Music Mavens: 15 Women of Note in the Industry

by Ashley Walker, Maureen Charles

Overview

Nothing moves us like music. 
Music Mavens transports readers around the world (and beyond)—to a jazz performance in Genoa, an instrument lab in London, a Tokyo taiko dojo, a New York City beatbox battle, and even a film scoring session aboard the starship Enterprise, to name a few. Along the way, it spotlights artists whose work spans musical genres and industry roles, including composing and songwriting, performing and conducting, audio engineering, producing, and rock photography.
In Music Mavens, 15 extraordinary women reveal how they turned their passions into platforms and how they use their power to uplift others. 
Their musical resumes will inspire, but the way each artist lives her life is the real story.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798890680082
Publisher:	Chicago Review Press, Incorporated
Publication date:	09/17/2024
Series:	Women of Power
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.80(d)
Age Range:	12 - 18 Years

About the Author

Ashley Walker is an author, educator, and amateur musician. She holds degrees in mechanical engineering and artificial intelligence, and she recently graduated from the MFA program in Writing for Children and Young Adults at Vermont College of Fine Arts, where she was a three-time award winner. She lives in San Francisco, California. For more information, visit Ashley’s website: www.ashleywalkerbooks.com. Maureen Charles also has an MFA in Writing for Children from Vermont College of Fine Arts and has worked for many years as a writer, editor, and writing coach. She sings, plays guitar and ukulele, and was married to an arranger, orchestrator, and composer of TV and film music. She lives in Pasadena, California. For more information, visit Maureen’s website at www.maureencharles.com.

Table of Contents

Prelude

Part I: Power to Innovate

1.     Macy Schmidt: Orchestrating Equity

2.     Lia Mice: Innovating Inclusion

3.     Katarina Benzova: Shooting Stars

Part II: Power to Perform

4.     Janet Dacal: Hitting Broadway Heights

5.     Valérie Sainte-Agathe: Stronger Together

6.     Kaoly Asano: Hearing the Inner Drummer

Part III: Power to Compose

7.     Nami Melumad: Cinematic Scoring

8.     Joanne Shenandoah: Standing in Power

9.     Kate Schutt: Presence Not Perfection

Part IV: Power to Improvise

10.  Kaila Mullady: Beatboxing Brilliance

11.  Vân-Ánh Võ: Tradition and Improvisation

12.  Regina Carter: Call and Response

Part V: Power to Produce

13.  Nova Wav: Songwriting and Producing Duo

14.  Maria Elisa Ayerbe: Engineering Latin Sound

15.  Sylvia Massy: Adventure Recording

Tribute to Sophie Xeon

Coda

Ovation

Playlist

Resources

Editorial Reviews

"An antidote to the erasure that can limit young people’s conceptions of what is possible...and expand the world of music."—Kirkus Reviews

"Role models for young people are vital. Music Mavens takes inspiring role models and blends their triumphs and challenges into pathways that set a musically interested young person on their journey with a sense of hope—and some very pragmatic life lessons along the way." —Mitch Glickman, composer, conductor, producer, and educator, and founder and music director of Symphonic Jazz Orchestra & SJO's Music In the Schools Program

"What an amazing resource for young people of any identifying gender to learn about the pathways and possibilities of the music industry. All aspects of the industry are embodied in these stories, revealing the nuance of the craft, reaching beyond the stories of fame we too often hear about in mainstream media. Youth can read one chapter or the whole book and be inspired and educated." —Jennifer Carroll, associate director of education, Inner-City Arts

"Overall effect is a rich and inspiring mix of talent and career directions...high-interest volume with educational value."—Booklist

From the Publisher

2022-09-14
Upbeat minibiographies of women in the music industry.

Expanding well beyond vocalists, the authors highlight composers, songwriters, producers, improvisational performers, an instrument designer, and others who have found successful career paths in music. They describe the contributions of those who work behind the scenes in sound engineering, cinematic scoring, and similar pursuits through attention to a globally diverse range of celebrated women in music. Drawing upon interviews with their subjects, Walker and Charles provide an antidote to the erasure that can limit young people’s conceptions of what is possible by centering the achievements of those who inspire, inform, and expand the world of music. Covering many musical styles and genres, the ambitious scope and inclusive lens largely succeed at showing the talent, drive, determination, ingenuity, passion, and creativity of each mover and shaker. Unfortunately, the prose is rather trite and repetitive, and the brief portraits don’t quite address hurdles so much as they gloss over them, framing stories in terms of a heroic arc in which a key, life-defining twist of good fortune yields an opportunity that changes everything. Nevertheless, the simple structure conveys optimistic narratives and helpful career options for young music lovers to consider.

Women behind the music take center stage. (tribute to Sophie Xeon, authors’ notes, playlist, resources, notes) (Nonfiction. 12-18)

Kirkus Reviews