It's interesting that you can copyright a song (not just a performance of it, but the actual song) or a dance, but not a cocktail recipe. In all cases they're essentially a set of instructions for making something enjoyable to the senses.
Choreography instructions are also likely uncopyrightable, but the performances of one would be.
Since recipes are just instructions, they’re not copyrightable.
In short, if it’s data/instructions, it’s likely not copyrightable. But the act of using said data, however, if done “creatively,” is. That distinction is very murky though, and there’s over a century of case law to go with it.
[a]: EDIT: I was wrong, sheet music is copyrightable. Beethoven is just out of copyright.
A recording of a musical performance is copyrightable. But I believe the copyright would belong to whoever made the recording, not the performing musicians (assuming the work being performed is public domain, like Beethoven)
> Choreography instructions are also likely uncopyrightable, but the performances of one would be.
As far as I know, this is almost exactly wrong. Choreography instructions may be copyrightable. A performance of a dance is not subject to copyright, but a video recording of that performance may be.
> To qualify for registration, a choreographic work or pantomime must be fixed in a tangible medium of expression [1]
For the benefit of non-musicians: Editors, especially of older works, routinely correct mistakes (and sometimes disagree about whether the composer made a mistake!) and depending on how verbose the composer was may add their own indications of speed and volume; in some cases you get instrument-specific annotations as well, e.g. fingerings and bowings in violin parts. The Bach solo violin partitas are immediately recognizable as the Bach solo violin partitas no matter who edited them, but if you're familiar with the editions you can definitely tell which one a violinist learned!