NEWSLETTER v 4 n 2 (November 1995)
| MEMBERSHIP
A $ by your name on the mailing label means your membership is due. Membership is $3.00 (US or Canadian currency acceptable. Our apologies: we can no longer accept UK currency). Make cheques payable to Queen's University. Send cheques, names & addresses (add e-mail &/or phone number, if you wish) to: Dr. Roberta Lamb, School of Music, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada K7L 3N6. |
In this issue:
2.1 Indiana University of Pennsylvania presents the FOURTH FESTIVAL OF
2.2 MENC
2.3 Conference on Music, Gender and Pedagogics
3.1 Feminist Theory & Music 3 - 1995
3.2 OMEA Showcase 95
4. Book Review: The Maud Powell Signature
7. GRIME Bibliography Reminder
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Our membership is approximately 100. We now have members in Sweden & Finland as well as US, UK, Australia & Canada. Several new members joined at Feminist Theory & Music 3, where abour 35 attended the GRIME meeting. We had an informal discussion of teaching methodology and content in relation to gender issues as part of this meeting.
GRIME will meet at MENC (time & place to be determined). What do members think of having a dinner meeting at a nearby restaurant? This may be much easier than trying to schedule a conference site room. If you will be attending MENC, please let Roberta know & indicate what day would be best for a dinner meeting. Send ideas to R.Lamb by snail-mail to the above address or email to: lambr@post.queensu.ca.
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2.1 Indiana University of Pennsylvania presents the FOURTH FESTIVAL OF WOMEN COMPOSERS, 20-23 March 1996
Lectures & recitals featuring music of women composers. For more information, please contact Dr. Sarah Mantel or Dr. Susan Wheatley, Festival Directors - Department of Music; Indiana, PA 15705; (412) 357-2390
FAX: (412) 357-7899
E-Mail: wheatley@grove.iup.edu, sjmantel@grove.iup.edu
2.2 MENC 17-20 April 1996, Kansas City, MO
In addition to the GRIME meeting, there will be at least one gender-related panel. Virginia Caputo, Roberta Lamb & Eleanor Stubley will each present papers under the theme "Modulating Identities". Are any other GRIME members presenting?
2.3 Conference on Music, Gender and Pedagogics, Goteborg, Sweden, 26-28 April 1996
Goteborg University's Department of Musicology plans a three-day international conference on music, gender, & pedagogics, to be held 26-28 April, 1996 in Goteborg (Gothenburg), Sweden. 15 speakers will present papers. An important part of the conference will consist of discussions based upon these papers which will be sent in the form of a working compendium to all participants before the conference. Discussions will be led by a chair & the author of each paper. The language of the conference will be English. The 3 conference themes are interpreted with reference to a pedagogical framework:
1. Women musicians & gender politics
2. Masculine & feminine in music activities and institutions
3. Gender, music theory & analysis
There is space in the programme for other speakers to present 20-minute papers. There are also places for those who would like to participate without giving a paper. For both categories, the conference fee is US $60 or 450 Skr. You are invited to contact Dr Margaret Myers in order to reserve your conference place & also to book accommodation. Those who would like to present a paper should send an abstract and a brief CV by 1 December 1996 to:
Dr Margaret Myers, Conference Organiser,
Goteborg University Department of Music,
Box 5439, S-402 29 Goteborg, Sweden
Tel: +46-31-773 40 82 or -773 40 83
Fax: +46-31-773 40 89
e-mail: margaret.myers@musik.gu.se
On Monday 29 April 1996, a meeting of the ICTM Music & Gender Group will be held, hosted by the University of Goteborg Department of Music. Please contact the joint chairs for information:
1) Dr Marcia Herndon, Music Dept/Tawes,
University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA.
e-mail: mh90@umail.umd.edu
2) Dr Pirkko Moisala, University of Turku, Musicology, SF-20500 Turku, FINLAND.
tel: +358-21-876 673, fax: +538-21-633 65 60,
e-mail: pimoisa@utu.fi
Speakers At The Goteborg Conference:
Dr Marcia J Citron, Prof, Musicology, Rice University, Houston TX, USA, GENDER & ANALYSIS: CECILE CHAMINADE'S PIANO SONATA OP. 21
Dr Beverley Diamond, Prof, Ethnomusicology & Musicology, York University, Toronto, ON, CAN, FEMINISM IN THE MUSIC SCHOOL: STRATEGIES FOR CONFRONTING OUR CRITICS
Ms Marjorie Glynne-Jones, Reg.Insp., Freelance Inspector & Consultant, Essex, UK, PROMISE FULFILLED? MUSIC IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS
Dr David Hargreaves, Reader in Psychology, University of Leicester, UK, Visit Prof of Research in Music Education, Göteborg University, Sweden, GENDER & COMPUTERS IN MUSIC EDUCATION: AN ANGLO-SWEDISH STUDY
Dr Marcia Herndon, Prof of Ethnomusicology, University of Maryland, USA, BASIC ASSUMPTIONS: CANON OR CAULDRON?
Mag. Regina Himmelbauer, Lect., Eisenstadt Music Conservatory, Vienna, Austria, EDUCATION AS A MEANS OF GENDER POLITICS
Mag. Jarna Knuuttila, Res Asst, Dept. of Psychology, University of Joensuu, Finland, REPRODUCTION OF GENDER HIERARCHY IN THE CASE OF AMATEUR ALL-GIRL ROCKBANDS IN FINLAND
Dr Ellen Koskoff, Assoc. Prof, Ethnomusicology, Department of Musicology, The Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester, NY, USA. IS FEMALE TO MALE AS POSTMODERN IS TO MODERN? IMPLICATIONS FOR THE TEACHING OF ETHNOMUSICOLOGY
Dr Roberta Lamb, Asst. Prof, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, CAN, 'TO BE THE WOMAN I AM'/'YOU ARE NOT YOUR OWN SELF': WOMEN'S CONTRADICTORY EXPERIENCES OF MENTOR/APPRENTICE PEDAGOGY IN MUSIC
Dr Richard Leppert, Prof & Chair, Dept. of Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA, THE SONORIC BODY: SOCIO-SEXUAL HARMONY -- ACTS OF VENGEANCE
Dr Pirkko Moisala, Assoc. Prof, Ethnomusicology, Dept. of Musicology, University of Turku, Finland, GENDER, MUSIC EDUCATION, & MUSICAL EXPERIENCE
Dr Karin Pendle, Prof, Musicology, College-Conservatory of Music, Cincinnati, USA, OTHER-OTHERS: AN APPROACH TO THE MUSIC OF MODERN AFRICAN-AMERICAN WOMEN
Dr Eva Rieger, Prof, Musicology, University of Bremen, Germany, MUSIC & GENDER IN HOLLYWOOD FILM
Margaret Lucy Wilkins, Composer, Sr. Lect., Music, University of Huddersfield, UK, 'THERE ARE NO WOMEN COMPOSERS, THERE NEVER HAVE BEEN ANY AND POSSIBLY THERE NEVER WILL BE'. SIR THOMAS BEECHAM
Dr Eva Öhrström, Sr. Lect., Dept. of Musicology, University of Uppsala, GENDER STRUCTURE IN HIGHER EDUCATION IN SWEDEN 1860-1990. TRENDS AND TENDENCIES.
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3.1 Feminist Theoty & Music 3 - 1995 reviewed by Julie Dawn Smith, UBC
When I heard the theme for Feminist Theory and Music 3- Negotiating the Faultlines- I couldn't help but wonder which faultlines/whose negotiations were being referred to. Although I have followed the growing pains of feminist musicology since the early 1980's, I have not had the opportunity to attend other FT&M conferences. My observations are therefore based on issues I am struggling with in sound/music/ education & from discussions with participants at the conference which helped contextualize & clarify the experience.
Beginning Thursday afternoon & running through Sunday morning, there were a total of 71 papers presented; 3 panel discussions held in the late afternoons; a Deep Listening Session facilitated by Pauline Oliveros; 3 performances of music by women composers performed (mostly) by women during the evenings. The scope of the topics was large- Music & AIDS, Gender Tension in Musical Voice, Romantic Binarisms, Gender Dysphoria & Male Fantasy, Negotiating Power: Egalitarianism Across Cultures, Women & Film (to name a few)- making it difficult to choose which sessions to attend. Generally I wandered from room to room in pursuit of individual papers.
One of the few sessions I did attend in its entirety was Technology, Oliveros, & the New Music Listener, with presentations by Linda Dunsman (Clark University) entitled The Representational in the Ear of the Feminist Listener; Andra McCartney (York University) speaking on The Dear and the Dangerous: Technology & Feminism in Hildegard Westercamps's "Breathing Room"; & Martha Mockus (University of Minnesota), a performance/paper entitled Lesbian Skin & Musical Fascination. For me, these papers were the most innovative & the most relevant of the conference. Also of note were Karen Pegley's Justify Whose Love? Queer(y)ing the Reception of Madonna; Virginia Caputo's Engendered Knowledge: Musical Places & the Politics of Childhood; & Suzanne Cusick's Who Is This Woman . . . Who Moves . . . as if Equal to the Sun?: The Performance of Gender in Francesca Caccini's Primo Libro della Musiche (1618).
The atmosphere of the conference, I am told, was "very polite." Participants seemed reluctant to challenge each other & discuss controversial issues publicly in any meaningful way. The panel discussion Myth & Methods of Music Education was a good example of this.
It is my understanding that it took a fair bit of lobbying to include a panel discussion on education this year. Initially, it was encouraging as each of the five panelists raised issues of pedagogy with reference to difference, boundaries, institutions, etc., in their preambles. Participants shared information about their course outlines for feminist musicology, the World Wide Web, & other resources. Beyond this the session did not develop issues of theory and praxis raised by the panelists & eventually deteriorated into a discussion about marking strategies. I was disappointed that no one discussed Claire Detels paradigm of soft boundaries & relatedness or her emphasis on interdisciplinary arts. There also seemed to be little recognition that music education begins before students enter the academy. Issues such as the exclusiveness of music literacy, the inclusion of oral practices in the academy, the mechanistic approach to the body in pursuit of virtuosity, strategies for teaching "marginal" music, & the complicity of the "feminist" music academy in perpetuating the hegemony of Western Art Music by using the language & style of the academy seem like some of the possible topics for discussion.
The panel Feminism Across the Generations was somewhat more lively & successful as an inclusive dialogue. After the panel members introduced themselves in the context of the history of the FT&M conferences, some of the whisperings overheard in the halls were voiced by the panel & the audience. There was an acknowledgement that the conference does not attract people of colour & that cultural diversity & issues of race are marginal topics in the conference overall. A practical suggestion was that we (i.e. the white academics) need to go to conferences and participate in the communities where these issues are addressed, & not expect everyone to "come to us." There was also a discussion arising from the accusation of "elder" feminists that "younger" feminists are not interested in political activism. This sparked several comments from younger women who took exception to what they felt to be an unfounded generalization. To some extent these dialogues redeemed the conference for me; it was obvious that participants were aware of unspoken issues, but until this time (for whatever reason), had chosen not to raise them.
Perhaps the conference could benefit from a little work in coalition building; encouraging a greater variety of formats for the presentation of papers; adding lecture demonstrations, workshops, discussion groups; including more diverse artistic work that is less "academic" and more interdisciplinary; in short, by trying to negotiate some of the less obvious faultlines.
3.2 OMEA SHOWCASE 95, 3-4 NOV. 1995
Gender issues were a part of this recent Ontario inservice conference. GRIME members presented 2 sessions: Flutist Dr. Paula Conlon gave a recital of music by women composers. GRIME members Virginia Caputo and Mary Cousens presented a workshop on "Women in Music". Mary focused on materials for including women composers in high school music classes, while Virginia addressed the issues of facing women as students & teachers in music education. The session prompted thoughtful & heartfelt discussion.
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4. Book Review: The Maud Powell Signature
The first edition of The Maud Powell Signature salutes the "Pioneering Spirit of Women in Music" & features the American composer Elinor Remick Warren (1900- 1991) whose acclaimed choral symphony, "The Legend of King Arthur", will be premiered in Great Britain at the Three Choirs Festival in
Gloucester on August 25. Also featured are the pioneering American violinist Maud Powell (1867-1920), Juliette Kang, winner of the 1994
International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, the trailblazing African-
American composer Florence Price, & the visionary music educator Hazel Kinscella. Violinist & music educator Midori writes an informative commentary on music in education.
The Fall issue will explore musical families: singer, composer, pianist. Pauline Viardot-Garcia (1821-1910), her composer daughter Louise Viardot Heritte (1841- 1918) & her elder sister, singer Maria Malibran (1808-1836); the Anna Amalias; the Fay sisters; & a commentary by composer Libby Larsen.
The Maud Powell Signature is a publication of the Maud Powell Foundation, a non-profit organization that has become a powerful voice in broadcasting the significant contributions of women to music throughout the ages.
The Maud Powell Signature builds on Powell's vision & her philosophy that women should take their place alongside men as equals in all areas of music composition & performance. It also creates awareness of the importance of music in education.
Charter subscription rate is $28 (U.S.) a year for four issues, $54 (U.S.) for 8 issues. Payable by check or money order to the Maud Powell Foundation, a non-profit organization. For further information, or to subscribe, write:
Karen A. Shaffer
5333 N. 26th Street
Arlington, VA 22207
(703) 532-2055 phone/fax
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Submitted by: Charlene Morton, OISE, <cmorton@oise.on.ca>
With permission from the author, I am submitting the final section of Pauline Turner Strong's review of Disney's "Pocahontas", a review which includes an analysis of the song material. Although she commends the theme song "Colors of the Wind" for its "clear exposition of colonial materialism & possessiveness", she explains that the song "Savages, Savages" does not succeed as well. Furthermore, she cautions that if the song is performed out of context, its difficult theme could be misunderstood. For music educators who will be adding Pocahontas medleys to their spring concert programs, her concerns are particularly relevant. Here then are Strong's concerns about the song "Savages" & her closing comments about the film in general. (For her complete analysis, you may access the review in the archives of H-Net@uicvm.uic.edu)
************************************
. . . But what about the litany "Savages! Savages!"? Does this not level the English & the Algonquian people to the same state of brutishness & ethnocentrism, portraying the prejudice of savagism as somehow natural rather than having cultural & historical roots? And what about disseminating this song on the soundtrack, outside the context of the film, where it may have a very different impact upon an impressionable audience? For many Native Americans & other colonized peoples, "savage" is the "S" word, as potent & degrading as the word "nigger." I cannot imagine the latter epithet repeated so often, & set to music, in a G rated film & its soundtrack. It is even shocking to write it in a review. Is "savage" more acceptable because it is used reciprocally? But then does this not downplay the role the colonial ideology of savagism played in the extermination & dispossession of indigenous people?
The filmmakers are quite aware that they are in risky territory here, & characterize the episode as dealing with "one of the most adult themes ever in a Disney film." The theme is "the ugliness & stupidity that result when people give into racism and intolerance," & it is refreshing to have it out in the open, especially from a studio with a history, even recently, of racist animation. But I believe a more responsible treatment of the theme--one more consistent with the filmmakers' aims--would be more nuanced, distinguishing between English savagism & Algonquian attitudes towards their own enemies (whom they generally aimed to politically subordinate & socially incorporate, rather than exterminate & dispossess). This could be done by telling more of Powhatan's subsequent dealings with Smith, whom he treated as a subordinate 'werowance' or chief. Lacking that, I believe the circulation of the song "Savages" should have been limited to the film, where its offensiveness is tempered by its relevance to the narrative.
That "Pocahontas" raises a number of difficult & timely issues--not all of which could be discussed here--is a tribute to its seriousness & ambition. Indeed, the film begs to be read as a plea for tolerant, respectful, & harmonious living in a world torn by ethnic strife & environmental degradation. That "Pocahontas" is rife with tensions & ironies is also a testimony to the limitations of serious cultural critique in an artistic environment devoted to the marketing of dreams. That our children are surrounded with Pocahontas hype while being called to treat other cultures & the land with respect requires us to clarify for them the difference between consuming objectified difference & achieving respectful relationships across difference. In other words, "Pocahontas" provides a valuable teachable moment that we can further by encouraging our children--& ourselves--to take it seriously when Pocahontas sings,
And we are all connected to each other
In a circle, in a hoop that never ends.
Reviewed by Pauline Turner Strong, Anthropology, University of Texas, Austin
The complete review is copyrighted (c) 1995 by H-Net. It may be reprinted for educational or scholarly use. For other permissions, please write H-Net@uicvm.uic.edu. This review first appeared on H-WORLD@msu.edu, June 30, 1995. (For promotional material on the film "Pocahontas", the Disney address is http://www.disney.com)
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This column features information submitted by GRIME members regarding WWW sites on the internet. Do GRIME members want to see this newsletter on-line (as the MENC History SRIG is doing with their newsletter, see below)? Do we want to have a listserv? Does someone want to create a GRIME 'home page'? If yes to these questions, how do we include those who do not have computer access? Please respond with your ideas!
The Feminist Majority Online -- http://www.feminist.org
The Feminist Majority announces World Wide Web site, "The Feminist Majority Online." Created with the assistance of New Media Publishing, this revolutionary site contains a comprehensive array of information on all aspects of women's issues -- with over 1200 screens of information, & more than 365 links.
A subsection of the Feminist Majority Online will focus on the growing interdisciplinary field of research on women, providing information on related Internet resources, journals & books, & programs & centers.
In addition, an interdisciplinary database section entitled "Feminist Faculty" will help a cross-section of scholars network & share information. This database, comprised of faculty members in Women's Studies & related fields, will allow users to search by keyword & locate other faculty members. If you would like to be included in this database, we ask that you email us with the following information:
Name
Department
College/University
Address
Phone/Fax
Email address(es)
Research areas/Topics of interest
In your message, please use "feminist faculty" as the subject line, & type each field entry on a separate line.The last field entry can be up to a paragraph in length, including, among other information, your area of specialization, current research topics, educational background, current or upcoming publications, requests for assistance/documents from other users, etc.
Send all messages to: fmupdate@newmedium.com.
Early Music Women Composers-submitted by Charlene Morton.
There is now a "home page" source for women composers on the Internet devoted to Early Music Women Composers. It is part of a source for information on the History of Women. The address is: http://pages.nyu.edu/~whitwrth/
The page begins with an extensive list of medieval, renaissance & baroque women composers, followed by books listing their extant works. Also included is a list of current CD's annotated with historical notes, & a selection of links devoted to early music/& or women composers. Contact Sarah Whitworth, at <whitwrth@is2.nyu.edu>
gen-mus is a mailing list for discussion of music in relation to women, gender, & sexuality. Many different kinds of contributions are welcome: discussion of issues, discussion of published texts, announcements, requests for information, & so on. Contributions may be professional in tone, or may be informal personal messages, or anything in between. We recommend not exceeding a maximum length of two or three screens, & we discourage abusive posts ("flaming"). We are initiating the list as an unmoderated forum, to which anyone may subscribe & contribute. This policy will require responsibility on the part of contributors, as we work to build up a community in which we can all learn from our exchange of ideas & information. List managers: Suzanne Cusick, Fred Maus, Chip Whitesell. To subscribe to gen-mus, write to <majordomo@virginia.edu>, with the message "subscribe gen-mus" or, if you wish to subscribe to an address different from your return address, the message "subscribe gen-mus <address>". No subject heading is necessary.
The MENC History SRIG will be sending out an E-mail Newsletter. If you are interested in the history of music education & would like to receive this newsletter, send your e-mail address to: howex009@gold.tc.umn.edu, Sondra Wieland Howe, Chair-Elect of MENC History, SRIG.
Archive of Syllabi in Women's Studies. This Music Archive contains several syllabi and is a sharing resource. The location is http://www.rhbnc.ac.uk/Music/archive/women.
The archive is maintained by Geoffrey Chew, Royal Hollaway College, University of London. If anyone wishes to contribute a syllabus, send it in an email message (simple ASCII text) to: chew@sun.rhbnc.ac.uk.
Links at this site include: Committee on the Status of Women for SMT, and Bibliography of sources related to women's studies, gender studies, feminism, and music.
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7. GRIME Bibliography Reminder
Please submit your suggestions for the GRIME bibliography of materials pertaining to gender & music education or ask your colleagues to submit their suggestions! Guidelines: This bibliography will be in 2 parts--1) an annotated list of sex-equitable teaching materials, including sources that help re-inscribe women into music history. We are looking for materials that are suitable for use in preschool, elementary or secondary school curriculum. 2) an annotated list of published & unpublished research in gender & music education. Send your ideas to: Dr. Julia Eklund Koza, Dept. of Curriculum & Instruction, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 225 N. Mills St., Madison, WI 53706, USA.
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If you would like to write a conference or book review, please do!! Letters are welcome, too. What do you think of GRIME going on-line (see above, under World Wide Web column)? Talk to your editor. Submissions may be made by email to: lambr@post.queensu.ca. Reviews of available recordings or videos would be good too. Please try to write short articles (500-900 words). If the newsletter gets thicker, the postage cost goes up. Deadline for the Spring issue: 15 May 1996.
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