Oy vey...
The PTA at our school hosts a creative arts contest each year for children in all grade levels. I told my daughter that she could draw, paint, write or play the piano. She decided to play the piano and got to work right away getting a song down. We recorded it and sent it in. We were proud of her effort and let her know.
We sent the entry off about 3 weeks ago and then on Thursday something popped up on my Facebook page from PBS. It was a song from "The Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That." The title of the song sounded a lot like my daughters song so I clicked on it and sure enough...my daughter plagiarized this song.
I am certain that it was completely innocent, she's only 5 years old after all. However, it brings up a whole slew of moral issues to contend with. On one hand, it is awesome that she can hear a song and get the notes to play on the piano. On the other hand; intellectual property, copyright, oh my...
We told the principal of the school what had happened and she offered to speak with dd about it. I told her I didn't think it would be necessary this time but if it happens again we'd ask her to speak with dd about it. From what I understand dd's entry is now disqualified and will be sent back to her.
We haven't spoken with dd about it at all, she has no idea what's been happening. We're going to have to speak with her soon. Any advice?
