Unfortunately Scoiltrad folded before I had the chance of getting the full benefit of their service. However, the two lessons I have (Trip to the Jacks and The Galway Rambler) have been useful and informative to my flute learning. I think it would be nice for those of us who have Scoiltrad lessons to share them.
Yes, I think so, too.
Unfortunately, I’m not going to have much of any use to share . . . I was able to download only the first two lessons out of my entirely paid-for set, one of which has no music piece and the other is, well, beginning, before they decided they didn’t feel like honoring their obligations.
Alas, in spite of having agreed to send me the remaining on a CD, they have not done so. 
My gratitude to the kind soul who intervened for me to ask Conal O’Grada. You are an honorable man and I appreciated your efforts. And someday I’m going to buy one of your flutes.
So, yes, I’m all in favor of sharing.
Don’t anybody even think about mentioning the word “ethics” here, please. I’m still trying to get what I paid for.
If anyone has the beginner set and will help me out, I’ll gladly pay for the CDs and the postage. And I promise I won’t make you listen to my recordings!
I have lamented that I didn’t get a chance to try Scoiltrad lessons out. I’d be very grateful if you would share them with me and others on the board.
Just got the first two, but they’ve been removed from my computer. Unfortunately I was never able to get a hold of O’Grada or anyone else.
What did Conal give as way of explanation Peggy???
Well, the explanation was by way of a very kind intermediary, a prince among men, whom, I should mention, was the sole individual out of a rather astonishing number of Irish who thumbed their noses at me in a kind of “you’re an American asshole–you deserve it” manner. And that includes the Cork County government, two different agencies of which could not be bothered to find out what happened to Scoiltrad or see if they could find a contact point–and told me so. It wasn’t in their job description.
My kind soul, however, actually went out of his way to carry my email around with him until he ran into Conal at P.J. Crotty’s funeral, explained my situation, and wrote back to tell me how it went. Really went out of his way, to my thinking, for which I’ll be eternally grateful. And all I had asked was if he knew what happened to Scoiltrad. [And, err, I probably, uh, went on and on about how upset I was.]
Conal was apparently understanding and agreeable and apologetic. The explanation was to the effect that I should understand that he was a minority shareholder, that the company was in liquidation, that he had not had access to Scoiltrad email for months hence had not received my email, assessments, or anything else, but that he could put the lessons on a CD and send them to me–didn’t seem like a problem at all, and he had my email and would contact me.
He hasn’t. So much for feeling apologetic, eh?
Probably lost my address, but at this point, I’d be embarrassed to ask again. After all, if you can’t be bothered to put a few lessons on a CD for a visually handicapped woman, who for the first time in her life, by using your video CD, was becoming able to learn music, and who would even pay you for the CDs and the postage, well . . .
But, you know, I have the MadforTrad CD. It’s not as good, but it’s doable. The printout of the sheet music isn’t as clear. I’m doing ok by memorizing Lunasa CDs, finding the dots on the web, and comparing the ABC with the sheet music so that I can figure out up close where things are. It’s a hell of a lot more work, but at least I won’t end up sounding like Conal.
Did anyone else know that this is national civil service appreciation week? Evidently this has been the first Monday to next Sunday of May since 1985. I got an email about it today. The first in 13 years of Federal service, I might add.
So, happy Civil Service Appreciation Week, Peggy!
Thank you! I did not know that! How did I miss it??? I thought it was physical therapists week or something.
We get emails every morning filled with this sort of information, but I swear I did not see anything about this!
And, Chas, happy CSAW to you, too!
Hmmm, sounds like a good excuse for a party, doesn’t it? 
Oh, and everyone, I apologize for the rant up there. I keep resolving not to do it again, but it just gets the better of me . . .
I also thought about starting a thread like this but was afraid to broach the subject. I don’t have much to share though. I only bought Morrisons for the whistle…great tune! It now sits on my slow computer that got replaced by a newer, faster one in the office.
I am open to suggestions on how to send it!!
Nathan
Check your PM’s, Nathan.
One thought would be to have a “Lesson Tour” much like we’ve had “Flute Tours.”
We could organize a little database of who wants what and who has what, then pop the lessons onto CDs and simply send them round. Each person would pay the postage to get it to the next eager learner.
The Wayback Machine has the original web pages, so it’s still possible to find out what the possibilities are. There are flute and whistle of interest, but fiddle and pipes, as well.
Seems to me that these fall into the category of “orphan” works now, since the authors choose not to be contacted.
I assume you’re talking about passing around the lessons among the people who had paid for them. Much as I’d like to get some of these, I was never one of their customers, and I wouldn’t feel right about getting them for free even though they’re now out of business. I assume the lessons would still be copyrighted or have some other similar protection, right?
Bob
Yes, that’s what I was talking about, of course.
I don’t know what status they would have. If the authors cannot be located, then are they orphans?
You could always send Conal a check, and I sincerely doubt that he would refuse it.
Sounds like it might be hard to find him. 
I do want to make it clear that I have no problem with Scoiltrad customers doing what they can to get what they paid for. I don’t think that was very clear in my earlier post.
Folks, you might consider easing up on Conal just a little bit, though I understand why you’re upset, of course.
It may have ended badly, but by being part of Scoiltrad Conal was at least trying to provide a venue where folks can learn to play Irish traditional music the right way, from a knowledgable, experienced teacher, no matter where they live or how well they feel they’d do with live, personal instruction.
I haven’t heard from Conal since Scoiltrad fell though; however, I suspect he feels quite bad about the folks who lost money. I don’t know if you’ve considered he may well be one of them–I don’t know if he had invested in Scoiltrad or was just teaching for them.
It seems to me there’s a lot of assuming the worst of someone going on here, and I really don’t think he’s earned that from this community, whether or not some folks lost some money.
–James
It might be less disappointing if you stop expecting other people to behave like you do.
I would warn any American embarking on formal dealings with Irish people that we generally do not have the same service ethics that American businesses generally do (generally, of course).
I, for one, don’t feel that we have to toe the same line. Compensation for moneys handed over is another matter of course. Things like that should be resolved.
There you go. All part of life’s little tapestry.
Regards,
Harry.
I doubt very much that “Peggy” has lived in or spent much time in Ireland. Federal employees in Ireland, as in the US, are a mixed bag. Some are good and caring and some are not.
But no federal employee from Ireland, not a single one, drops bombs on foreign countries to protect the assets of the rich people of their country. They don’t make war on other countries. The Irish don’t kill so that they can have cheap oil and gasoline. They haven’t the history of racial discrimination that still exists in this country.
In Ireland there isn’t the manic Christian right-wing that exists in this country. They don’t have disproportionatly huge numbers of minorities on death rows. They don’t kill people in the name of the state.
In the absence of our revered AndrewK I feel compelled to point out that American Peggy brags a bit too much and to naively of her own altruism and those of her fellow workers.
Well now, hold on there David: there’s a big difference between elected/appointed political officials and civil servants.
I know lots of federal employees who are ashamed of America’s political/public face, and who couldn’t agree more with your political view. These are public servants who have worked for the government for years, through changes in administrations and regimes. Just because someone works for the federal government doesn’t mean they agree with the current administration’s policies. I know you know that, but I think the issue at hand is more specifically the level of “helpfulness” that Peggy encountered in dealing with a few civil servants in Ireland versus her standard of “helpfulness” as a civil servant in the United States.
The few civil servants I’ve dealt with in Ireland have been for the most part helpful and courteous, so I can only assume Peggy just had bad luck and happened to end up dealing with people who didn’t care enough to do a good job. We get plenty of those in America too.
Well Brad,
It would of course be as wrong to brand all US feds as the dupes of the current right-wing administration as it is for Peggy to criticize all Irish civil servants as uncaring and unhelpful.
The real issue is Peggy’s personalization of individual helpfulness as opposed to government mandated murder. The personal vs the political if you will. Peggy’s self-professed benevolence, coupled with her critique of Irish beaurocracy, smacks of flag-waving.
Peggy’s view is too personal to be very relevant in the larger context, which is the point that poor Andrew continually made. Here we have kind, good Peggy, helping people in Walmart, and on the one hand, Lynndie England doing mischief in Abu Ghraib. Peggy helps on a personal level; Lynndie is the representative of Fortress Amerika. Americans tend to overlook the larger political context and, in their focus on the intensely personal, lose sight of the global picture.
Copyright is still in effect, and will be for at least the next 90 years. Even if nobody is
producing the work, supporting the work, or seeming to even acknowledge that they
own the work, the copyrightholder can still enforce its rights whenever they so choose.
If you exchange the files privately, I believe your liability is limited to a few hundred dollars
in fines. If you post them on a public server (such as a web page), your liability is in the
tens of thousands of dollars or more plus jail time. Search the news for ‘RIAA lawsuit’ to
see how this works.
There is currently no legal provision for orphaned works. They must be treated as fully
protected, or risk the consequences if someone later makes a claim to own the works.
This is why many movies and audio recordings are simply decaying - nobody can restore
them without risking a lawsuit.
Chances are that someone will end up technically holding the copyright, though they may
not even be aware of it, but I expect the ‘remaining assets’ of a company in liquidation
will be given to one or another of the company’s creditors, or perhaps merely be held
in escrow by the government. Under what conditions that ‘intellectual property’ could
be reclaimed and enforced at a later date, I don’t know. There is, however, no legal provision
for copyright to vanish, no matter how absurd or tragic or unfair the consequences.
IANALATINLAIYRLAYSCWAA.
–Chris
My God you’re an arrogant asshole David. Did anyone ask for your heaping helping of BS this morning?