Kay Gardner (February 8, 1941 – August 28, 2002), also known as Cosmos Wonder-Child, was an American musician, composer, author, and

Dianic Dianic Wicca, also known as Dianic Witchcraft, and, to some also as "Dianism," "Dianic Feminist Witchcraft," or simply "Feminist Witchcraft"' is a modern pagan goddess tradition focused on female experience and empowerment. Leadership is by wom ...

priestess known for using music for creative and healing purposes. She was very active in promoting the work of contemporary female musicians and was a pioneering figure in

women's music Women's music is a type of music based on the ideas of feminist separatism and lesbian separatism, designed to inspire feminist consciousness chiefly in Western popular music, to promote music "by women, for women, and about women." Women's mu ...

Biography

Born in

Freeport, New York Freeport is a Political subdivisions of New York State#Village, village in the town of Hempstead, New York, Hempstead, in Nassau County, New York, Nassau County, on the South Shore (Long Island), South Shore of Long Island, in New York (state), ...

, Gardner wrote and performed her first piano composition at the age of four. When she was eight, she began learning how to play the flute. She subsequently went on to gain performance experience in chamber, orchestral, and vocal music. Gardner composed works for flute, piano, chamber ensemble, orchestra, and choir. She is considered a founding foremother of

. She sued the Bangor Symphony Orchestra for sex discrimination because during their search for a new music director, they asked orchestra members if they could "tolerate a woman" as a conductor. She started her own independent record label, Even Keel Records, and produced 17 albums – both of her own music and the work of others. In 1974, Gardner and

Alix Dobkin Alix Cecil Dobkin (August 16, 1940 – May 19, 2021) was an American folk singer-songwriter, memoirist, and lesbian feminist activist. In 1979, she was the first American lesbian feminist musician to do a European concert tour. Early life Dobk ...

recorded and produced a nationally distributed album with explicitly lesbian-feminist lyrics (Lavender Jane Loves Women, Women's Wax Works). This album was one of the first to be produced by an all-lesbian team, and the band behind it, Lavender Jane, was one of the first openly lesbian bands. With her first recording, ''Mooncircles'' (featuring

Meg Christian Meg Christian (born 1946 in Lynchburg, Virginia) is an American folk singer associated with the women's music movement. Early life and career Christian was born in Tennessee in 1946 and raised in Lynchburg, Virginia. She has spoken about being ...

), released in 1975, she pioneered the field of sound healing; her 1990 book Sounding the Inner Landscape: Music as Medicine was later used in medical schools. She was initiated into

Dianic Wicca Dianic Wicca, also known as Dianic Witchcraft, and, to some also as "Dianism," "Dianic Feminist Witchcraft," or simply "Feminist Witchcraft"' is a modern pagan goddess tradition focused on female experience and empowerment. Leadership is by wo ...

by Z. Budapest in 1975. In 1977, Kay Gardner wrote her first piece for orchestra ("Rain Forest"), and conducted the premiere (her conducting debut) the following year at the National Women's Music Festival in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, with

Antonia Brico Antonia Louisa Brico (June 26, 1902 – August 3, 1989) was a Dutch-born American conductor and pianist. Early life and education Born Antonia Louisa Brico to a Dutch Catholic unmarried mother in Rotterdam, Netherlands, Brico was renamed ...

in attendance. Between 1976 and 1984, Gardner worked on ''A Rainbow Path'', a large musical composition designed for meditation on the eight energy centers, or

chakra A chakra (; ; ) is one of the various focal points used in a variety of ancient meditation practices, collectively denominated as Tantra, part of the inner traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism. The concept of the chakra arose in Hinduism. B ...

s, of the human organism. She conducted a women's music orchestra production of it in 1988 at the National Women's Music Festival. Gardner also co-founded the New England Women's Symphony. In 1980 she helped produce a recording of a performance of the New England Women's Symphony performing music by women composers and conducted by several women. The album was produced and distributed by Galaxia Records. She wrote '' Ouroboros: Seasons of Life—Women's Passages'', a Neopagan oratorio. Written between 1992 and 1994, it was produced by Ladyslipper Records and recorded by an all-female group for the 1994 National Women's Music Festival. ''Ouroboros: Seasons of Life'' musically portrays a woman's life cycle from birth to death using Neopagan symbols and imagery. The Triple Goddess aspects of Maiden, Mother, and Crone are prominently featured, as are the four seasons and Neopagan holidays. Gardner was a choir director, radio personality, women's spirituality priestess, and a staff writer for HOT WIRE: The Journal of Women's Music and Culture. She is credited with envisioning the Acoustic Stage venue at the

Michigan Womyn's Music Festival The Michigan Womyn's Music Festival, often referred to as MWMF or Michfest, was a lesbian feminist women's music festival held annually from 1976 to 2015 in Oceana County, Michigan, on privately owned woodland near Hart Township referred to a ...

(with cellist Rachel Alexander), as well as founding and directing the Women With Wings sacred singing circle. She received the Maryanne Hartmann Award in 1995 and an honorary Doctor in fine Arts from the University of Maine. She died of a heart attack on August 28, 2002.

Music

Chamber Works (published by Sea Gnomes Music)

Orchestral works

*''Lament for the Thousands'' (2001) *''Century March'' *''Rainforest'' (1978, for chamber orchestra; recorded by the

Bournemouth Sinfonietta The Bournemouth Sinfonietta was a chamber orchestra founded in 1968 as an offshoot of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. It was disbanded in November 1999 after increasing difficulties in obtaining funding from local councils led to the decision ...

, Leonarda Records) *''The Rising Sun: Variations on an American Blues Theme'' (1981) *''Night Chant'' (1979) *''Prayer to Aphrodite'' *''The Greenwood'' *''Quiet Harbor'' *''Women's Orchestral Works'' performed by the New England Women's Symphony (produced and distributed by Galaxia Records)

Oratorio and Opera

*'' Ouroboros: Seasons of Life--Women's Passages'' (text: Charlie Hutchins and Ila Suzanne) *''Ladies' Voices: A Short, Short Opera'' (text:

Gertrude Stein Gertrude Stein (February 3, 1874 – July 27, 1946) was an American novelist, poet, playwright, and art collector. Born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania (now part of Pittsburgh), and raised in Oakland, California, Stein moved to Paris in 1903, and ...

)

Choral Works (Mixed Chorus)

Solo Instrumental Works

*''A River Sings'' (for solo cello) *''The Elusive White Roebuck'' (for horn & piano) *''Moonflow'' (on Beethoven's

Moonlight Sonata The Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, marked ''Quasi una fantasia'', Op. 27, No. 2, is a piano sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven, completed in 1801 and dedicated in 1802 to his pupil Countess Julie "Giulietta" Guicciardi. Although known throu ...

; for flute & piano) *''Innermoods'' (for flute & guitar) *''Seven Modal Improvisations'' (piano with any instrument/s) *''Mariachi'' (for marimba) *''Travelin' '' (for guitar) *''Thou Little Tiny Child'' (piano arrangement of

The Coventry Carol The "Coventry Carol" is an English Christmas carol dating from the 16th century. The carol was traditionally performed in Coventry in England as part of a mystery play called '' The Pageant of the Shearmen and Tailors''. The play depicts the Ch ...

)

Solo Vocal Works

*''Mother's Evening Prayer'' (text:

Mary Baker Eddy Mary Baker Eddy (née Baker; July 16, 1821 – December 3, 1910) was an American religious leader and author, who in 1879 founded The Church of Christ, Scientist, the ''Mother Church'' of the Christian Science movement. She also founded ''The C ...

) *''On Marriage'' (text:

Kahlil Gibran Gibran Khalil Gibran (January 6, 1883 – April 10, 1931), usually referred to in English as Kahlil Gibran, was a Lebanese-American writer, poet and Visual arts, visual artist; he was also considered a philosopher, although he himself reject ...

) *''Fragments'' (text: Hsin Ping) *''Mindful of You'' (text:

Edna St. Vincent Millay Edna St. Vincent Millay (February 22, 1892 – October 19, 1950) was an American lyric poetry, lyrical poet and playwright. Millay was a renowned social figure and noted Feminism, feminist in New York City during the Roaring Twenties and beyond. ...

) *''Three Mother Songs'' *''Two Sapphic Songs'' (text:

Elsa Gidlow Elsa Gidlow (29 December 1898 – 8 June 1986) was a British-born, Canadian-American poet, freelance journalist, philosopher and humanitarian. She is best known for writing ''On a Grey Thread'' (1923), the first volume of openly Lesbian litera ...

) *''Wise Woman'' *''Beautiful Friend'' *''Changing''

With Lavender Jane

*''Lavender Jane Loves Women'' (1973, with Alix Dobkin and Patches Attom)

Written works

*''Music as Medicine: The Art & Science of Healing With Sound'' (9-hour lecture series on tape;

Sounds True Sounds True is an American multimedia publishing company founded in 1985 by Tami Simon. The company is based in Louisville, Colorado. The company has published over 800 spoken-word audio and music recordings, books, multimedia learning resources ...

) *''Sounding the Inner Landscape: Music as Medicine'' (1990, )

References

External links

Kay Gardner's official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gardner, Kay 1940 births 2002 deaths 20th-century American classical composers American women classical composers American Wiccans American lesbian musicians Performers of modern pagan music Women's music Musicians from Bangor, Maine Writers from Bangor, Maine People from Freeport, New York 20th-century American women composers American feminist musicians Wiccan feminists Lesbian feminists 20th-century American LGBTQ people 21st-century American LGBTQ people