Brass ensemble arrangement of Happy Birthday

[Tuba Guy]

Today is the birthday of one of my friends who was our school's bass trombonist and a great friend. this year, he is at grad school, and I was hoping to get our orchestra brass section to play Happy Birthday. Does anyone have a simple brass ensemble arrangement that they could email me before 3 (when orch starts)?
I don't need an arrangement to purchase or anything, this is just for a friend who has done so much for me and I want to give him a present that he'd really like

[MartyNeilan]

Keep in mind, that HB is still under copyright (until at least 2030), and is aggressively enforced!!!

[Tuba Guy]

Um...we are pretty sure it isn't...

[scottw]

Sorry, he is not joking! It was copyrighted and enforced. Try looking for the "Good Morning To You" song or just take it by ear.

[windshieldbug]

Sorry, he is not joking! It was copyrighted and enforced. Try looking for the "Good Morning To You" song or just take it by ear.

They are absolutely correct. Why do you think every restraunt chain has it's own little ditty? Them being clever? No, the copyright police are always looking for someone making money off that old chestnut.

We always just play it by ear. Just call a key to start, and let everyone play the melody.

When you've done it enough times, counterpoint will emerge!

[Tuba Guy]

Wow, you weren't kidding! In the end, the orch director liked the idea, so we're doing it with the whole group by ear

[windshieldbug]

We sang 'Happy Birthday' to my grandmother at a restaurant. Is that the loophole or can they 'get us' for that?

As I understand it, the test is "if you make money from it". If you sing it to your grandmother, no. But if a restaurant, who makes money from your meal and employs the staff, has them sing it as a part of their duties, yes.

Goofier still is the fact that you as a band can play a song, and the venue who hired is is responsible for any fees.

That's why copyright lawyers make the big bucks... to contest and/or prove this all!

[pierso20]

So what you're all saying is,

If you perform "Good morning to All" then there's no punishment?? Silly....

I am amazed to learn all this!!

[Craig Garner]

Keep in mind, that HB is still under copyright (until at least 2030), and is aggressively enforced!!!

Copyright is always a confusing topic. Let's clarify something here: the WORDS to Happy Birthday are still under copyright. The MUSIC to Happy Birthday is somewhat older and is no longer under copyright. So, since you intend to "play" HB and not "sing" it, you can do whatever you want.

The Hill sisters wrote the music we all know as HB in 1893. The words we know know as HB were written much later, also by the Hill sisters, and were not "officially" published until 1934.

And, there is no such test as "if you make money from it." Look at the issue of file-sharing. No money changed hands, but it is illegal just the same. For a copyright holder, the issue whether they "lost" money....not whether you made money. Even if you give something away for free, the copyright holder loses a sale.

[pierso20]

Keep in mind, that HB is still under copyright (until at least 2030), and is aggressively enforced!!!

Copyright is always a confusing topic. Let's clarify something here: the WORDS to Happy Birthday are still under copyright. The MUSIC to Happy Birthday is somewhat older and is no longer under copyright. So, since you intend to "play" HB and not "sing" it, you can do whatever you want.

I see this point, but I am unclear about to what extent this would apply. If you are performing Happy Birthday with the intention that it implies "Happy Birthday", then would that still violate copyright? It seems this is an interesting issue...

[deebee]

The HBtY copyright issue is canvassed here at some length: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Birthday_to_You" target="_blank

If the OP (or anyone else) would like a freebie meat-and-potatoes arrangement of "Good Morning to All", for 2 euphoniums and 1 tuba, please PM me. (It's a pdf; I'll need your email address.)

[Craig Garner]

Keep in mind, that HB is still under copyright (until at least 2030), and is aggressively enforced!!!

Copyright is always a confusing topic. Let's clarify something here: the WORDS to Happy Birthday are still under copyright. The MUSIC to Happy Birthday is somewhat older and is no longer under copyright. So, since you intend to "play" HB and not "sing" it, you can do whatever you want.

I see this point, but I am unclear about to what extent this would apply. If you are performing Happy Birthday with the intention that it implies "Happy Birthday", then would that still violate copyright? It seems this is an interesting issue...

Playing the music to HB cannot violate copyright because it is in the public domain. You could write your own "instrumental" arrangement and sell it, post it, put it on a billboard.....so long as the basis for your melody/harmony is based on a pre-1923 version of the music. (you could not, for example, copy an arrangement of HB for SATB choir from Belwin Mills published in 1986, and transcribe it for brass quartet note-for-note and call it your own. But, if you had an SATB arrangement from 1915, you COULD copy it note-for-note, so long as you did not use the lyrics) This is true even if you "intend" it to be "Happy Birthday" and not "Good Morning to You."

In the case of HB, only the lyrics are under copyright. Avoid the words and you are OK.

But, avoiding the words to a SONG is easier said than done, especially with a song as well known as this one. And, copyright occurs at many different levels: printed music, performance of music, recording of music, broadcast of music, etc. Let's use the original post as an example.

Let's say you play for a local orchestra that records the concert and broadcasts the concert on local TV. During the concert, the brass section plays the music to HB for the conductors birthday. And, as they play, the rest of the orchestra and the audience start to SING the words to "Happy Birthday." A royalty probably needs to be paid, not because the "music" was played but because the WORDS, which are under copyright, have been performed and broadcast. I'm am no expert in royaly fees, but there are probably two fees in this case: one for the performance in the concert hall and a separate fee for the broadcast. Had everyone hummed instead, or sang la-la-la, no royalties would need to be paid.

[pierso20]

Playing the music to HB cannot violate copyright because it is in the public domain. You could write your own "instrumental" arrangement and sell it, post it, put it on a billboard.....so long as the basis for your melody/harmony is based on a pre-1923 version of the music. (you could not, for example, copy an arrangement of HB for SATB choir from Belwin Mills published in 1986, and transcribe it for brass quartet note-for-note and call it your own. But, if you had an SATB arrangement from 1915, you COULD copy it note-for-note, so long as you did not use the lyrics) This is true even if you "intend" it to be "Happy Birthday" and not "Good Morning to You."

In the case of HB, only the lyrics are under copyright. Avoid the words and you are OK.

But, avoiding the words to a SONG is easier said than done, especially with a song as well known as this one. And, copyright occurs at many different levels: printed music, performance of music, recording of music, broadcast of music, etc. Let's use the original post as an example.

Let's say you play for a local orchestra that records the concert and broadcasts the concert on local TV. During the concert, the brass section plays the music to HB for the conductors birthday. And, as they play, the rest of the orchestra and the audience start to SING the words to "Happy Birthday." A royalty probably needs to be paid, not because the "music" was played but because the WORDS, which are under copyright, have been performed and broadcast. I'm am no expert in royaly fees, but there are probably two fees in this case: one for the performance in the concert hall and a separate fee for the broadcast. Had everyone hummed instead, or sang la-la-la, no royalties would need to be paid.

My question would then be: If you play it as the original music to the other tune (during a broadcast) and the audience just "decides" to sing happy birthday, how can you deal out a lawsuit or plan for royalties? Obviously, I am playing devil's advocate.....

[imperialbari]

I wrote a cantata for the low wind section of the local railwayband (plus the conductor on flute) for the 70th birthday Grand Party of my late tuba mate Ove back in 1998. The tunes were known folksy ones, the text was all by me. Good morning to you became Har Du fø’s’da’ i da’? (Got your birthday today?). Which was ment to be a call and response between the singers (the high winds) and Ove (ending in one more toast). Our lead trumpet was a pro in the catering industry and calculated the price of the beer/wine for the toasts integrated into the cantata to be worth two months of Ove’s pension, before taxes.

I took a look at the score. It could be written out for 5 trombones with 1st and 4th doubling the melody in octaves. The flute part could maybe be written for euph. Tubas could play the bassbone part loco or 8bassa (I wrote that part for myself). But there is another little (funeral) project to be completed first.

Klaus

[Craig Garner]

My question would then be: If you play it as the original music to the other tune (during a broadcast) and the audience just "decides" to sing happy birthday, how can you deal out a lawsuit or plan for royalties? Obviously, I am playing devil's advocate.....

Generally, any venue, hall, or broadcaster where music is played, is already paying royaly fees to ASCAP, BMI or whatever. So, the owners of HB will automatically be covered. The "lawsuit" which you fear, would be the result of a venue, hall or broadcaster who did not pay such royalty fees in the first place. In that case, they will get sued not just for HB but for any/all copyrighted material performed.

Also, back on an older thread, it is perfectly LEGAL to sing HB to your grandmother at a restaurant. That is a family gathering and protected under fair use. The fact that you may be in public is not relevant. Just don't expect the staff to join in - that's all.

In the case of HB, only the lyrics are under copyright. Avoid the words and you are OK.

In the interest of understanding, can we, for discussion purposes, take this "to the limit"?

Suppose the words are changed.....

If the words are changed, then there is no problem, since only the words are under copyright. So, in my opinion, go ahead and sing "Joyous Birthday" to your heart's content. (Personally, I like "Joyous Birthday to Thee")

You must separate the words from the music for copyright purposes. If I set the words to HB to a Bach choral, I have violated copyright! But, I can set the words of a Bach choral to the tune of HB and that's fine.......well, so long as the German-to-English translation itself is not under copyright.....and so we go right back to square one of copyright.

[Craig Garner]

Sure....go ahead and stick it to them if you want.......never-the-less, the owners of HB rake in over 2 MILLION a year on royalties alone!!

Don't practice your low register......practice writing a song with only 4 words repeated over and over 4 times in a row......only in America. Ya gotta love it.