Here is some information about the 4 examples, to enable a copyright-free estimation: First of all: I (J.Anders <ja@informatik.tu-chemnitz.de> wrote down all these notes. I wrote all notes from my remembrances, not from a sheet of paper. So the notes are not copies of some printed notes. And I declare I'll never demand any copyright. Of course I'm not the composer! Thus, the question is: Does any composer hold a copyright? I think this isn't the case because according to (German) copyright law the copyright ends 70 years after the composer died. And this is the case here. I'll tell something about the examples to give others the opportunity to find out whether the examples are copyright free: example1.ntd, example2.ntd: This is a jazz variant of the famous Barcarole from the opera "Les Contes d'Hoffmann" ("The Tales of Hoffmann") by Jacques Offenbach. Offenbach died 5 October 1880. See also : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Offenbach As a child I heard a big band playing this song this way. But note: I never saw any notes. example3.ntd This is the famous Bouree e - minor (BWV Nr. 996) by "Johann Sebastian Bach" who died 28 July 1750. see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bach I can play this without any notes on guitar. I don't know from which notes I learnd it. I simply wrote down what I'm playing. You can find the notes at many places in Internet: http://bs.cyty.com/visitabilis/gitarre/img/bourree.gif http://www.delcamp.net/pdf/2_baroque/bwv9965_bach_bourree.pdf http://www.thomaskoenigs.de/bach_bwv996.zip example4.ntd This is an Irish folk song called "Oh danny boy". Again as a child I heard a big band playing the song this way. But I never saw any notes. To hear a MIDI example look here: http://www.ireland-information.com/irishmusic/dannyboy.shtml (you'll hear I made some mistakes, the exact melody differs from my version, another indication: It is written down from my remembrances) Actually the song is by Frederic Edward Weatherly (1848-1929). But he only wrote the lyrics to an unsuccessful song called "Danny Boy". As he heard an old song called "Londonderry Air" he found the words fit exactly to the music. So he used the melody of "Londonderry Air" for his song "Danny Boy". Therefore the question is: Where does the melody of "Londonderry Air" come form: It was first published 1855 in "Ancient Music of Ireland" by the collector George Petrie (1789-1866) as untitled melody, who claimed he had written down it from an itinerant piper. The whole story about this song is at: http://www.standingstones.com/dannyboy.html example5.ntd, example6.ntd: This is a Celtic/Irish folk song known as "Kilgary Mountain" or "Whiskey In The Jar" (I changed some notes and added my own finish) The MIDI and the words are mentiond here: http://www.contemplator.com/tunebook/ireland/kilgary.htm http://www.contemplator.com/tunebook/midimusic/kilgary.mid example7.ntd: This is the famous "Huntmen's Chorus" ("Jaegerchor") from the opera "The Freeshooter" ("Der Freischuetz") by the Geramn composer Carl Maria von Weber who died June 5, 1826, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Maria_von_Weber example8.ntd: This song is called "Old folks at home", also known as "Suwanee River". It is written by Stephen C. Foster who died January 13, 1864. See also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_C._Foster