tom" /
"An Buachaillín Buí" than the other way around. Indeed,
Aloys Fleischmann's Sources of Irish Traditional Music
(Fleischmann: 1998) shows that a tune called "Galloway Tom"
appeared in Henry Playford's 1691 publication Apollo's Banquet
and an even earlier tune called "Gallua Tom" was included in an
early seventeenth-century lute manuscript. These early tunes
bear little resemblance to the later ones. It is not until
O'Farrell's Collection of National Irish Music for the Union
Pipes in 1804 that recognizable parts appear. The A and C
parts of "The Boughlee Buee"/"Gallaway Tom" included there are
similar enough to the D and B parts of "The Lark" to call them
the same parts. This then accounts for all four parts of the
current setting of "The Lark in the Morning". In addition, the
B part appears to be related to the B sections of "The Goat's
Horns" and "The Spotted Cow".
In this evolution from "Galloway Tom" to "The Lark in the Morning"
parts have been reordered and discarded. New parts have appeared
which probably evolved from variations on the existing parts but
may also have been either newly composed or borrowed from another tune.
It is important to note here that parts may also be added to a tune
while retaining the same title.
Some individual must have composed "Galloway Tom" but in what
sense is that individual the composer of "The Lark in the Morning"?
So many hands and minds have applied themselves to the tune over
the centuries that I think they all have some claim to the composition
of the contemporary tune. "The Lark in the Morning" was composed by
many and as such does not belong to one individual composer.
It is owned communally by all who play Irish traditional music.
One can go even deeper into the structure of the music to the
motifs that are the building blocks of the "re-combining" process.
These musical gestures are most evident at the points of cadence.
The great majority of the parts of all the tunes in FIGURE 1 end
with a measure that begins with a B minor descending triad. Such
stock endings occur throughout the canon of Irish music and are
available to composers as elements with which to build their compositions.
In response to the increasing pressure for innovation brought about
by copyright concerns, musicians may avoid these familiar building blocks.
The resulting tunes may be both more difficult to learn and less
Irish in their character.
We have now seen one way in which tunes are used, to create new tunes.
We must also remember that tunes are actually re-created every time they
are played. Variations of melody and rhythm occur from performance to
performance creating a slightly different tune each time.
In considering how tunes are used, we must also turn back to
the sources. One of the things musicians do with tunes is pass
them on to other musicians. We have already looked at the
supernatural origins that have been associated with tunes. The
fairy stories of the Doherty family are certainly entertaining
but how do the tunes actually get transmitted from one musician
to another?
The oldest and most direct form of transmission is from one
individual to another. Jos Koning provides an excellent description
of this process from his fieldwork in Co. Clare. He tells of how
"The tune is copied aurally and bit by bit". He also relates, "Once
a musician has learned the basic tune, he will add his own ornamentations,
variations and phrasing. ... When the two players meet again the two
versions of the original tunes may differ considerably" (Koning 1980: 423).
Here again we see how the tune has changed, perhaps subtly, but very
quickly from one musician to the next. This is an area of hope, I think.
While the tune itself may be considered the property of one individual,
the interpretation of it by another musician is too variable to fall
under copyright. This may be where we find the true creativity and the
style of Irish music itself. Musicians can learn the notes of hundreds
of tunes but until they embody the 'lift' of the music and employ the
subtleties of interpretation they won't be playing Irish traditional music.
Tunes may also be acquired from notation. We can say with some
confidence that Irish tunes were being learned from tune books as
early as the first half of the eighteenth century. Many more collections
followed including those of Edward Bunting, George Petrie, Patrick Weston
Joyce, and, most famously, Captain Francis O'Neill. These collectors
gathered tunes from live informants and sometimes from earlier collections. Their work brings up an interesting question of ownership. Having collected and published these works and received some compensation for the work, the collectors might be seen in a way to have owned the tunes, the way a publishing company today owns musical compositions. While these earlier collectors did not receive royalties for the playing of the tunes they published, they have received credit from musicians as the source of tunes, particularly in the case of O'Neill's. Even those who did not read music could learn tunes from O'Neill's. A story of such acquisition is related by Cecilia McDonnell in the liner notes for the album Tracin, featuring Gearóid Ó hAllmhuráin and Patrick Ourceau:
A local postman, Hughdie was one of the few musicians in West Clare
who could actually read music from O'Neill's 'book'. Hence, his kitchen
was a lively academy of tune seekers and cuairders (visitors) during long
winter nights. Equipped with a table and an oil lamp ... Hughdie would
play his way diligently through 'the book', while his cuairders, with
instruments at the ready, listened attentively for a tune that took their
fancy" (McDonnell 1999)
A related issue is the arrangement of tunes and addition of words for
both pleasure and politics. Breandán Breathnach reports of
eighteenth-century poets who wedded their patriotic dream/vision
aislings to "airs already well-known" making them thus "available
to the whole community." (Breathnach 1971: 23). Thomas Moore's
nineteenth-century Irish Melodies provided pleasure along with a
bit of patriotism. The Young Ireland movement of the 1840's published
patriotic poems in their newspaper The Nation. These poems were
intended to be sung to traditional airs. Indeed, a tune called
"Galloway Tom/The Welcome" was set to words by Thomas Davis,
one of the founders of the paper and the lyricist for
"A Nation Once Again", perhaps the most famous of Irish patriotic songs.
Like the collectors, these poets appear to have felt that these tunes
were there for the taking. They claimed a form of ownership by
adding the words. Perhaps the most famous example is that of "Danny Boy".
While sources vary as to the actual age of the tune, it certainly was not
the work of the English lawyer and ballad writer Edward Weatherly who
received it from his sister-in-law in 1912 and put lyrics to it that
he had already written. Yet, I have heard it introduced by a singer
as a song written in the nineteenth century (not the early twentieth)
with no reference to an earlier tune. The perception is that the words
and music go together and if the tune is traditional, the credit often
goes to the lyricist. Just ask someone who wrote "The Star Spangled Banner"?
With the coming of recording technology came a new way to acquire
tunes. In this way one could not only pick up the notes of the tune
but also the style of individual players. There setting of a tune
along with individual nuances of ornamentation and variation became
the tune that one learned. Here was an opportunity to capture those
nuances of performance that notation leaves out. These are the
immediate additions that players make to the composition, personalizing
it and putting the stamp of their personal and regional style on it.
The recordings of Michael Coleman were some of the first to be available
for such acquisition. Harry Bradshaw suggests, "No other musician
in the history of traditional music has been so imitated. His influence
pervades the entire Irish tradition today" (Bradshaw 1991: 1). His
presence is still felt in references to tunes learned from his recordings,
settings that have become standard and a standard repertoire that contains
many of the tunes he played.
Did Coleman feel he owned the tunes he played? How do performers of
Irish traditional music conceive of its ownership? We have looked at
the origins and processes of the composition, what of its actual usage
by musicians? What can this tell us about the Irish conception of
ownership regarding their traditional tunes?
McCann provides a few quotes that I believe do express the attitude
of musicians playing Irish traditional music. He quotes a musician
saying:
"The music doesn't belong to anybody, so if somebody's trying to
learn it and you can help them, its not yours, so its not like you
can hold back ... if somebody is sincere and seems like they're
trying to tap into the spirit of the music then you have to stretch
your hand out to them" (McCann 2001: 93)
This sounds like the temporary ownership described by Sherylle Mills
when she says "In many non-Western or traditional communities,
music is passed through generations, owned 'temporarily' by certain
individuals or groups" (Mills 1996: 63). It also resonates with
Anthony Seeger's conception of the "owner/controller (kandé)" among
the Suyá Indians of Brazil. A musician may learn the tunes of the
Irish tradition and in some sense claim ownership of them. Indeed,
I have often heard and read references to musicians "having" a tune
or tunes. However, there is also an obligation to pass them on.
Where are the tunes used and what can the rules and norms of those
musical situations tell us about ownership? Today, tunes are played in
sessions, performed in concerts and recorded for commercial distribution.
Anthony McCann does address the situation of the session.
Unfortunately, I found that his description was embedded in a
quote regarding the non-musical practice of kula exchange in Papua
New Guinea (McCann 2001: 92). In addition, the kula exchange is
more clearly an economic transaction. In her discussion regarding
the meaning of kula, Annette B. Weiner suggests that while
"A basic premise that underlies kula exchanges is the notion of
equality" in practice "partners reach toward the opposite, to
gain ever-larger shells that consequently create hierarchy and
profit" (Weiner 1988: 154). Weiner goes on to back up her
assertion with ethnographic data, reporting, "Kiriwana kula players
often told me that doing kula is 'like having a bank
account.'" (Weiner 1988: 155).
I would like to consider the Irish traditional music session on its
own, without extramusical reference. In the sessions I have attended
in New York City and elsewhere, not much discussion of tune origin or
composers occurs unless an unfamiliar tune or tune variant is presented.
If such a tune is played another musician might ask, "Where did you
get that tune?" The response might be that the player heard it from
another musician, perhaps a teacher or a relative. Players might also
relate that they had learned it from a recording. A closer connection
to the musician who recorded it might be implied by saying instead that
"I learned it from the playing of" X or Y musician. They may also have
picked it up thumbing through O'Neill's, as I and other musicians still
do, stopping and playing tunes that catch our fancy.
When I recently pressed an Irish American musician as to who owns
the tunes played in a session, he responded simply "public domain".
This communal ownership is implied but not often talked about. His
'legal' response reflects, I think, a growing discomfort with discussions
of tune ownership, especially in the light of the resistance among the
Irish traditional music community to the activities of
The Irish Musicians Rights Organisation (IMRO), which is the main
subject of Anthony McCann's work.
In more formal performance situations musicians often provide a
key to ownership in their introductions to tunes. These introductions
may consist only of naming the sources or they may be attached to stories
involving the event of acquisition. A certain amount of legitimation
is certainly at play here as musicians report their connections to
earlier masters. They are also paying respect and giving credit to
those who owned the tune before them. In a recent concert at in
Manhattan, Tommy Peoples, a master in his own right, provided
the following introduction to a set of tunes:
"I'm gonna do a couple of reels. The first is a tune that I
learned from the playing of Micho Russell...call it Campbell's.
Both of these tunes I kind of fell in love with for different reasons.
I'd known Micho pretty well and sometimes he'd ask me to administer
his eye drops. We became pretty good friends. Anyways, the second
tune is a tune that I saw Séamus Ennis play on video. It's called
"The Morning Thrush", apparently, according to himself,
written by his father..." (live recording, The Baggot Inn, Nov. 10, 2002).
As is typical of such introductions, the credits go backwards
from the current player tracing the tune as far back as they are
able or choose to do. The value of a tune is implied by the
relative length of its lineage. It has been handed down like
a family heirloom. Also like an heirloom there is an implied
obligation to pass it on to the next generation. Here again
we see the concept of temporary ownership in action. If I chose to
learn one of the tunes that Tommy played I would then add his name
to the lineage.
Credits on recordings have become a more complicated matter.
Many young players write their own tunes, which are labeled with
appropriate copyright abbreviations. McCann reports that these
copyrighted tunes have been avoided in session situations. He
relates that "some musicians would refuse to play certain tunes ... because
these tunes were considered 'copyright'". Feeling that they may not have
the right to play such tunes, the musicians had decided that they were
"not going to play any composed music" (McCann 2002: 80). This is
quite a change from the usual joy expressed by composers when one of
their tunes is played at a session. This is a loss, I think, for both
the composer and the tradition.
Other tunes may be labeled as 'traditional' while their arrangements
are credited to the performer. In this way interpretations are being
claimed as compositions. Aside from specifics of instrumentation and
tune order, that performance of the tune is representative only of the
interpretation of the tune on that day. As such, is it really possible
to copyright interpretations that can, and indeed must, change from
performance to performance? Musicians may guard certain techniques
that define their style but can Tommy Peoples copyright his distinctive
bowed triplet? Jane M. Gaines' article on "Bette Midler and the Piracy
of Identity" suggests that is might indeed be possible. Midler won
a case against Ford Motor Company for using a sound-a-like to imitate
her performance of "Do You Wanna Dance". Her vocal style was deemed
to be "hers alone" (Gaines 1993: 87). In the practice of Irish
traditional music, however, there appears to be some hope. A musician
who plays a tune exactly as recorded would be looked down upon as at
least unimaginative, if not as one who is missing the point of the music.
In addition, the sounds of specific Irish traditional musicians are not
widely enough known to be of use to advertising agencies. They
are usually satisfied with an airy sound of the pipes processed
with so much reverb that they sound as if they were recorded in
a cave or an electrified "Riverdance" fiddle playing a lively reel.
Until recently, perhaps the last ten or fifteen years, Irish
traditional musicians did not need to worry about where a tune came from.
Both the 'ancient' tunes handed down for generations and the new one
composed last week were available for the creative pursuit of
interpretation. Tunes learned directly from individuals, from
recordings or from tune books were treated in the same way.
Copyrighting tunes may not change this. Jazz musicians re-create
"I Got Rhythm" in performance despite its copyrighted status.
My discussions with Jazz musicians indicate that the fact that a
tune is copyrighted doesn't stop it from being re-invented in a
jam session. The difference in Ireland is that IMRO is collecting
fees from bar owners for traditional sessions and sending out spies
to see if they are playing copyrighted tunes. This has created the
atmosphere of fear described by McCann and indeed is what led him to
his work.
Ultimately, as I hope I have demonstrated, the essence of
Irish traditional music is not in the tunes but in the way of playing
them. This way cannot be copyrighted. It can only be followed.
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-----. 1999. "Ethnomusicologists, Archives, Professional
Organizations and the Shifting Ethics of Intellectual Property." Yearbook of Traditional Music 31: 87-105.
Seeger, Pete. 1972. The Incompleat Folksinger. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
Weiner, Annette B. 1988. The Trobrianders of Papua New Guinea.
New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
Zemp, Hugo. 1996. "The/An Ethnomusicologist and the Record Business."
Yearbook of Traditional Music 28: 36-56.
Discography
Coleman, Michael. 1991. Michael Coleman 1891-1945. Viva Voce.
Séamus Ennis. 1997. The Return from Fingal. RTE TRECD199.
