''The Maud Powell Signature, Women in Music'', also known as ''Signature'', is an American online music periodical. It is published free of charge by The Maud Powell Society for Music and Education, a non-profit charity Section 501(c)(3) organization founded in 1986 and based in

Brevard, North Carolina Brevard is a city in Transylvania County, North Carolina, United States, with a population of 7,609 as of the 2010 Census. It is the county seat of Transylvania County. Brevard is located at the entrance to Pisgah National Forest and has become ...

. ''Signature'' launched in 1995 as a quarterly print subscription magazine, publishing five editions through 1997. After a nine-year hiatus due to a lack of funding, the editors resurrected the publication with a much lower overhead, distributing issues free online in

pdf Portable Document Format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. ...

. The overarching topics relate to

women in classical music Women are active in all aspects of classical music, such as instrumental performance, vocal performance, orchestral conducting, choral conducting, scholarly research, and contemporary composition. However, proportionately to men, their representat ...

, historic and current. The contributing editors are music scholars, music critics, and music educators. Submissions and acceptances are neither juried nor solicited nor peer-reviewed by outside scholars; although the managing editor, Pamela J. Blevins and associate editor, Karen A. Shaffer, both music scholars, weigh the veracity and worthiness themselves. The published submissions range from seminal research to dissertation spin-offs to editorials to biography supplements to general articles about forgotten or overlooked women, especially composers, who made, or are now making, important contributions to music.

Founders and editors

''Signature'' was co-founded by (i) Pamela J. Blevins (born 1945), who is managing editor, and (ii) Karen A. Shaffer (born 1947), who is Director, President, and CEO of The Maud Powell Society for Music and Education, and Associate Editor of the publication. Shaffer is an author and scholar on

Maud Powell Minnie "Maud" Powell (August 22, 1867 – January 8, 1920) was an American violinist who gained international acclaim for her skill and virtuosity. Biography Powell was born in Peru, Illinois. Her mother was Wilhelmina "Minnie" Bengelstrae ...

Publication's namesake

(1867–1920) was regarded by American and European critics as the foremost woman violinist in the world, and, at her death, one of the greatest musicians ever produced by the United States, and the first violinist from the United States to achieve international rank. In 1904, Powell became the first solo instrumentalist to record for the

Victor Talking Machine Company The Victor Talking Machine Company was an American recording company and phonograph manufacturer that operated independently from 1901 until 1929, when it was acquired by the Radio Corporation of America and subsequently operated as a subsidia ...

’s celebrity artist series, Red Seal label. Those recordings became worldwide bestsellers.

Editions

Print editions * Summer 1995, Vol. I, No. 1
''Pioneering Spirit of Women in Music'' * Fall 1995, Vol. I, No. 2
''Family Traditions'' * Winter 1996, Vol. I, No. 3
''Women and Orchestras, Part 1'' * Spring/Summer 1996, Vol. I, No. 4
''Women and Orchestras, Part 2'' * April 1997, Vol. II, No. 1
''Women of Vision'' Online editions * June 2008, Vol. II, No. 2
''The March of the Women'' * Autumn 2008, Vol. II, No. 3
''Lost and Found'' * Spring 2009, Vol. II, No. 4
''Educators'' * Summer 2010, Vol. III, No. 1 * Spring/Summer 2011, Vol. III, No. 2

References

External links

''The Maud Powell Signature, Women in Music''

The Maud Powell Society for Music and Education
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maud Powell Signature Music magazines published in the United States Quarterly magazines published in the United States Magazines established in 1995 Magazines published in North Carolina