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Biography
Glendower Jones is a musician, printer, and publisher based in Fayetteville, Arkansas. His company, Classical Vocal Reprints (CVR), is responsible for the production, storage, and distribution of thousands of scores each year, and he has tirelessly used his position to advocate for historically marginalized composers. As a young adult, he played the trombone, sang with the Saint Thomas Choir in New York, and worked at the Joseph Patelson Music House before starting Classical Vocal Reprints in 1987. As a music dealer, he orders from other publishers and resells music, but as a publisher himself, he works with living composers and other organizations to create and distribute a variety of products. He prints anthologies, engravings, textbooks, octavos, and by his assessment, just about anything else that comes across his desk. That said, CVR is especially renowned for its dedication to publishing works by composers who often can't find a voice elsewhere. While he is loathe to take credit for it, Glendower has routinely pushed for increased awareness of women composers and composers of color through publishing, programming, and study, and the CVR's website offers evidence aplenty. Glendower continues to distribute and publish today, most recently releasing An Anthology of African and African Diaspora Songs, edited by Louise Toppin and Scott Piper.
"The music publishing business is very strange...I've always been very critical of the way [large publishers] hoard stuff...if you want to perform Florence Price, it's seven hundred dollars...it's really criminal what they do."
-Glendower Jones
Takeways
For much of the twentieth century, no one would even consider publishing the music that CVR is now regularly distributing. A publisher might have been ready to finalize a deal, found out that the composer was black, and rescinded the offer completely. The publishing industry has intentionally, systematically excluded certain groups in favor of older, white men. They have a great deal of power over deciding what music will comprise the canon, and oftentimes, there are only one or two individuals in charge of what is published and what is not.
There are several international publishing companies that own the rights to large quantities of music by historically marginalized composers, but these companies won't take the time to publish the music. The result is that no one can have it because copies just don't exist, and if someone wanted to purchase the rights so that they could perform and reproduce it, the costs are exorbitant. When we talk about lack of access to music by composers of color, this is often the root of the problem.
Work is being done to combat these problems. Vocal, dedicated individuals are necessary to research, compile, publish, publicize, and purchase music, but anyone can take on those roles. You can take on those roles! Explore the CVR website, explore new publications -- information has never been so readily available as it is today.
Further Listening
Wade in the Water | Shawn E. Okpebholo
And He Blessed My Soul | Anita Watkins-Stevenson
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