Since its initial recording in 1924, George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue has woven its way into movies, commercials and other aspects of pop culture.  

A century later, the first recording of the melody that helped define the Jazz Age entered the public domain. With its new copyright status, Gershwin’s recording and others from 1924 have the chance to become the building blocks for new works.

To celebrate the public domain class of 2025 and kickstart the creative process of weaving old works into new music, the Hesburgh Libraries held its annual Public Domain Day music contest. 

“This contest helps participants to creatively explore the complicated topic of copyright,” Tiffany Gillaspy, music librarian at the Hesburgh Libraries, said. “Making judgment calls on copyright comes up in everyday situations, but we seldom get the opportunity to research the topic.”

In addition to teaching about the public domain, the contest, open to all members of the Notre Dame Community, offers participants an avenue to better understand the history of music sampling while promoting the use of digital archives and library resources in the online sphere.

“This contest invites people from different backgrounds and perspectives to reflect on intellectual property and copyright, and to do something creative with it,” David Bird, assistant professor of music technology and digital media in the Department of Music, said. “Usually, when we think about copyright, it seems like something that restricts creativity. This allows us to think about material as something that changes over time and something that we can contribute to.”

Hoping to encourage more participation in this year’s contest and inspire students to think about the public domain, Gillaspy approached Bird about involving his Introduction to Electronic Music and Music Production class. Seizing an opportunity to introduce students to the public domain, the professor added the contest as an assignment on his spring semester syllabus.

“The electronic music class was a perfect group to coordinate with for this year’s contest,” Gillaspy said. “Back in the 1940s, electronic music began creating new works by manipulating recorded sounds on magnetic tape. Although technology has changed, the same concept is still encouraged with this contest.”

“It's a compelling project,” Bird said. “The idea of exploring copyright and public domain this early in the class is valuable for students who are trying to figure out what material they can use for projects. It allows them to reflect not only on what is in the public domain but the nature of copyright in general.” 

According to Bird, the timeline for the contest fit well with his class syllabus and offered his students access to materials they would be able to use throughout the semester.

“We're pretty early into the class, and it's important that the students learn different pathways for finding musical material,” Bird said. “It's really valuable for them to have access to these resources at the Music Library and get hands-on experience of working with them in a musical context.”

On Tuesday, February 19, Gillaspy announced the results of the contest in front of the Introduction to Electronic Music and Music Production class, as all of the winners were sitting in the room.

“We appreciated all the entries this year, and it was a real joy listening to them,” Gillaspy said. “It was difficult narrowing the submissions down to just three winners! The winning pieces all did an amazing job of creating very musically interesting, balanced, and cohesive projects. They took fully constructed musical ideas and recomposed them into their own artistic expressions.”

Congratulations to the 2025 Public Domain Day music contest winners:

Will Hoppe, College of Engineering
Listen to There's a Hole in the Roof of Your House

Lina McKimson, College of Science
Listen to Public Domain Remix

Victor Williams, College of Arts & Letters
Listen to Nocturne in Blue

Honorable Mention

Julie Vecchio, Hesburgh Libraries
Listen to Data River and view the Artist’s Process Document