For instance, here’s Murphy’s Laws of Songwriting, including this bit about aiming your songs especially to an audience of women. The idea is that men sing songs for women, and women sing songs for women. It’s much more rare in popular music that songs are sung especially for men. So why not do what’s popular?

One can argue this point, of course (“Hey Jude”?), but for the sake of the argument, I’ll take this at face value, because it really got my curiosity going.

Compose for…whom exactly?

Gendered perspectives of classical music has been a hot topic in the last 3–4 decades. I am reminded of Fred Maus’s excellent article, “Masculine Discourse in Music Theory,” which argues (amongst other points) that one reason music became so theory-based in the twentieth century was to be more scientific and less “feminine.” Male composers wanted to appear masculine for their colleagues. (See Perspectives of New Music,¬†Vol. 31, No. 2 (Summer, 1993), pp. 264–293)

I wonder if there is anything to all this. I also wonder what is would sound like if I wrote for just a female audience only… or just a male audience! A little thought exercise that might lead to something.

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For the second year I can proudly announce I have received an ASCAP award from The ASCAPLUS Awards Concert Division Panel. This year’s panel included New York Times critic Steve Smith and conductor JoAnn Falletta. The ASCAPLUS Awards Program is for writer members whose catalogs have prestige value for which they would not otherwise be compensated.

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ASCAPLUS is an awards program that provides cash and recognition to active writers in the early and mid stages of their careers, and to established writers whose main activity is outside of broadcast media. ASCAPLUS Awards are determined annually by a panel of distinguished music experts who are neither members nor employees of ASCAP, and are completely independent in their Award adjudication. ASCAPLUS Awards are based on panel review of recent activity of writer applicants. Each applicant is considered on merit and in the context of all others applying. The primary basis for panel determinations is the activity generated by each member’s catalog, with emphasis on recent performances.

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