my band director is interested in having the band perform a piece i showed him the other day. The only problem is the piece isn't published for a standard school band. I was going to arrange the piece myself. Is there any way i could do this without worrying about copyright law?

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Well I dont know for sure, but I would think that as long as your band isnt planning on recording and selling the performance, you should be ok....

Contact the publishers of the piece of music you would like to arrange. You can find that information in the liner notes of any CD- it will usually be a name followed by (ASCAP) or (BMI). Say you would like permission to do an arrangement of the piece for your school band. When you do get permission and make the arrangement, you can then file for copyright for your arrangement and (perhaps) even make money off of it (although you would have to share any money you make with the writers of the song you are arranging!) Note: the above doesn't apply to any songs you are arranging that are in public domain (such as a song like "Yankee Doodle" or a piece like a Beethoven symphony). In this case, just do the arrangement (you don't need anyone's permission) and you will hold the copyright to your arrangement all to yourself!