The Women of Classical Music
Amazon Music recently started showing me a new category featured on their music app. I am unsure if it is new to the app or just new to me. Either way, I find it curious.
The category is, you guessed it, Women of Classical Music. It never occurred to me that a musician’s gender should be considered when listening to music. I still am confused by this category. Sure, I am all for women performing classical music; I just never thought about listening to women for the sake of listening to women. Know what I mean?
Why is there such a category? Do women play differently? Can the trained ear determine if a male or female is playing? How would that work? Remember, we are not talking about composers, only performers.
Do the selections playing through my earphones right now have a different quality because of the women playing? I have to admit that I can’t imagine that would be so. Is it the case that a woman violinist would interpret Mozart differently than a man? I can imagine that, but how would it manifest? I don’t have any answers, only more questions.
I find this topic fascinating. Many years ago, I was presented with a similar issue. I was asked if any cultural factors could influence mathematics. I don’t see how a specific cultural perspective could change the Pythagorean Theorem, but I do see how cultural practices could influence the teaching of mathematics. Even then, I am not so sure anything interesting is going on. I hope I am wrong. That topic is on my list of things to dive into. I think someone wrote a book about it, and I will be sure to read it.
Author’s Note: A young woman, as if on cue, has approached the CD kiosk at the library. She is rummaging through the classical section. I am not kidding; this is something I have never seen before. You will not believe this, but Warren Andrew Slay has just walked in. He is heading straight to the classical music section. They are ignoring each other as they leaf through the alphabetized selections. I am adding this to the list of unexplainable, inexplicable coincidences that have come to plague me.
The music is still streaming, and the women are playing beautifully. I am still not sure why this category exists. Well, I understand why it exists, but I don’t know what is special about it. Is it there simply because women should have their own category, or is something else, something much more interesting, afoot?
Author’s Note: The yelping man has just arrived. He immediately approached the young woman. He walked straight toward her, and she quickly moved away. Warren Andrew Slay is nowhere to be found. As is always the case with him and many men his age, he has disappeared into the bathroom. I wish he was out here now. The yelping man has now approached me, making me highly uncomfortable. He is mumbling something about God and the coming war.
As I often do in my posts, I am simply raising a question. I find the topic of women and classical music an interesting one. Now that it has my attention, I need to do more research. At this point, I do not know what to think.
Author’s Note: Unbelievable. The yelping man, a person seriously in need of professional help, is still roaming near the music section. His yelping and mumbling are getting louder. He is clearly in distress, but no one is going to offer any assistance. Sure, an employee will eventually approach him and ask if he is all right. I have no idea what they would do if he would simply say, “No, I need some help.”
The Woman of Classical Music category has been getting lots of play in this neck of Hillbilly Land. I have finally abandoned “The Car” and its lounge act nonsense. I am not a fan of the sound, just as with their last CD. Is my favorite band still Arctic Monkeys? That is another good question.
Author’s Note: More commotion at the library. Two men, apparently homeless and in search of shelter and power outlets, have just entered. They made a line straight for the yelping man in the fiction section. One of the men took his backpack and bashed the yelping man in the head with it. The other man tackled him and took him to the ground. The man with the backpack started kicking the yelping man in the ribs as the yelps got louder and stronger. Clearly, I can not get in the middle of that altercation. I will end up in the hospital with the yelping man. Security, in the form of a petite woman, finally arrived and got the situation under control. The attackers ran out the front door, and the yelping man stayed on the ground. I guess he is waiting on some help.
It is time for me to go. The distractions at this library are starting to outweigh my hope of finding inspiration. It is time for a serious cost-benefit analysis. Do I keep coming here, listening to women perform classical music, or should I go elsewhere? The answer is certainly more apparent than I think it might be. Perhaps I should just stay home.
