Listening Journal #2

Listen to this.

Then listen to this.

Maybe they are both borrowing from something else?

To make matters worse, they are both approximately the same grade level and published by Alfred. How could the editing staff not notice the extreme similarities? Rites of Tamburo is listed as a "Basic Library" piece by JW Pepper, and I would assume it is pretty familiar to many middle level band directors. I wonder who else has noticed what I heard?

The good news is that this will give me some more fodder for a seminar discussion this year on plagiarism and music.

Speaking for myself, I have often worried that what I write will turn out to be too similar to something already written. There's nothing new under the sun...but I think there are degrees of creativity left, and I'd rather have more than less!