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I have heard good reviews (of IDEAS! for Church Leaders) from our Christian educators and from the presbytery committee that works with education in the church. It is one of the magazines I read because of the wide variety of resources it provides. I usually recommend articles to pastors as we share in informal gatherings. My conviction is that it is one of the best efforts of its kind, and I say “keep up the good work.” Thanks for this resource.

Wayne Purintun
Presbytery of Minnesota Valleys

Don’t Pick That Flower!

One of the great things about America is the freedom we have to march to a different drummer: as long as the cadence hasn’t been copyrighted. Have you ever asked yourself why the servers at popular chain restaurants no longer sing “Happy Birthday” to customers adding another candle?

Well, both the tune and words to this ubiquitous part of birthday celebrations are copyrighted. That means restaurants would need to seek written permission, and probably pay a royalty, to use the song. Some congregations may have inadvertently fallen afoul of the law during worship as well. Following the publication of last summer’s suggestions for Christian Family Week.

IDEAS! received this e-mail from reader Charles Steppe:

Is the PC(USA) aware of copyright law concerning using tunes like Edelweiss, Theme from Jeopardy, etc.? As Clerk of Session, a musician, and a law-abiding citizen, I want to do the right thing. Our church, the Chapel at Lake Wateree, PC(USA), has been singing May The Lord, Mighty God to the tune of Edelweiss for fifteen years; we plan to stop because this question has come up.

Having also received Mr. Steppe’s communiqué, Presbytel’s Edna Sinnock provided this very helpful input on the subject:

“The following information about copyrights on ‘Edelweiss’ is from a Presbyterian employee of the Williamson Music Company, the publishing company that owns the copyright to the song.

“The song ‘Edelweiss’ is not an old Austrian folk song. It was an original composition for [the Broadway show The Sound of Music. It was written by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein and included in the famous movie. They took out a copyright on it between 1959 and 1965. The life of the copyright is 75 years from that date (added/updated December 1999)."

“The publishing company is glad to have churches use the song in worship with the original words to the tune. No permission is needed if neither the words, nor tune, are printed in the worship bulletin. If either words or tune are printed the church must get the permission of the Williamson Music Company, something it is happy to give."

“It is illegal and expressly against the wishes of the owner of the copyright for anyone to use that tune with other than the original words.”

WILLIAMSON MUSIC COMPANY
1633 Broadway, Suite 3801
New York, NY 10019
(212) 541-6968

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