Question to AMEB teachers

[pianoplayjl]

Anyone who is an AMEB teacher, please answer my question. During practical exams, do we have to bring an original copy (e.g. Schirmers edition) of a piece? Why can't we just print a score off a sheet music site like here for instance? I mean, the score from any sheet music site is just the same as ones from a Schirmer book so what is the point of buying/ bringing an original copy for exam?

This question has been a thought that has been bothering me for a while.

JL

[johnmar78]

ok, all my students going thru AMEB MUST have the original copy either exam or not. It is for the sake of COPYRIGHT. I normally practice a long piece using photo copies of the orginal, since I can shrink the size. But having an original in hand for exam just showing them 1) You have the score and not hacked from someone else. 2) Showing some respect to the composer .

Ps, if the money s a problem, I can let you mine for the exam day ok.

I hope this helps...

[pianoplayjl]

ok, all my students going thru AMEB MUST have the original copy either exam or not. It is for the sake of COPYRIGHT. I normally practice a long piece using photo copies of the orginal, since I can shrink the size. But having an original in hand for exam just showing them 1) You have the score and not hacked from someone else. 2) Showing some respect to the composer .

Ps, if the money s a problem, I can let you mine for the exam day ok.

I hope this helps...

Money isn't the problem, it is just I think that it is stupid for a person to buy a book just for 1 piano piece when they can download a score online. Just plain stupid. And I always borrow the original copies from my teacher, who happens to have a library of them (just exagerating, of course). I also understand the issue of copyright, but nowadays so many people download the scores online it is hardly a problem, at least in my eyes.

P.S I photocopy stuff and stick them into my scrapbook.

JL

[lostinidlewonder]

Such questions like this would be answered if you go look at the AMEB website rather than asking people on pianostreet.

Since I am already typing I can tell you this: You may bring in photocopied copies, however, the student MAY NOT use them, only the examiner. Attached to these copies you need to print off another form which binds the examiner to destroy the photocopies after your examination.

[johnmar78]

Pianoply,I dont want appear to be biased in anyway, I ahve the AMEB syllabus here. Well, AMEB need to make some "income" to offset there expenses.. to keep everyone happy, that is my tip of the day.

[slane]

You can
https://aime.freehostia.com/copyright.htm

The regulations (which I could not find on the AMEB website, lostinidlewonder) say
"Candidates who present for examination using scores obtained through free download from websites should note that they bear responsibility to ensure copyright clearance for their use of this material has been obtained".

but I wouldn't trust the examiners not to get into an argument with you. My cousin was told she couldn't play one of her extra pieces because it wasn't on the syllabus, so I wouldn't give "that" for how well the examiners know the regulations.

The business of burning the adjudicators copy applies to music still in copyright.

Here's the Practical Guide they refer to in the AMEB syllabus and in that previous link
https://www.apra-amcos.com.au/downloads/file/Music%20Consumers/printmusic_2006.pdf

YOu would need to fill out form 1 for each piece. And, you need to get permission of the publisher! It would be easier to buy the music I think. You will definitely need a form 1 for the music on this site because Op 111 claim copyright to it all, and they may not give you permission.
Also with, say IMSLP, where you can download the schirmer edition of Grieg;s Lyric pieces, for instance, there's no knowing that schirmer have not reasserted their copyright after the 25 years have elapsed (but I think they wouldn't have or IMSLP would have taken it down). And I can't find anywhere that says how long editors comments and marks stay in copyright. Is it 25 or 70 years? So you're really in a pretty grey area, and I think it would be better to let others break the ground in the information age while you head over to the bookdepository and order some cheap editions, postage free!

Whether the AMEB should be publishing music is a separate issue. The grade books are a tiny part of the syllabus and are not required at all, if you eschew them. Of course the current grade books are most definitely in copyright!

[slane]

Ok! I was just passing the AMEB office in Adelaide today and popped in and asked.
The lady was quite definite. The AMEB are not copyright police. You can play from downloaded or photocopied pages and that is your responsibility to meet the law. She said the examiner may write on the exam report that the copies were used if they think copyright is being breached but she didn't say what the consequences of that would be. (A bit like playing from memory. They write it down and so what?) She did say that an examiner would not refuse to hear a piece or penalise you at all for using copies.

There we go. I still wouldn't do it. I wouldn't want a po-faced examiner looking disapprovingly at me while I played because they don't understand copyright laws.

[pianoplayjl]

Once in an exam, my examiner made a note in the exam report that photocopies should not be used in exams, otherwise my teacher would face some sort of disciplinary action. For extra pieces I guess I will just stick to pieces from the syllabus. But luckily 8th grade has no extra lists. And thanks for the links, Slane. I will read them in my spare time. Nearly time for bed...

As a side note I hate the pieces in the grade books i.e. series 15 and 16.

JL

[slane]

On your side note ... I hate the grade books full stop!
They give people the impression that "doing" a grade is a matter of choosing 5 pieces from the 12 or 16 or so in the grade book and getting  a big tick. When it could be about exploring the lovely lovely repertoire in the syllabus which so many people don't seem to know exists!
I met a girl the other day who is studying 4th grade and I gave her the CD I have in the car with about 40 4th grade pieces on it. She had no idea that there was so much she could choose from!
Another woman I know, when I told her I wasn't using a grade book, pulled a very pompous face and told me, using small words, so I would understand, how to get hold of one. I explained about the syllabus and she pulled a face like a cats arse that seemed to suggest she thought I was deluded.
And finally another lady I know, studying 6rth grade, told me she was playing Beethovens "allegro ma non troppo!". It didn't seem to have occured to her that she was playing a movement of a sonata!

So now I am on the lookout for a teacher for my daughter who will implement my vision of her exploring the repertoire rather than pushing her through 5 pieces in the grade book.
In anticipation of that I've been collecting folios of standard works like Burgmuller Etudes and Clementi op 36. I call it my pedagogical piano library. I was just wondering to myself why I am doing that when there's IMSLP and I concluded, apart from the exam thing, that you can't flip through IMSLP. Of course I could download, say, Clementi Op 36 and print it out, but it just wouldn't be as nice and by the time you had it bound, it would cost more than getting it from thebookdepository.
 
There! Had my rant! I'm so happy I got that off my chest!

Good luck with 8th grade. I'd love to be playing that repertoire!