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From: JfGindi~ol.com
Date: Fri, 6 Sep 1996 15:48:55 -0400
Subject: Re: copyright

John-- I wish you had handled this privately instead of putting me in the
position where I have to defend myself publicly.
If you send me your address, I'll send a copy of the book
to you. I think you'll see that your perception of this is off.
However, since you went public, I feel I need to respond the same way. Ugh.

"A player who wants to learn something..." That, Jon, is how you represented
yourself when you asked me about over-blowing"

You wrote to me asking if I'd like to learn more about overblowing. I said
sure. I assumed you know who I was.

...not as a writer researching a book. If misrepresentation was intentional,
I question the ethics of it.

It was certainly not intentional, and if I had had that in mind, I would have
mentioned it to you that I needed some info. Most people are happy to help
with books and don't require credits,etc. Or if they do require credits, it's
fine with me.
Who cares? However, at this point in time, not being an overblower myself,
and not feeling ob to be important for beginners, I had no plans to put it in
the book, but
the longer I was on Harp-L, the more info I took in, the more I thought I'd
re-revise the final chapter to talk about positions and overblowing. As a
matter of fact. I called Mike Curtis before publication and asked if we could
get together because there were so many things being discussed on harp-l that
I wanted a fuller explanation of, and I wanted to be sure what I had written
was right. I offered to pay him , but Mike ignored that, and instead gave
several hours and much insight.

Had I been decieving you I wouldn't have written you
brightly and said "Hey I used some of what you said...blah,blah, blah..." I
honestly thought you'd be pleased and happy. And if my ethics were
questionable I wouldn't have written publicly about it as an honest problem
that occurred on Harp-L (well not exactly Harp-L, it was private e-mail.)

Jon's reply was something like
"but you knew I was a writer!" So now I should consult "Forthcoming Books in
Print" before answering my e-mail!

As I mentioned, you contacted me first and offered info.
I assumed you knew who I was. After joining Harp-L I got about 100 private e
mails welcoming me on. You welcomed me too. And I had no idea who you were.

What's foolish about thanking someone?

Your contribution was so miniscule, and was duplicated by
Mike and many others (including Howard Levy several years ago), that the main
reason I thanked you specifically was because I said I would to mollify you
when you got upset
.I didn't want you angry at me. Perhaps I shouldn't have felt foolish, but it
was not a good feeling, believe me...it was more like durress than actual
thanks...

Best I recall, I walked Jon through
several such experiments so he could easily produce overblows/draws and
know why they were happening.

You wrote one note to me. I eventually picked up one description you used,
and changed it so it was mine, and so it fit with the character who was
speaking in the story. I didn't take the harp cover off because I don't
truly care about overblowing (except to try it once every 6 months) and am a
mechanical klutz. Later Mike C. took the harp cover off at my office when he
came by. (He didn't credit you either.)

I wish my first response to Jon upon learning of his
intention to publish my ideas was "That's interesting. May I see exactly
what you plan to include?"

You did, and I pretty much told you, and after your reaction, I watered it
down even more.

Overblows were not well discussed when I figured this stuff out. The
conversation was not casual. My message to Jon was a detailed methodology
that results in overblows for even beginners.

I certainly didn't see it that way. To me, the conversation was casual. You
did not tell me you considered yourself the "owner" of this methodology. I
just thought you were telling me stuff that a lot of people knew. This book
is not about overblowing.
Send me your address and you'll see. The market is still wide open for you to
publish your material on ob . By the way, the thanks at the book says:
"Special thanks to the guys and gals at Harp-L... Mike Curtis, John Thaden,
for their information, encouragment, and support."

Thanks to all and John, again, I'm sorry about this. Had I known you were
lurking, I would not have written about the incident
because I would not want to provoke you.

"Jon, so should you feel free to use what you
hear, but only with acknowledgement, and yes, permission."

I really don't think there's any reason for you to lecture me
on ethics of publishing books. You haven't even read what I wrote.

Jon