Oven Productions Presents Kay Gardner

By Gayle Crawford

On October 11, at 8:30 p.m., Kay Gardner is coming to Cleveland. Her concert is tentatively scheduled · to be held at Harkness Chapel on the Case Western Reserve University campus, and we'll confirm that later, Oven Productions is especially happy to bring this accomplished musician to the women of Cleveland because, perhaps more than anyone involved in women's music, she is one of the keepers of our heritage. She's a Musical Healer, who has dedicated herself and all her talents to bringing to all of us an awareness of the deep spiritual heritage of our female ancestry.

Kay Gardner has been composing since the age of four. She's studied conducting with Maestra Antonia Brico, one of the few well-known women conductors in our country. She conducted the orchestra for two years at the National Women's Music Festival in Champaign, Illinois, and is the principal conductor of the New England Women's Symphony in Boston. She's one of the founding members, with sound engineer Marilyn Ries, of Wise Women Enterprises. She studied flute with Jean-Pierre Rampal, and she's been a wandering minstrel-and all of this she has given to women.

Many of us know her two albums, Mooncircles and Emerging, and have experienced the haunting, energizing, meditative quality of her music. It's been

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described by referring to its elements of jazz, classical, contemporary and avant-garde music. It's been described by its roots in nature and natural forms, and by its links with spirituality and healing. But it doesn't matter how its described; it's our music, and it embraces us, and calls us to make our own music in return.

There will be many ways for us to do that. Appearing with her in her concert on October 11 will be the Cleveland Women's Choir, who will sing two songs under her direction. Any women who would like to join the Choir and participate in the performance is welcome. Rehearsals will be open starting in September, and Kay Gardner will be here on October 9 for final rehearsals with the Choir.

For those who don't sing, remember that Kay Clardner is a Healer. She has said, "I am writing music specifically to heal the mind and spirit.” On October 12 she will conduct a workshop on Music and Healing, which will explore tonal centers and their corresponding colors, according to an ancient chromatic musical scale. She will relate these to bodily functions and specific healing potentials, and her insights, should provide a unique experience for everyone attending.

And for the rest of us-look forward to a concert that you can participate in, because Kay Gardner involves her audience, not only in dialog but in music-

making. We won't be specific, but her audiences are never simply spectators.

Does all this sound exciting? That's Kay Gardner's purpose: "getting. women excited about their own music." So come and be excited. Come to the concert October 11. Come sing with the Women's Choir. Come to the Music and Healing workshop on October 12. Come and make music with Kay Gardner, and begin to discover your own music, and become part of the history of all our music.

Tickets for the concert will be $5, $7 and $10. Tickets for the Music and Healing workshop will be $2 for those holding concert tickets, and $5 for all others (we'll announce, the location of the workshop later). We'll have six ticket outlets this time: WomenSpace, the Rape Crisis Center, Coventry Books, Melinda McGeorge at the Free Clinic, the CWRU Women's Center, and the Tenth Muse coffeehouse in Kent. Anyone interested in singing with the Choir can call Penny at 932-3326 or Gayle at 561-5749 or 561-5764. Work exchange and childcare information is available by calling 932-1953.

Variety Show Info

Interested in working on the opening number for the Variety Show? An idea in the making needs work early. First meeting Wednesday, October 29, 7:30 p.m. at 2965 Hampshire. For information, call 932-0977.

By Christine Haynes

Growing With Child

I've read all the books. I've met tradition and revolution in childrearing strategies. I also knew this pregnancy would awaken new feelings and rekindle old internal friends and foes. But somehow being forewarned hasn't eased the transition.

Suddenly all unfinished business appears as if summoned. "Getting ready" is the theme of my life right now. Finish that piano and get it sold! Build new kitchen cabinets now! Make peace with your mother. Iron out all possible philosophical differences with Fred before he becoines "Dad". Conquer all your fears of success and solidify your goals so you can be a perfect model for your child, especially if it's a girl! Read the following books: Right from the Start: A Guide to Non-Sexist Child-Rearing, Spiritual Midwifery, Mothercare, Fathering and Of Woman Born. The latter book by Adrienne Rich is to be read a little at a time so as not to bring on a sense of hopelessness.

Suddenly I realize I'm headed for a fatal case of the SuperMom syndrome so I'll take a breather for some reflection!

I know how things should be...in my work, in the economy, in all contacts with people. Yet the exploitation, all the isms, all the unfair societal patterns live on. I am learning to be aware of this without giving in. But there are so many battlegrounds...and now another one...a huge, pervasive, scarred bat tlefield known as Motherhood.

Just last week I asked a new mother I inet, “Have people's attitudes toward you changed?” “Oh, yes,' she replied. "It's as if all of a sudden my intelligence dropped to zero!" I know. I know.

I'm ashamed to admit my own negative feelings toward mothers. I used to downplay their importance, to say "only a mother”.

I already feel isolated in a sense. Some of it is the psychological pulls from my own forced socializaMion. Much of it is inherent in the structure of society L

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with its lack of free quality childcare and the mass attitude toward mothers (not toward fathers, of course).

Scariest is when perceive a masked contempt from "enlightened" people. It comes across as a rejection of all "roles" women have been assigned. The problem is not motherhood per se but the way mothers are kept in their place by internal and external forces. The answer lies not in "throwing the baby

out with the bathwater" but in redefining the role. I ask myself what I think I need to keep perspective on my life in the midst of this potential battleground. I need my friends to stick with me. I need encouragement. I need to be allowed to stumble without criticism.

I need contact with other mothers who feel similarly. To this end, I may work to form a support cooperative of mothers where we can address such issues as (1) parenting patterns, (2) careers, (3) social pressures, (4) non-sexist child-rearing, (5) redefinition of mothering, (6) extended families, and most of all, (7) how to feel good about ourselves when the odds seem against us!

Unless it seems otherwise, I am looking forward to motherhood! I'm certain there will be much joy but I would be naive to ignore the obstacles. I also realize there will be much I will not be able to control and many ups and downs. My philosophy is to work out as much as possible beforehand and then sit back and accept the results.

The crib is painted and there are lots of tiny clothes. My breasts are full and my belly moves like the ocean. My arms are aching for the warmth of my baby.

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Double-Think

(HerSay)—An Ohio State University business professor is claiming that more businesses would be operated by women if more women were fired from their jobs.

Albert Shapero says that being fired from a job can be one of the strongest motivations for anyone to start a business. Since affirmative action programs, which require companies to hire a certain percentage of employees, have resulted in fewer women being fired, the professor reasons, fewer women are being motivated to start their own businesses.

Joanne Leonard