FRONT MATTER: INTRODUCTION

Introducing the Music by Women Journal

By Molly Murdock

Co-Founder, Music by Women 

Music by Women Journal

Vol. 1, No. 1 (Winter 2022),

pp. 2 (1 page)

Do we need a journal about music by women? 

Musical women are composers, performers, educators, conductors, directors, scholars, pedagogues, and thinkers. Centuries of women, though, have been excluded from the music world by tradition, prejudice, institutional sexism, and ignorance perpetuated by both men and women. Performers and music educators underrepresent women in classes and concerts, in textbooks and repertoire lists every single day. 

It is past time for music by women to be recognized and performed as frequently as music by men. 

We only experience half of humanity’s musical creations if we continue to exclude women. The point is not whether you can hear gender in musical compositions, but that a diversity of artistic voices enriches our lives with new perspectives. A musical culture that encourages people regardless of gender explores more avenues of our brief human experience.

Brave, intelligent women and men have promoted gender equity in every age, but the world is reluctant to change. We learn from those trailblazers and continue their work. We strive to educate, inspire, empower and be the change we hope to see in the world.

The Covid-19 pandemic has led us to closely examine how we do things and forced major changes in education and performance. We have similarly explored music journals: identifying what is essential and what needs to be reimagined. 

Challenge colleagues to name even a single composition by a woman and hum the tune. How many tunes do they know that were composed by men? 

Yes, we need a Music by Women Journal.

We strive to create an easily-accessible, relevant, diverse, and valuable journal with high-quality articles written by experts: scholars, teachers, and performers.  

Here is our journal exploring music by women. Enjoy!