Plagiarism Is Basic To All Culture

My Father Urged Alan [lomax] Not To Repeat The Mistakes Of The European Folklorists Who, A Century Ago, Had Collected These Peasant Songs And Then Arranged Them For Part Choir And Accompanied Them On Piano, And Then Told The Young People Of Their Country, "don't Change A Note, This Is Our Sacred Heritage." Father Said, Whether It's A Fiddle Tune Or A Gospel Song, Learn It Right Off The Record From The People Who Grew Up With It. Don't Just Learn It From A Piece Of Paper.

A Productive Mistake Is: (1) Made In The Service Of Mission And Vision; (2) Acknowledged As A Mistake; (3) Learned From; (4) Considered Valuable; (5) Shared For The Benefit Of All.

Shh. Listen To The Sounds That Surround You. Notice The Pitches, The Volume, The Timbre, The Many Lines Of Counterpoint. As Light Taught Monet To Paint, The Earth May Be Teaching You Music.

When You Play The 12-string Guitar,you Spend Half Your Life Tuning The Instrument And The Other Half Playing It Out Of Tune.

I Was 16 When I Came To New York. I Had Graduated To A Tenor Banjo In The School Jazz Band, And It Was Kind Of Boring - Just Chords, Chords, Chords. Then My Father Took Me To A Mountain Music And Dance Festival In Asheville, North Carolina, And There I Saw Relatively Uneducated People Playing Great Music By Ear.