Thank you to Rob Deemer for his post on NewMusicBox listing 202 living women composers! The list includes links to the composers’ websites as well. Make sure to also take a look at the comment section for ongoing contributions by others of additional women composers. Perhaps you will have someone to add as well?
To what extent are women composers represented in our music programs? To what extent are our music programs providing opportunities for young women to think of themselves as composers? Kerry Andrew recently problematized a gender imballance between the ratio of male to female composers present in contemporary society in a UK Guardian article entitled Why there are so few female composers. While she addresses several issues that contribute to this challenge the following passage invites music educators to take a… Read More »Women composers in music programs?
I posted earlier on Jason Freeman’s open score project and invitation for people to create their own musical versions of his open scores. The results are in and he selected several versions that were performed my pianist Jenny Lin. You can listen to them and read comments by the creators in his latest post on “The Score.” Would you consider trying a similar project in your own music program?
The New York Times has a fantastic section called “The Score,” which features composers discussing their music, process, and various issues related to composition. Jason Freeman, a composer and assistant professor at the Center for Music Technology at Georgia Tech, recently wrote about the use of open scores as a springboard for creating music. In his post he mentions the small percentage of adults who continue playing music and speculates that even less compose music. When viewed through the prism… Read More »Open scores and music students: An invitation to compose from Jason Freeman
The New York Times has an interesting article, titled “The String Quartet Reinvented,” about David Harrington’s (violinist and founder of the Kronos Quartet) role in broadening the stylistic oeuvre of string quartets and reinventing this type of ensemble. In addition to reminding me that some of my favorite groups are chamber groups and small ensembles such as the Kronos Quartet, Ethel, SO Percussion, and the many configurations of Bang on a Can, the article provoked a resurfacing of a question… Read More »The [fill in the blank] ensemble reinvented?