Over the years I have collected a lot of pre-17th century music. Because I am a singer, the bulk of it is vocal, or vocal with musical accompaniment. Over time, I've been transcribing what I have into Noteworthy, in order to have 'clean' first generation prints and to have a sound file to check my sight reading against (I learn faster by ear.)
However, I do have one problem regarding sources - a great deal of it I no longer know where I sourced it. When I first started collecting music, it was purely for my own use. I made copies of music belonging to friends, or from books in libraries, and I was given enormous numbers of photocopies by various friends, with no idea where they had sourced them from. I also downloaded and printed a lot of music from the internet and did not record where it came from, so unless the original had a web address or a credit, I don't know who to cite any more.
This creates something of a quandary - having transcribed music from facsimiles of original period music notation, I know how difficult that can be, and I also know that the earlier the music, the more work it takes to interpret it for modern ideas about how music should be written. That transcription, and the arrangement that is often required to make it playable by most modern musicians is absolutely, definitely copyrightable, and should be. But... the music itself is long out of copyright, and I truly believe historical resources should be freely shared. And in most cases, I simply don't have anyone to cite as the source, let alone a copyright holder to acknowledge.
For that reason I am compromising. All the sheet music posted here I have transcribed personally and uploaded in pdf form. If I know the source, I will state it. If you believe I have unwittingly used your arrangement, or you believe you are the creator of my source material (e.g. I have copied a transcription error that was in your original), please let me know so I can properly credit you.
As for my own transcription copyright, it's simple: unless otherwise specifically stated, I did not arrange these pieces, all I did was transcribe them into Noteworthy. I have no claim over the music itself, or how it is used, commercially or otherwise. The sheet music is free for anyone to print and use, but may not be sold or redistributed without appropriate credit and acknowledgement of my transcription work, nor may you post them on other websites without my express permission. However, the performance of the music, be it amateur or professional, for private amusement or commercial purposes, live or recorded, is not mine to yay or nay.
All I ask is this: if you do use this sheet music for paying gigs (professional or amateur) or in any recordings to be made for sale, please use part of your takings to donate to medical research. What kind I leave up to you. If you make recordings, YouTube clips, etc, using this music, please let me know so I can check it out - it's hard to explain the thrill I get from hearing how other people are interpreting the scores I transcribed.
Note about scores I have arranged: in some cases, I have not just transcribed the pieces, but I have arranged them in some way. In these cases, the scores will have footers reading "arrangement copyright [year] Anwyn Davies. Commercial usage by permission only" instead of my usual "transcription copyright [year] Anwyn Davies. Please support medical research". These arrangements may be freely used for private, non-commercial purposes. Paid performance to the general public, recordings and any commercial usage, whether professional or amateur, must be done with my permission and my requirements are that 10 percent of any gross profit, or if no money is involved a sum to be agreed on, be donated to medical research of my choice.
Note about downloading scores: in the preview, the scores may look pretty bad and hard to read. Your downloaded copy will look much better; it's an artefact of the website in some browsers.
However, I do have one problem regarding sources - a great deal of it I no longer know where I sourced it. When I first started collecting music, it was purely for my own use. I made copies of music belonging to friends, or from books in libraries, and I was given enormous numbers of photocopies by various friends, with no idea where they had sourced them from. I also downloaded and printed a lot of music from the internet and did not record where it came from, so unless the original had a web address or a credit, I don't know who to cite any more.
This creates something of a quandary - having transcribed music from facsimiles of original period music notation, I know how difficult that can be, and I also know that the earlier the music, the more work it takes to interpret it for modern ideas about how music should be written. That transcription, and the arrangement that is often required to make it playable by most modern musicians is absolutely, definitely copyrightable, and should be. But... the music itself is long out of copyright, and I truly believe historical resources should be freely shared. And in most cases, I simply don't have anyone to cite as the source, let alone a copyright holder to acknowledge.
For that reason I am compromising. All the sheet music posted here I have transcribed personally and uploaded in pdf form. If I know the source, I will state it. If you believe I have unwittingly used your arrangement, or you believe you are the creator of my source material (e.g. I have copied a transcription error that was in your original), please let me know so I can properly credit you.
As for my own transcription copyright, it's simple: unless otherwise specifically stated, I did not arrange these pieces, all I did was transcribe them into Noteworthy. I have no claim over the music itself, or how it is used, commercially or otherwise. The sheet music is free for anyone to print and use, but may not be sold or redistributed without appropriate credit and acknowledgement of my transcription work, nor may you post them on other websites without my express permission. However, the performance of the music, be it amateur or professional, for private amusement or commercial purposes, live or recorded, is not mine to yay or nay.
All I ask is this: if you do use this sheet music for paying gigs (professional or amateur) or in any recordings to be made for sale, please use part of your takings to donate to medical research. What kind I leave up to you. If you make recordings, YouTube clips, etc, using this music, please let me know so I can check it out - it's hard to explain the thrill I get from hearing how other people are interpreting the scores I transcribed.
Note about scores I have arranged: in some cases, I have not just transcribed the pieces, but I have arranged them in some way. In these cases, the scores will have footers reading "arrangement copyright [year] Anwyn Davies. Commercial usage by permission only" instead of my usual "transcription copyright [year] Anwyn Davies. Please support medical research". These arrangements may be freely used for private, non-commercial purposes. Paid performance to the general public, recordings and any commercial usage, whether professional or amateur, must be done with my permission and my requirements are that 10 percent of any gross profit, or if no money is involved a sum to be agreed on, be donated to medical research of my choice.
Note about downloading scores: in the preview, the scores may look pretty bad and hard to read. Your downloaded copy will look much better; it's an artefact of the website in some browsers.