[r-t] Similar compositions

[Graham John]

On 24 January 2018 at 14:05, John Goldthorpe
<john.m.goldthorpe at gmail.com> wrote:

> This raises an interesting question as to what a calling is.
and
> However, to compose it all I did was put the bobs where
> they would be in the first two parts of Middleton's
> Cambridge.  Did Charles Middleton compose this, or me?

I think we have to be pragmatic. Composition is a process of discovery
of something that mathematically exists, and it has been made much
easier with the help of computers. Acknowledging the person who
discovered something is useful in identifying the source, helps
identify exactly what was rung, and gives deserved credit on the
occasions where a lot of effort was put into finding it.

The task of a composer has changed from finding any composition for a
method to the task of identifying a composition that adds something
distinctive, be that in music, ease of calling, complexity, use of
different types of call, suitability for handbells, overall elegance,
particular length etc. I don' t think it is at all helpful when
composers publish huge numbers of trivial variations just because they
have found them. It is for them to decide which ones have real merit,
not pass that job on to the conductor.

Following on from that, I think it is valid to highlight a new
variation that has merit, and it is OK to claim that as Arranger if it
is particularly trivial, or Composer otherwise. One thing I want
Complib to do, is to provide composers with a definitive resource and
the tools to check that their composition or variation is actually
original, so that we can reduce the degree of re-discovery claimed in
future. It is then up to the composers to do the due diligence to
check that their work is original, and to help them decide when to
withdraw their claim on a composition when it has been shown that it
has been previously discovered and published by someone else. I note,
to his credit, that Alex Riley has done exactly that for last
Saturday's youngest peal of Cambridge Max, when Rob Lee pointed out
that the composition had been previously rung and published under his
name.

Graham