ABSTRACT
The starting point for any discussion of any sex/gender linked differences in music, the act of creation, must first be understood, since any sex-differentiation of music must surely originate in sex/gender-differentiation of the artist and the creative process. The crucial point is that the composer's gender or sex will be stamped on to the musical work in some way and that the composer has no conscious means of avoiding or concealing such characteristics. This chapter reviews a number of findings which have explored a range of music and its relation to sex and gender. It dispels the essentialist view which assumes that any sexual or gendered understanding of music must stem from the encoding of their work, by composers, with some kind of watermark of sex or gender. The main point is that any gendered musical associations are imposed from other, outside influences on composers and listeners alike and are always open to reinterpretation.
