There's so many great things coming from this forum. My best friend and I recently sang Giffen's ave maria for an exhibition, and we will for the spring graduation Mass as well. And my pariah is using one of Aristotle Esguerra's Masses as well, which I believe was harmonized by prof Kwasniewski.

So many fantastic things going on here.

I hate phone keyboards ;)

As it is written, so let it be done! Amen, alleluia!

I use many of the works available here. This place and CPDL account for at least half of the music I do.

Y'mean apart from the list of postings under "new compositions"?

Let me add that I, too, am flattered by MeloCharlie's kind words and inclusion of my name in his list. But mainly this post concerns Heath's seeking a CMAA repository for works by CMAA composers that heretofore have usually just been posted here at the forum.

It occurs to me that perhaps CPDL would be a good repository for such works. Thanks so Richard Mix and others working on the cataloging aspects of maintaining CPDL's ChoralWiki, things can be tracked down fairly easily for such things as sacred music season, even individual days on the liturgical calendar, and for liturgical use.

The only downside is that one has to be careful about stating some sort of copyright status when submitting works to CPDL. CPDL has its own form of license that permits essentially any use whatsoever, although some restrictions can be added (such as for nonprofit use), and CPDL is comfortable with the Creative Commons copyrights that are not restrictive.

CPDL won't just take an uploaded PDF and make it available without some sort of assertion about copyright status or license. But otherwise, it's a good place to put new works that you don't mind being freely available (at least for nonprofit purposes).

With that caveat, I think it's worth considering. It's even possible, I'm sure, to have submissions be designated as part of a CMAA collection. And with Richard's help and thoughts about it, I'm sure we could work something out in terms of sensible cataloging.

Chuck Giffen
President of CPDL and
Manager of ChoralWiki

Thank you, too, Heath.

1) I appreciate the family atmosphere around here as much as anyone, I think, and it was never my thought that CPDL ... as a repository (think library) ... would be a replacement for posting scores here in the forums. The point of my suggestion and what I perceive to be the request for a repository is to have a central place where one can find scores easily, without having to search through the thousands of threads here at the forums. In fact, just about anything I post here (in final form, that is) is something that I also post at CPDL. Posting a score here gives opportunity for pretty much immediate feedback from colleagues. Depositing that score at CPDL makes it readily accessible in the future to the musician looking for a particular composer's scores, or looking for a particular title, or looking for scores for a particular feast, etc. ... all thanks to the excellent categorization and search facilities at CPDL.

2) The hassle when you tried to post to CPDL a few years ago is probably greatly ameliorated now. The five years since CPDL reorganized has seen a tremendous growth in score submissions, help facilities, and simplified self-posting process (although one can still ask an administrator for help in submission, or fill out the necessary AddWorks form and wait for a volunteer to do the posting for oneself, although that may entail some wait). It is much easier, yes.

This does not absolve the poster to CPDL of some responsibility, however, especially as regards copyright (works posted must be freely deemed freely available, at least for nonprofit purpose). And, yes, it's a little more complicated than just clicking on Browse and then Upload here at the forum. BUT ... in return for getting a considerable amount of organization and ready availability, does one really expect it to be as simple as that?

I suppose that composers/arrangers/musicians here at the forum who don't want to engage in the extra hassle won't want to post at CPDL, even with help from myself and Richard Mix and others here who have posted works at CPDL (you'll still have to upload the files and fill out the AddWorks form, or get someone to do it for you, although you'll have to supply the information requested). That's always ones legitimate right. But noncontributers will not find their works cataloged at CPDL and available for immediate download there.

Remember, I pointed out that it could even be possible for contributors of scores to designate them as part of a CMAA collection. Although such feature would not be implemented unless CMAA wants a CMAA repository at CPDL, it would probably be as simple as putting something like

{{cat|CMAA}}

in the Edition Notes field of the submission.

Finally, don't forget that there would be NO FINANCIAL COST to the CMAA for this service. For its part, CPDL is quite content to provide a place for such collections, because CPDL views itself as a service for providing ready access to public domain and other free choral music, as well as significant cataloging, search, and other amenities associated with such a library. And, for my part, I'm here to help facilitate making a CMAA repository at CPDL a possiblity.

Thanks, Chuck, for the detailed response. Maybe I'll try posting that same piece that I tried five years ago! : )