Purcell presents a dilemma

(read the entry posted earlier today; this one will make little sense if you don't)

I got the one necessary task done today: the annual choral music order, which is about half of the annual music budget. One dilemma was involved: the Purcell anthem mentioned in the previous post. I had two choices, which are indicative of a larger dilemma:

- order printed copies in the excellent edition by Novello: about $200
- download and Xerox the good public-domain edition on CPDL: free

Of course, it is not really free. But in budgetary terms it is; the Xeroxing does not come from the music budget. Such choices, multiplied manyfold, have made it almost impossible for traditional music publishers and vendors to deal with "classical" music. The market for it is already vanishingly small, and these days much of the repertoire is freely (and legally) available from CPDL or similar sources.

Music publishing is dying, and this is part of it. A larger factor is the widespread practice of illegal duplication. The most frequent excuses for this are that it saves time, and it is the "only" way to keep the ensemble going when there is little or no money to buy music. The time issue is genuine; most choral directors seem to live on the edge, selecting music for their groups at the last possible minute. When rehearsal is tomorrow evening, there is no time to order printed copies and wait for them to arrive; one is sorely tempted to take the single copy (perhaps itself a Xerox handed on from others) and run it through the Xerox machine.

We don't do that here, and it is one of many reasons that I obsessively plan ahead, far ahead. But, assuming legal sources, is it better stewardship of the church's money (and of our tiny music budget) to go with the least expensive method? Or is it better to support the continued publication of good music, and to support the excellent retail music store right around the corner from our parish, where several of our parishioners work?

This is a part of a still-larger dilemma. The "grocery store" nearest our apartment, within easy walking distance, is Wal-Mart. Should I shop there, being ecologically responsible by walking there and back? Or do I hop in the car, burn fossil fuel, and go to an employee-owned (and much better) traditional grocery store several miles away where the people know me by name, and pay more? (I do; I almost never go to Wal-Mart. Almost.) Or do I pay even more at the food cooperative or the farmer's market for locally grown produce? I bought a bag of locally grown organic spinach a few weeks ago when it was in season: $7 and change. A similarly sized bag of Dole spinach, probably from California, was at the grocery store on sale that week for 99 cents. I vacillate; sometimes I pay more, sometimes I think that paying more is not congruent with a life of simplicity, and that I ought to eat the cheapest possible foods in solidarity with the poor. Ultimately, that would mean Ramen noodles, white rice, and beans at Wal-Mart, driving the traditional grocer -- and local farmers -- out of business.

I ordered the Novello edition, part of what is probably a thousand-dollar order at that music shop around the corner. But to stay within budget, I am taking several other pieces, such as the Byrd Mass, from CPDL.