What I'm listening to this week: the sound of me screaming into the void

Sometimes I look at the music community around me, and it's not hard to see why I can leave it behind. I'm astounded by the exclusion and disenfranchisement that I see on an annoyingly regular basis - and it seems like a lot of people just don't see it.

I'm lucky enough to have a pretty legit Twitter feed - I've curated myself some truly awesome, caring, and talented people that are kind, compassionate, and intelligent. So sometimes I forget how aggressive things outside my happy echo chamber bubble can be.

This week, I flounced out of a (premium paid) group on Facebook whose goal is to arrange jobs for choral singers. I feel like it's important to note that although membership is relatively cheap (£10/year if memory serves), I have never gotten a gig through there. I've never even been eligible for a gig there, because all the gigs are for tenors and bases, or not accessible, or they won't pay travel expenses.

In any case, an active member of the music community posted a paid gig for male opera chorus members for an all-male production of Carmen. The picture featured an image of two men kissing.

Like clockwork, someone started saying that it didn't belong in the group. It was offensive, inappropriate, and he didn't want to see it. He compared a picture of two men kissing to hard core pornography, and asked, "What if I look at Facebook while I'm at work?" Well first off, maybe don't spend your workday wasting time on social media, am I right?

I commented that perhaps he didn't belong in the group, and the admin responded that I should be grateful for his free speech because without it gay people wouldn't have gotten anywhere. She said that as a paying member of the group, "he had every right to express his opinion."

It wasn't so much what the man said to begin with  - I'm well aware that there are homophobes living amongst us and permeating the arts community. That came as no surprise - what did strike me, though, was the admin's response that he was allowed to express whatever backwards and offensive opinions he had, because he was a paying member too. Would she have had the same response if he was saying that an image of an interracial couple was upsetting?

Safe to say, I had a mic drop and flounced out of that group. Bye, Felicia.

I also discovered this week that there's a big competition from Ricordi for young composers. The other day, they tweeted:

Female composers: where are you? Up to now, mostly men applied to https://t.co/UdkYBua0di pic.twitter.com/4bXqnQ7icr

— Ricordi (@Ricordi_UMPC) May 20, 2016

The fabulous and whip smart @LaurenRedhead replied:

If @Ricordi_UMPC want women to enter their competitors, perhaps they should design the conditions to be equally applicable to women…?

— Lauren Redhead (@laurenredhead) May 25, 2016

Upon some investigation, here's what Ricordi wants applicants to have:

 Hmm, how many composers under the age of 40 do YOU know who have four good recordings, and one commission from a professional ensemble? How many composers under 40 have been able to write for a full orchestra and have it recorded?

Take it to the next step: how many women composers under 40 fit that bill?

Sure, there's a few. But there aren't many. Did I mention that they also want you to send them press quotes? Because they do.

Why not just ask for four pieces that meet those requirements? Surely that's a better way to determine who really has the best music for Ricordi? But by enforcing a rule that every applicant must have been commissioned by a professional ensemble, they are cutting out huge gaping swathes of the talent pool.

I don't know about y'all, but most of my commissions are for small community ensembles or educational ensembles. As a young composer, the opportunities to get a commission from a professional ensembles are practically nonexistent. I am the tumbleweed in the desert of professional, paying, accessible new music commissions.

So is it really surprising that Ricordi haven't gotten many entries from women? Nah, it's just the same old thing. Just listen to my podcast (on the right of this page) on how many women have won Pulitzer Prizes for music if you want to get a real painful and quick lesson in how long ingrained sexism is still affecting composers.

As Justin Capps (@Chupalabras) so eloquently said:

@AngelinaPanozzo @minim @laurenredhead @Ricordi_UMPC It's because it's not about the quality of the work. They're looking for pre-vetted

— Chupalabras (@justincapps) May 25, 2016

@AngelinaPanozzo @minim @laurenredhead @Ricordi_UMPC and institutionally-sanctioned, gatekeeper-approved status/cache.

— Chupalabras (@justincapps) May 25, 2016

Amen to that.

If you want to read more rage, read what @LaurenRedhead had to say on the topic. She talks about the real facts: studies, sociology, psychology, and why we definitely do not live in a meritocracy.  (Click here!)

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