Abstract
This study evaluates propositions that have appeared in the literature that music phenomena are gendered. Were they present in the musical “message,” gendered qualities might be imparted at any of three stages of the music–communication interchange: the process of composition, its realization into sound by the performer, or imposed by the listener in the process of perception. The research was designed to obtain empirical evidence to enable evaluation of claims of the presence of gendering at these three stages. Three research hypotheses were identified and relevant literature of music behaviors and perception reviewed. New instruments of measurement were constructed to test the three hypotheses: (i) two listening sequences each containing 35 extracts from published recordings of compositions of the classical music repertoire, (ii) four “music characteristics” scales, with polarities defined by verbal descriptors designed to assess the dynamic and emotional valence of the musical extracts featured in the listening sequences. 69 musically-trained listeners listened to the two sequences and were asked to identify the sex of the performing artist of each musical extract; a second group of 23 listeners evaluated the extracts applying the four music characteristics scales. Results did not support claims that music structures are inherently gendered, nor proposals that performers impart their own-sex-specific qualities to the music. It is concluded that gendered properties are imposed subjectively by the listener, and these are primarily related to the tempo of the music.
Highlights
Imposition of gendered information at the compositional stage would presumably require a deliberate intention on the part of the composer, but no indicative criteria have yet been proposed against which a composer could determine which sounds would be perceived as masculine and which would be feminine
As McClary (2002, pp. 56–65) points out, male composers do sometimes write passages that are intentionally descriptive of feminine qualities, witness an example which she discusses at some length—the habañera sung by Carmen in the first act of the opera of that name by Georges Bizet, in which she Controlled-objective / sensitive-emotional
(4) Eras of composition: ratings on the musiccharacteristic scales showed that listeners consistently identified differences in affect characteristics of music of the three eras of musical composition, this was not found to be related to performer-sex identifications, female artists were not found to reveal their sex by a detectably greater empathy for music rated as having greater emotional valence
Summary
PERFORMER-SEX DISCRIMINATION TASK Two data-collection instruments (listening sequences) were constructed, each comprising 35 extracts taken from published recordings of music of the Western art/classical music repertoire. With 35 extracts in each of the two listening sequences, male and female performances were sampled across 70 presentations. In order to test the first hypothesis (gendered information is present in the structures irrespective of era and style of composition), works sampled (listed at Supplementary material) were selected from the standard repertoire so as to include a range of eras and genres of musical composition, ranging from smaller-scale pieces, and chamber works to solo concerti, such as might regularly be encountered by a music-listening audience. Works in major and minor modes and atonal examples were included
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