Where did the name "Boys Art Music" come from?

This is the week that I've set aside to re-launch my very own little music business. The company name is Boys Art Music which has almost nothing to do with anything. Except...

It started with my skepticism about gender aesthetics. One of my professors, Susan McClary, is an avowed feminist musicologist and she was writing a book at the time that was published with the title Feminine Endings. In fact, I had encouraged her to write one of the chapters which first appeared as an article in the Minnesota Composers Forum newsletter.

Anyway, she still holds to the idea that one is able to hear a difference in female and male music. (Or at least it makes for a better story that she holds to it.) At the time, I was co-producing a monthly show with Randy Bourne on Minnesota Public Radio on Minnesota composers' music. We decided that putting the female/male aesthetics to the test would make good radio. As it turned out, we were right.

At that time, Kim D. Sherman was a local composer and was very much attracted to the idea that her music had a feminine sound and that she could hear the difference. And Paul Fetler was a professor and (is) a prominent composer who was not only skeptical of the idea but scoffed at the idea that one could hear feminine or masculine characteristics in music.

We tested the idea by randomly and anonymously playing five selections for Kim and Paul on air. If you want to know what happened...come to my blog athttp://randalldavidson.blogspot.com/ on Friday, December 11, 2009 and I will tell all and answer questions.

tee hee

Ten days and counting

As I look back on the posts to this website, it seems like it takes me ten days to work up enough steam to say something. And although I often have instant opinions on nearly everything, I appreciate my reluctance to throw everything I have onto this space.

You might think it's laziness - it take a little bit of effort to organize one's thoughts and to put it down into clear language. But I think it's something else, instead.

There is just too much noise on the internet. Opinions are flying all the time and most of them are hurtling towards you with graphic (or at least dramatic) imagery, sound, and headlines. What I have noticed about most of the stuff that comes my way is that there is very little consideration in establishing a dialogue.

I have just changed my settings on this blog to allow comments. I hope that you are inspired to contribute something to this blog - after all, I am a strong believer in the idea that trees don't make noise when they fall in the woods if no one is there.

In fact, I think this blog could have a different sub-heading: "noises in the musical woods."