Of course I don't mean YOUR listening . . . I'm talking about those other people. The biased ones.
On Friday our staff attended a great workshop, one of the speakers was Malcolm Gladwell, author of the bestselling book "Blink".
He told a fascinating story, it's SO relevant in this industry, I'm shocked I haven't heard it before; it should be shouted from the hi-fi rooftops. I'm a generalist, so I'm retelling the story "shoot from the hip" fashion, facts and details may be (probably will be) somewhat off. (This is a key difference between my wife and I, she is detail oriented - where I could care less about details, just tell me the point of the story. We've discovered we get along better by appreciating the "differences" in our communication style, rather than intelligent debate about which manner is superior.) If you want all the factoids go read the book.
I guess 30 some-odd years ago (to the day) there were hardly any women present in classical symphonies. There was a good reason for it - women can not handle an instrument like a man can. This is what the Maestro's told us, anyway. Maestro's are highly trained listeners. Their lively-hood depends on their ears, if I was a Maestro, my ears would be insured. They weren't being discriminate, women were more than welcome to audition for these roles, but a Maestro's professional ears could always tell the difference. Thoughtful papers were written on, "Why Men are Better Classical Musicians". The question of, "Are Men Better?" had been left behind for uninformed, lesser minds to ponder.
Along came unionization, and with the list of demands was a small request to limit favoritism. Some Maestro's were accused of hiring friends who auditioned in an unfair manner. A simple screen preventing the Maestro from visually identifying the hopeful musician would solve the issue, a request the confident Maestros did not contest.
Funny thing is, nowadays, women musicians fill somewhere around 50% (to the hundredth decimal point) of the chairs in today's symphonies.
I'm not going to insult your intelligence by tying in how this relates to the hi-fi industry, but the implications are rather large. I bet you've got countless related stories to bring to the table (please share them in the comments section below!)
-Jeff
