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Stavey in your classroom

The short answer

Yes. You can make a Stavey chart of any song, use it with your students, share it with other teachers, and perform the song at school. You don’t need a license to do that, because a Stavey chart isn’t a copy of the song.

Here’s why, and here’s where the lines are.

What a Stavey chart is — and isn’t

A Stavey chart shows the changes: the chords, the form (verse, chorus, bridge), the key, the tempo, slash rhythms, chord diagrams, and a scale for improvising.

It does not contain the melody or the lyrics. Those two things are where a song’s copyright actually lives. A chord progression and a song form are musical building blocks — they belong to everyone. Think of the difference between a recipe’s ingredient list and the finished dish: the chart is the ingredient list.

That’s the whole reason this works. The arrangement — who plays what, the groove, the ending — happens in your room, by ear, with your students. Stavey gives them the map. It doesn’t hand them the song.

You can

  • Chart any song — chords, form, key, tempo — for your class. Simplify it, transpose it, reharmonize it. It’s your teaching chart.
  • Share your charts with other teachers, in your building or beyond.
  • Perform the songs at school — concerts, showcases, assemblies, family nights. Ticketed events are fine as long as performers aren’t paid and the money goes to the school or the music program.
  • Point students to the original recording (Spotify, YouTube, the album) so they learn it by ear, the way musicians do.
  • Check “existing song” in the song builder so your chart carries a small credit line naming the song, the writers, and the recording artist. This is good practice and good teaching: students should know who wrote what they’re playing.

Please don’t

  • Don’t add lyrics or melody to the chart. Stavey doesn’t have a field for them, on purpose. Printing them turns the chart into a reproduction of the song, no matter what the chart is called.
  • Don’t write out and hand out a full notated arrangement (melody plus instrumental parts) of a copyrighted song. That’s a “derivative work” and needs a publisher’s permission. If you want to do that, use a licensed service such as Hal Leonard’s ArrangeMe.
  • Don’t post, stream, or sell video of the performance without a license. This is the one that catches most teachers. The law that covers your live school concert does notcover the recording of it. Check your district’s policy; services like School Music License exist for exactly this.
  • Don’t sell charts, or bundle them into something you sell.
  • Don’t use a chart to avoid buying published sheet music that exists and that you’d otherwise purchase. The educational guidelines are explicit about this.

Why this works, in plain terms

Copyright protects expression, not building blocks. A song’s melody and lyrics are protected expression. Chord progressions, song forms, keys, tempos, and rhythmic patterns are not — courts treat them as the common vocabulary every songwriter uses. A chart made of those elements isn’t a copy of anything.

Your school performance is exempt. U.S. copyright law has a specific exemption for live performances of music at non-profit events where no one is paid to perform and any admission money goes to educational or charitable purposes. That’s a school concert. The exemption covers the live performance only — not a recording or a stream of it.

Teaching in the classroom is exempt. Performing or displaying a work in the course of face-to-face teaching at a non-profit school is also specifically allowed.

Fair use is your backup, not your main argument. Because a Stavey chart doesn’t reproduce protected expression, you usually don’t need fair use at all. Fair use (the four-factor test — purpose, nature, amount, market effect) comes into play only once something protected is on the page. Non-profit educational use is favored, but it isn’t a blanket pass, which is why the “please don’t” list matters.

Labels aren’t protection. Calling a chart “in the style of” a song is honest and clear, and we do it. But it isn’t what keeps you safe. What keeps you safe is that the melody and lyrics aren’t there.

When you would need a license

The specific laws, if you want them
  • 17 U.S.C. § 102(b) — Copyright does not extend to ideas, procedures, processes, systems, or methods of operation. This is the statutory root of the “building blocks” principle.
  • 17 U.S.C. § 106 — The copyright owner’s exclusive rights: reproduction, derivative works, distribution, public performance, public display. A chord chart implicates none of these because it reproduces no protected expression.
  • 17 U.S.C. § 107 — Fair use and its four factors.
  • 17 U.S.C. § 110(1) — Exemption for performance or display in the course of face-to-face teaching at a non-profit educational institution.
  • 17 U.S.C. § 110(4) — Exemption for non-profit live performances of non-dramatic musical works with no commercial purpose, no payment to performers, and either no admission charge or proceeds used exclusively for educational, religious, or charitable purposes.
  • Guidelines for Educational Uses of Music (1976), reprinted in H.R. Rep. No. 94-1476 — negotiated with music publishers. Permits editing or simplifying purchased copies if the fundamental character isn’t distorted; prohibits copying to avoid purchase and prohibits creating arrangements without permission.
  • Case law on musical building blocks — e.g., Gray v. Hudson, 28 F.4th 87 (9th Cir. 2022) (common musical elements are not protectable); Swirsky v. Carey, 376 F.3d 841 (9th Cir. 2004).
  • Public domain — Musical works published in the United States in 1930 or earlier are in the public domain as of 2026 and can be charted, arranged, printed, and recorded freely.

This page explains how Stavey is designed and the general principles behind classroom use. It isn’t legal advice. If you have a specific situation, talk to your district’s counsel or a music-licensing attorney.

Last updated November 4, 2026