Menuhin International Violin Competition selects 36 girls and 8 boys to participate in 2016 contest

January 13, 2016 at 10:30 PM · You know, the thing that bothers me about this is not that there are many more young women than men accepted into the competition, but the marketing of the women. Those pictures, especially the ones with the over the shoulder come-hither stare, with the dress cut down to the south of France, (and the appropriate cascading hair) I find just plain creepy. I don't want to be thinking about your booty while I'm trying to hear the music you're making. But, I guess there are plenty of people who do find that a bonus, and anything to give yourself an edge, right?

Maybe I'm just an old fogey who's not up with the times.

I just wonder if a young, tough, amazonian girl who sports a buzz cut and likes to wear tuxes on stage would have a chance, in this era. Anybody, especially Laurie, what do you think?

P.S. I find it interesting that the one guy in the lineup was photographed actually playing, and was covered from head to toe.

January 14, 2016 at 03:05 AM · It seems to me in general (judging from the numbers in my sons' orchestra) that there are more girls playing violin than boys. My son has been the only boy in his section on more than one occasion.

January 14, 2016 at 02:47 PM · Demographic imbalance is something that is best studied using larger samples, over longer time intervals, and at all levels from beginning Suzuki class to the ranks of the LA Phil.

As for the "marketing" question I think we have to remember that many of these contestants are young teenagers. They have teachers and parents who should be shouldering (sorry!) much of the responsibility for these "marketing" choices. And remember these kids have role models too. What are they wearing? It's hard to fault an ambitious young teenager for wanting to believe that his or her name and picture might one day appear on an album cover, and therefore wanting to look like the violinists they've seen pictured on covers only seems natural.

January 18, 2016 at 02:04 AM · I think the large number of South Korean violinists of high quality* shows how seriously violin is taken there.

Again though, an imbalance - across many competitions - between the high number of female competitors and the much smaller number of males.

This is a reflection perhaps of the now significantly higher number of female applicants to, and graduates from, UK, Australian and other universities.

I think it's only a bad trend if it gets too uneven ... but feel free to disagree.

* In Passing, I preferred Bomsori Kim playing Waxman's Carmen fantasy to Heifitz' performance - making allowances for YouTube, but I felt he played too fast. Ms Kim was more musical.

Terence

January 19, 2016 at 08:40 PM · Well this stinks. Is the violin going the way of the flute? Where no self-respecting male would go near one?

Or has it always been this way?

I rather think that at least in my 50 years, it has always been so. I think back to my junior high orchestra in the 70s. I can even remember some names. There were only a few of us males. There were many more girls. Then I went on to major in English Literature. Many more girls than boys there, too (hey it is a trend but then I went into a technical field....).

Hey, if you like being with girls and not just in the bedroom, you've got a great thing going if you are a male violinist!