On 7/20/05, Tony Baechler <tb@baechler.net> wrote:
Hello. I was unaware of this, but this gives me an idea. Would anyone like to do American folk music in MIDI format with text lyrics? Much of the sheet music is online from the Library of Congress. It is of course public domain since I am referring to Civil War songs and early 1900's. Here is a site which goes into much more detail on how to obtain the sheet music and includes lots of lyrics. He says on the site that the MIDI files are his work and are not public domain, but the lyrics he posts are and links to sheet music sites which are. Someone might like to look into this. It would be a lot of work since MIDI versions would have to be produced and the lyrics would have to be extracted, but he says in his FAQ that anyone may use the text files of the lyrics.
There are several places offering public domain sheet music; some are in Finale format, some in lilypond, some in PDF. I used to have a list when I was more active in choral ensembles. Midi files are odd; if it's a recording of someone entering each track through a midi keyboard, it is copyrighted as a performance. But if you enter it note for note (say, in Lilypond format) then it is still PD. Or at least that is my understanding. As an aside, I currently have a book in the rounds at DP that has been languishing for a while; partly because the pool of lilyponders is smaller than I thought, but mostly because the microfiche scans are so poor. Andrew Adgate, Rudiments of Music, an early American music textbook/hymnal. I have a new scanner coming in that may have sufficient resolution to scan them directly; I shall have to try it and find out.. R C