The music presented among these webpages, especially from the 19th century popular styles, was and continues to be a source of melodic inspiration in my further appreciation of much of its "simplicity" despite its "square" harmonic progressions and strophic, and typically very repetitive, song forms. The chance to experiment with various arranging options as well as MIDI controller mix settings has also greatly interested me. My initial interest in it was because of my interest in compostion and developing my sense of melodic phrasing development and more so in writing for vocal choruses.
I began the initial contents here from transcribing and arranging the music of Stephen Collins Foster, from just the fourty songs from the Stephen Foster Song Book and ultimately to complete the sequencing of all of his music from the definitive edition of his music in The Music of Stephen C. Foster: A Critical Edition. From there I decided to get and sequence the songs from The Civil War Songbook. Both books increased my appeciation of hearing the original sheetmusic sources for the songs they contained. Although I do occasionally add, what I consider complimentary parts, to the original music, the original music is always included in my MIDI file arrangements unmodified. MIDI track names are clearly prefixed by "(BRT)" when they are added by me. That songbook interested me more in pursuing the works of the main composers I started sequencing music by, namely: George Frederick Root, Henry Clay Work, and Henry Tucker. Because of my appreciation for their work and the considerable variety of it, as well as the quantity of it (much more, in the case of George Root than I realized!), I was inclined to add more dedicated composer webpages and being especially impressed by the songbook Popular Songs of Nineteenth-Century America.
The online digitized collections especially at John Hopkin's University's Levy Collection of Sheet Music and the Library of Congress' American Memories websites have been major sources of the sheetmusic I've been able to obtain which I highly recommend others consider discovering the enormous musical and cultural content available among them.
Some outstanding reference resource books I have been able to obtain, have considerably helped me provide more definitive composer and lyricist info as well as a detailed history of American popular music. I highly recommend the following for anyone's further knowledge of such subjects.
[1886] A Handbook of American Music and Musicians Containing Biographies of American Musicians, and Histories of the Principle Music Institutions, Firms and Societies Edited by F. O. Jones; Canasaraga, New York: F. O. Jones, 1886 (New York: Da Capo Press, Inc., 1971), LCCN 76-155355, SBN 306-70163-4.
[1891] A Popular History of Music From the Earliest Times to the Present by W. S. B. Mathews; Chicago: Clayton F. Summy Co., 1891, 1906 (Revised).
[1929] Our American Music Three Hundred Years of It by John Tasker Howard; New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1929, 1930, 1931 and 1939.
[1948] A History of Popular Music in America by Sigmund Spaeth; London: Phoenix House, 1948 (Seventh Printing, 1959; First Publication in Great Britain--1960).
[1952] Variety Music Cavalcade Musical Historical Review 1620-1961: A Chronology of Vocal and Instrumental Music Popular in the United States by Julius Mattfield; Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1952, 1962, LCCN 62-16317.
[1955] America's Music From the Pilgims to the Present by Gilbert Chase; New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1955, 1966 (Revised second edition), LCCN 66-23622.
[1966] The Book of World-Famous Music Classical, Popular and Folk by James J. Fuld; New York: Dover Pulications, Inc., 1966, 1971, 1985, 1995, Fourth Edition Revised and Enlarged, ISBN 0-486-28445-X.
[1977] American Popular Stage Music 1860-1880 by Dean L. Root; Ann Arbor, MI: UMI Research Press, 1977, 1981, ISBN 0-8357-1174-9.
[1988] America Popular Music and Its Business--The First Four Hundred Years: Volume 1--The Begining to 1790; Volume 2--From 1790 to 1909; Volume 3--From 1900 to 1984 by Russell Sanjek; New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988, ISBNs 0-19-504028-7, 0-19-504310-3, ???.
[2000] Popular Songs of the Twentieth Century: Volume I---Chart Detail & Encyclopedia 1900-1949 Compiled by Edward Foote Gardner; St. Paul, MN: Paragon House, 2000, ISBN 1-55778-789-1.
[2001] America's Musical Life: A History by Richard Crawford; New York/London: W. W. Norton & Company, 2001, ISBN 0-393-04810-1.
Some frequently asked questions, as well as some I'd anticipate getting, are provided answers below. If anything is not answered here, feel free to email me.
May I use your MIDI files?
For the free use of my MIDI files, they must be for personal non-commercial use, including personal webpages primarily intended as background music, with two conditions: (1) send me the URL(s) where the file(s) will be posted and it/their name(s); and (2) include on the same page(s)/URL(s), the credit link to my main page: http://www.pdmusic.org. Please use the following as an example template of such a credit acknowledgement for the use of any of my files, using the song name "Example" as an example:
The MIDI file of "Example" is used by permission of Benjamin Robert Tubb from his website at Public Domain Music <http://www.pdmusic.org>.
If these conditions are complied with then my permission is automatic. I hope to eventually include a links webpage to include all authorized websites where any of my MIDI files are posted. NOTE: I do not allow more than 5% from any one of my webpages of files to be used on dedicated MIDI file collection webpages. If you have such uses in mind or attempt to "circumvent" that by using as many as possible from several webpages of mine, I do not "automatically" allow it, i.e. you must obtain my permission after explaining your intent and the extent of your use, and then you still must comply with the above two conditions.
May I render to audio my own versions of your MIDI files and use them?
Yes for personal use. Please see my PD Music CD Sales Catalog page for more info. Any other audio rendered versions of my MIDI files for commercial require a onw-time payment of a royalty licencse fee with quantity discounts available. The current discounts pricing applies:
1 - 99 MIDI files at $10.00 each 100 - 999 MIDI files at $ 7.50 each 1000 - 1999 MIDI files at $ 5.00 each 2000 - 3000 MIDI files at $ 2.50 each 4000 - ALL MIDI files at $ 1.00 each [in this last case only, see my PDMusic Sales Catalog to order the Data CD-R at its current price for the same price -- this WILL change when I have over 5000 files online, as currently there are "just" 4250!]
Do you have a royalty free licences available for any use of your MIDI files and/or Audio CDs?
Yes, please see my PD Music CD Sales CatalogPD Music CD Sales Catalog for more info.
May I use your lyric text files?
Yes. All lyrics posted here are fully in the Public Domain, and do not need any permission for use. There are no restrictions on their use. If there are any errors, please let me know. Please note that my sheet music sources, if not listed on the affected webpage, are most likely to be listed in my TXT files. If they are not, email me, I always include my sources in my Finale transcriptions of them.
Do you accept song requests?
I accept song requests freely, only for public domain music (i.e. pre-1923); but give higher priority for those to be used for webpages (as background music), and thus, besides sending you a completed copy, they will also be subject to posting among my appropriate webpages.
Will you be adding a webpage for .... in the future?
The current composer webpages are my main interest which have my highest priority to complete before considering adding any other pages. At this time I am somewhat overwhelmed with the workload I self-volunteered giving myself ;->), nevertheless, I continue to enjoy hearing and discovering old, yet "new" songs to my ears.
How may I obtain the sheetmusic?
Check the TXT file of the lyrics which in most cases lists my online source. For those which don't, email me to know the source I used. As I create Finale files of all my transcriptions, I occasionally post my version at the Finale Showcase site which you can play and print out using the freely available Finale Notepad application from the FinaleMusic website. I can also prepare PDF file versions of my files, which are always more "readable" than the source copies (!) which they are transcribed from. For sales of my Finale engraved scores please see my PD Music CD Sales CatalogPD Music CD Sales Catalog for more info.
What is public domain music?
Public domain music in the United States is music originally copyrighted (currently) prior to and including 1922. DISCLAIMER: this is NOT legal advice. If in doubt, always seek legal advice. Visit the U.S. Copyright Office's website for more info. Please note that the source music used is indeed in the Public Domain, but the MIDI files are all copyrighted by me. You must have my permission to use them. See above.
Do you have any tapes/CDs available of these MIDI files?
Yes, please visit my PDMusic CD Sales Catalog webpage for more info.
What software and hardware do you use?
(1) I initially trancribe and arrange all songs with Finale in which I usually include MIDI implementations of all score markings, such as articuations, dynamics, tempo indications, and text markings (such as verse, chorus, interlude). I use a "template" file which also includes my current preferences for the indiviual part's setup of their expression controllers and patch assignments. These currently include controller values for volume, panning, reverb and chorus, and occasionally modulation.
(2) I then save a MIDI version of the song for further editing in Cakewalk Pro Audio [or SONAR] in which I: set the PPQN to 96 (from Finale's default of 1024); set all durations (above a 32nd note) to 88% of their values; set drum note durations to 5 or 8 clock-ticks; offset the time of all program changes before their effective note applied value, to improve start-time playback; include a GM System On bank message for auto-loading with the file; correct all markers (by updating for example the specific verses intended, etc.); and add track name decriptive info as well as copyright info and credits to the file. NOTE: my own "complimentary" track names are always prefixed with (BRT). Some may use either (BB) or (JAM) indicating that they were created with either Band-in-a-Box or Jammer Pro.
(3) All playback is done optimally for any General MIDI Level 1 device [the Roland SC-88 or Yamaha MU80 are my current "mastering" synths] to allow maximum portablily of the music, unless I include Track info data suggesting otherwise.
Should I email my questions/comments or use your Guestbook?
Positive and constructive comments are most appropriate for my Guestbook. Questions and song requests are best for email. Please try a search "engine" before asking me something first. Some search engines on the web are Engine54; Google; and Teoma. Also, if you are searching for song titles, composers, first lines of lyrics, etc, a very convenient feature of the Google.com search engine site is to use a site restricted search string like the following
"concord" site:www.pdmuusic.org
I use it often myself for its extreme convenience, especially of text file lyric searches!
Do you want error reports (spelling, facts, link, etc.)?
Absolutely! And they will be fixed immediately. The larger my site grows, the more prone it is to have unknown and unreported errors. Your help in reporting any errors would be greatly appreciated.
Don't you think original music is more important to spend time on than transcriptions and arrangements?
I hope my answer provides some insight to others, who might be similarly inclined. My growth as a composer has been with mixed feelings due too a lifelong "confict" with performance (guitar and bass) versus composing and arranging preferences. To the extent that my growth is in fact stimulated and improved by my devotion to transcribing and arranging the "behavior" of "good" music, as the self-improvement "guru" Tony Robbins might advise, I believe the time is well spent in the discipline required to do so as well as contribute its invaluable aid to my overall ear training and its "better" behavior and discernment of what's "good." Otherwise, I do not "force" inspiration in my own work, but have found that, the "osmosis" of my daily efforts positively influencing my own creative imaginings however far and few they may be. My greater awareness, and appreciation, of my "past" influences are strong factors in my continued "cultivated" musical growth.