I have started to develop more understanding this week for the copyright process that takes place in schools. The Smartcopying website is a great resource that encourages the proper process as well as useful searching and sharing resources for lessons in the school environment.
I have focused on two sub-sections of the Smartcopying website as a way to unpack the method of developing/understanding how copyright is used in the Music section of the Creative Arts.
Sound Recordings:
The copyright associated with sound recording is more important than you think as several project based activities can take place during school hours. These projects encourage students to work collaboratively but also need to reference the authors of the sound/video files that may be included; for example during a PowerPoint presentation that has included several embedded sound files. This means that students and teachers should be following the APRA guidelines (Australasian Performing Right Association) as they focus on implementing the licence fees that go into a specific educational service. When researching or studying, students should also be aware of the fair dealing process that is in place during course work, particularly ensuring that the content of the video/sound file is relevant to the subject area. These files should therefore be monitored carefully when they are accessed outside of the classroom as the resource cannot be sold outside of the fair dealing process and the student may be refused continual access if they use it inappropriately. This means that schools should be aware of the permission details provided for sound/video files and continually update each of these resources as the files become outdated.
Copying Sheet Music in Schools:
It’s interesting to think that a teacher can only copy 10% of a music resource book under the Australian Copyright Act but I suppose this makes a lot more sense when you think about the authenticity and relevance that authors want to keep their original work. The most interesting point I found as part of this resource link was the fact that many of the copying totals made up 30 as a total number. Ironic that the average for a Primary school Stage 3 class would be between 30 and 32 students and this is the preferred amount that can be copied out. Each of these copies varies between the type of resource such as Vocal scores, Music Collections, Transcripts or Orchestral/Band work. I suppose this encourages for a variety of extra-curricula activities throughout the school community and allows students to become more actively creative with music. It’s incredibly relevant that teachers follow guidelines of the Australian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS) which allows schools to make multiple copies of whole print musical works for educational purposes. This is particularly beneficial for producing/practising musical pieces of work, for example during school musicals, when more than one class may be working together on a single song as part of a performance.
References:
National Copyright Unit. (n.d). Sound recordings. Retrieved from http://www.smartcopying.edu.au/copyright-guidelines/what-can-i-copy-communicate-/2-4-sound-recordings/2-4-sound-recordings
National Copyright Unit. (n.d). Copying sheet music in schools. Retrieved from http://www.smartcopying.edu.au/information-sheets/schools/copying-sheet-music-in-schools
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