As I began my research into female composers and their notable absence from mainstream musical history, I happened upon an article which focused on exactly the same thing. Published in College Music Symposium, the article mentioned five ways to approach the task of reexamining history from a feminist, female-inclusive perspective:
1. “Womanless History" - examining history as it has often been recorded, with women infrequently mentioned
2. "Women in History" - the study of specific female figures, who were often left out of the conventional narrative
3. "Women as a Problem, Anomaly, or Absence" - analyzing the biases, prejudices, and social constructs that lead to women's marginalization in society and in historical writing
4. "Women as History" - history from a strictly female perspective, in contrast to the typical male-dominated view
5. "History Reconstructed, Redefined, and Transformed” - combining the previous 4 ideas into one central, more inclusive (and more accurate) revision of the existing historical narrative
Aside from studying specific influential female musicians, I hadn't developed a clear pathway for my research, and I think these five principles will be extremely helpful in guiding the focus of my project. I hope to make significant progress on my research in the next few months so that I can start to plan the performance aspect as soon as possible.
Cyrus, C. J., & Mather, O. C. (1998). Rereading Absence: Women in Medieval and Renaissance Music. College Music Symposium, 38, 101-117. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/40374322
1. “Womanless History" - examining history as it has often been recorded, with women infrequently mentioned
2. "Women in History" - the study of specific female figures, who were often left out of the conventional narrative
3. "Women as a Problem, Anomaly, or Absence" - analyzing the biases, prejudices, and social constructs that lead to women's marginalization in society and in historical writing
4. "Women as History" - history from a strictly female perspective, in contrast to the typical male-dominated view
5. "History Reconstructed, Redefined, and Transformed” - combining the previous 4 ideas into one central, more inclusive (and more accurate) revision of the existing historical narrative
Aside from studying specific influential female musicians, I hadn't developed a clear pathway for my research, and I think these five principles will be extremely helpful in guiding the focus of my project. I hope to make significant progress on my research in the next few months so that I can start to plan the performance aspect as soon as possible.
Cyrus, C. J., & Mather, O. C. (1998). Rereading Absence: Women in Medieval and Renaissance Music. College Music Symposium, 38, 101-117. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/40374322