Sex-Stereotyping of Musical Instruments

In my study regarding the sex-stereotyping of musical instruments, one individual keeps popping up as a viable resource.  Hal Abeles, the head of the Music Education Department at Teachers College of Columbia University has been in the forefront of researching this topic.  In 1978, Abeles, in collaboration with Susan Yank Porter, first published a study in the Journal of Research in Music Education entitled “The Sex-Stereotyping of Musical Instruments”, in which they reported a series of studies the two had conducted over the previous couple of years.  There were 4 main studies: Study 1 inestigated musical preferences adults had for children.  Study two surveyed a population to place specific instruments on a scale from most feminine to most masculine.  The third study investigated the instrumental preferences of children in grades K-5.  The final study explored procedures used to present instruments to preschool children.

            The first study mentioned, that of adult musical instrument preference for children surveyd 149 adults aged 19 to 52 chosen from public school and church-related activities.  From the applicant pool alone, it can be determined that music played some part in these individual’s lives simply from the culture they were derived from.  The format of the survey was as such:

“Your fifth grade son/daughter has indicated in a school survey that she would like to play a musical instrument… “ (Note: Half the surveys said son, while the other half said daughter.)

The applicants were then asked to rate a series of instruments in order that they would prefer to encourage their respective child to pursue.  The instruments were as follows (these same instruments were used in each study)

Cello

Clarinet

Drums

Flute

Saxophone

Trombone

Trumpet

Violin

The results of this study was quite revealing as to gender stereotypes.  Participants in the study were  1.8 times more likely to give a higher preference for clarinet for a daughter than for a son, and 2.24 times more likely to encourage a flute to their female children.  On the other hand, a boy would have Three times the chance to be encouraged to play trumpet by his parent(s) than his female classmates.  Drums were significantly less appropriate for girls than boys (ratio of 1:4) Trombone also was significantly more “masculine” , but was not particularly popular for either boys nor girls. (boo!)

Since parental involvement plays a HUGE role in participation in a music program, let  alone selesction of musical instruments, it was quite interesting to find such a bias towards the more “masculine vs. feminine” instruments. If the parents don’t want their sons to play flute, what motivation would a student have to pursue that instrument?  (It doesn’t matter that some of the most prominent flute players are male).  The entire influence of parents on sex-stereotyping of musical instruments is essentially what is keeping the bias alive.  It is an unending cycle between judgement of peers and parents.  The parents, when they were students, saw the trumpet and drums as masculine instruments.  Not wanting their children to be anything but normal to spectacular, they refrain from encouraging, even discourage, the cross-gendering of instrumental participation.  This new generation now has bias coming from two angles: they have that prejudice from their peers as well as the judgement from their parents.  This sense of tradition keeps our culture in a stuck community, with no real ability to break free without social persecution.

Speaking of role models, the last of Abeles’ studies in this series of research looked at the perspectives of musical stereotypes in young children.  There were three groups of children surveyed.  One group was introduced to the instruments just by hearing the sounds each instrument makes as well as pictures of each instrument  without any one in the picture.  A second group had people playing the instruments with corresponding gender-stereotypes.  The third and final group included video of gender-crossing instrumental playing.  The results of this study showed there was no real significant preference of instrument by gender on the part of the children.  The bias is not in the children – it is by their reaction to peers and parents.

 A few years back, Sesame street had a female monster, Zoe, start to play the trombone.  Now, for my paper, I’m going to have to find a way to get segments of the TV show to see how they presented the trombone and if there were any sex stereotyping mentioned (in 3-year-old terms, of course). 

From my perspective, I had to develop a tough outer shell to cope with being the fat kid at school. To do this, I “hid” behind a masculine instrument, the trombone.  Never mind that it was cool and the only instrument to change its size while being played, it was BIG and played LOW NOTES. (I’m pretty sure that if my dad had a tuba laying in the basement I would have picked that up as a first instrument.)  Playing the trombone made me different. It made me “special”.  I played all the time, and best of all, I played LOUD in rehearsal and my conductor loved it (in many cases I was the only one or one of two trombones in the band.)  Playing the trombone became a part of me, like any musician would identify with their instrument.  However, part of my reasoning was that it made me feel less vulnerable.  (It also could be the fact I could poke someone from 3 feet away… just saying….)

Abeles conducted another series of studies that was published in 2009 to see if 40 years had changed the sex stereotypes.  When he came to present his findings at Westminster Choir College earlier this semester, he proved that there were still issues of gender-crossing with instrumental preference, but the ratios were significantly smaller. (I will be addressing the difference of these studies in my paper, but the actual report on it is difficult to find online without paying a $25 fee.)

The research I am doing in my BHP course this semester is rather like the third study  Abeles conducted.  I will be surveying three 5^th grade classes at 2 different elementary schools (providing they don’t back out on me) regarding their preference for instruments.  Depending on what group they are in, they will be given one of these prompts, and asked to rate their level of preference to learn, as well as asked a series of follow-up questions.  

Hopefully the results of this survey will be ready in time for my presentation on the last day of class! :-)

The URL for the study online is: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3344880

Short Essay on the Importance of Women Conductors

The musical world includes many different facets: one of those being conducting. It is a fairly new example of the conducting world, as it came into existence in the early twentieth century with the famous composer-conductor that started with Wagner. Leaders of ensembles existed before this, but the idea of someone with a baton leading the group silently through the music started with Berlioz, who started what became the modern tradition of the conductor. People like Bernstein drew this idea of a conductor who is flamboyant and handsome.[i] All of these ideas of who a conductor should be describe men and not women. Beliefs exist that women are not independent enough to lead a full ensemble.[ii]

Women have been struggling to break into the music world since before the Renaissance. Recently women have been accepted as performers in many facets: including but not exclusive to operas, orchestras, and choirs. Conducting is the last area of the music world women are still struggling to break into. They are making some headway in choral conducting, but orchestral conducting is still hard for women to be taken seriously. Margaret Hillis, a famous woman conductor, started off getting a degree in composition at Indiana University. She wanted to get a degree in conducting, but her professor told her a woman has no place in conducting. After seeing her conduct a choral concert, he said “You are a conductor, but there is no place for a woman in orchestral conducting.”[iii]

Women were already thought of as being inferior to men, and trying to lead a group of men was unbecoming of a woman. The social status of women created this ideal in men and women alike. A famous pianist Amy Fay wrote about a concert she saw in Germany in which a female, Alicia Hund, conducted a symphony she composed. “All the men were highly disgusted because she was allowed to conduct the orchestra herself. I didn’t think myself that it was a very becoming position, though I had no prejudice against it. Somehow, a woman doesn’t look well with a baton in her hand directing a body of men.”[iv] This happened in the last nineteenth century, and women still struggle with this image. Margaret Harris blames this on the “daddy’s little girl” syndrome. People see women as daddy’s little girl which portrays a lack of strength and independence, two very important qualities in a conductor.[v] Mary Brown Hinely has defined the image people need to have if they want to be conductors. “A conductor needs to be a commanding personality as well as impeccable musicianship to hold the attention and respect of an orchestra.”[vi] The traditional idea of “feminine” is not aggressive or assertive, soft, and non-threatening. This is the exact opposite of the idea of someone who needs the authority of a large symphonic orchestra, which most of the women talked about have dreamed to be someday, and have succeeded.

Women find a way around this by creating their own ensembles. JoAnn Falletta is one woman who has made this option possible for women. Falletta has directed the Bay Area Women’s Philharmonic in San Francisco since 1986. This is a group created by two women devoted to playing music written by women.[vii] It is groups like this that help women create names for themselves in the musical world in all capacities: performers, instrumentalists, composers, and conductors. Women can either create their own ensembles or go abroad where positions as conductors are more readily available. Ethel Leginska, the first woman to conduct in Carnegie Hall, has conducted the Paris Conservatory Orchestra, the London Symphony, the Berlin Philharmonic, and the Munich Konzertverein. Antonia Brico, another famous woman composer has conducted the Berlin Philharmonic, as well as other orchestras in Germany, Poland, and other Eurpoean countries.[viii]

As time goes on, women continue to break barriers and create careers for themselves in conducting. Beatrice Brown is the first woman to sign a contract with an orchestra. All of these women discussed in this essay have created an environment where women are becoming more and more accepted as conductors. Marin Alsop has recently accepted the role as the conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony in England. Prejudices still exist in some cases, but are becoming fewer and fewer as time goes on, and more and more women take on conducting roles. Margaret Hillis, mentioned earlier in this essay, has definitely noticed a difference in the acceptance of women since her professor told her she had no business in the conducting world in the 1940s. JoAnn Falletta, also mentioned earlier in this essay, hopes that the role of gender will one day dissipate completely from societal roles of conducting. Shelley M. Jagow says it perfectly when she says, “conducting is an extremely competitive and difficult field for either gender to cussed in, and it is imperative that society begin to recognize, value, and support talented women conductors in a profession still harboring discrimination and the burden of tradition.”[ix] People need to stop looking at women as inferior to men and start equating the talent women bring to conducting to that of men. We as a society need to realize how different women and men are, and value the differences women bring to the table in every facet of music, including the world of conducting.

---

[i] Kay Lawson, "Women Conductors: Credibility in a Male-Dominated
Profession," in The Musical Woman: An International Perspective, ed. Judith Lang
Zaimont (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1991), 3:197.

[ii] Kay D. Lawson, "A Woman's Place Is at the Podium," Music Educators
Journal 70, no. 9 (May 1984): 47, accessed January 3, 2011,
http://www.jstor.org/stable/3400741.

[iii] Kay Lawson, "Women Conductors: Credibility in a Male-Dominated
Profession," in The Musical Woman: An International Perspective, ed. Judith Lang
Zaimont (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1991), 3:199.

[iv] Shelley M. Jagow, "Women Orchestral Conductors in America: The struggle
for Acceptance--An Historical View from the nineteenth Century to the Present,"
College Music Symposium: Journal of the College Music Society 38 (1998): 131.

[v] Kay D. Lawson, "A Woman's Place Is at the Podium," Music Educators
Journal 70, no. 9 (May 1984): 47, accessed January 3, 2011,
http://www.jstor.org/stable/3400741.

[vi] Maty Brown Hinely, "The Uphill Climb of Women in American Music:
Conductors and Composers," Music Educators Journal 70, no. 9 (May 1984): 43, accessed January 3, 2011, http://www.jstor.org/stable/3400740.

[vii] Kay Lawson, "Women Conductors: Credibility in a Male-Dominated
Profession," in The Musical Woman: An International Perspective, ed. Judith Lang
Zaimont (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1991), 3:204.

[viii] Shelley M. Jagow, "Women Orchestral Conductors in America: The struggle
for Acceptance--An Historical View from the nineteenth Century to the Present,"
College Music Symposium: Journal of the College Music Society 38 (1998): 133.

[ix] Shelley M. Jagow, "Women Orchestral Conductors in America: The struggle
for Acceptance--An Historical View from the nineteenth Century to the Present,"
College Music Symposium: Journal of the College Music Society 38 (1998): 140.

Deification of Pop stars

One of my sources is an article published in Popular Music and Society by Linda Lister regarding the deification of women in music. Her article discusses three specific types of  "divas;"  put bluntly, the 'actually vocally talented ones,' the ones 'famous for the visual performance,' and the 'renaissance performer,' who sings, plays instruments, and writes music. She named a mascot for each group - 'the voice' is personified by Barbara Streisand,  the 'visual diva' is personified by Madonna, and the 'renaissance performer' is personified by nearly everyone who performed at the Lilith Fair Festival. She briefly discusses the cyclic resurgence of this 'deification' phenomenon occurring every hundred years,  first in the mid 19th century with the popularity of bel canto, then in the mid 20th century, specifically with Maria Callas as the main 'diva' of the time period, and currently (rather, as current as 2001) the women in popular music are elevated to 'diva' status.  

The first thing I noticed upon reading this article was how clear the author's opinions of each of the specific groups were. It was almost unsettling seeing her loaded words. In specific, "....recognized primarily for sheer vocal talent, however wisely or inanely utilized,' when discussing the prima donna, and 'this category may reveal the most positive prospects for women in pop music. Instead of simply being celebrated for their physical or vocal beauty, .......also revered for [intellectual gifts.]  And discussed how 'uniting female singers in a music festival may help to combat the prima donna stereotype of 'bitch.'   She later goes on to categorize several of the 'Divas' of this generation.  

She labels Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey and Celine Dion as the 'Prima Divas,'  and pokes fun at the media's portrayal of Mariah Carey, which at some point went so far as to say that her vocal range exceeded the range of a piano. She also criticizes Celine Dion, saying that she "seems to suffer from an identity crisis," saying her vocal effects emulate the style of Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey, even going so far to say that her voice sounds 'eerily similar' to Barbara Streisand, and that her performances are too intense and 'self-flagellating,' yet are distinctly uniform and lack subtlety, blaming it on 'an inability to fully express herself in something other than her native tongue.' Lister nearly insults her fans/audience saying that despite how 'little personality" is present in her voice, her fans 'still react to the visceral thrill of ornate vocal feats.' "Her premature exit from the industry may have ensured her position as a deified diva" simply because she never petered out, much in the way that Britney Spears did. 

Very little is positively said about any of the women in the 'prima diva' category, except for the given that they have vocal ability. 

The 'Madonna's receive little more than acknowledgment of their image-based fame. She flippantly describes Madonna herself as constantly reinventing herself for the sake of her audience.  She discusses her highly sexualized image, and I have a difficult time discerning rather she is stating this neutrally or negatively, although"Only she knows if her exhibitionism is sincere self-expression of carefully engineered self-promotion' seems to speak volumes. She seems to respect Courtney Love at least, for growing from the death of Kurt Cobain, rather than 'going the way of The Bell Jar,' but clearly does not believe she is a worthwhile musician, going so far as to quote someone's description of her voice as " the amelodic howls of [a] caterwauling ex-stripper.  Harsh. Just harsh.

After this - she discusses the 'Liliths,' which is a group Lister clearly has a great respect for. Rather than her largely negative critiques of the members of the other groups, her words about these renaissance women are significantly more supportive, saying that "the Lilith festival served as a celebration and collaboration of female artists who sometimes hve trouble finding a forum in the male-dominated world of rock music." I did find it a little funny however, that in discussing Jewel, who Lister labeled as one of the "Liliths," she spent a fair amount of space on her appearance and musical ability, as she previously said that these women were the ones who were talented in all the musical areas. 

I would have felt worth mentioning in this paper the origins of the name of the Lilith Fair. She did mention that some religious figure called for a boycott of Lilith Fair in 1999, however she neglected to discuss why the boycott happened, which makes Reverend Jerry Falwall seem like a misogynist jerk. While he may have actually been a misogynist jerk, he called for the boycott because of the demonic connotations of the name Lilith. In some translations of various religious texts, she's a demon, akin to a succubus, and goes around generally being a bitch.   In other translations, she was Adam's first wife, before Eve. She was created the same as him, rather than being taken from a piece of him, and as such refused to be subservient to Adam. Now, of course, we can't have women doing THAT, so she either got kicked out, or shacked up with the angel Samael (depending on your translation) and refused to come back.  It would seem that Lister would most likely go with the 'shacking up with Samael' translation, as doing so effectively catapults her to a more 'godly' status,' and the entire point of her paper deals with the 'deification' of women in the pop music world.  Maybe she figured we already knew this, but personally I would have put things in context.

Is the "Lilith Cult" a form of Goddess worship? Maybe - certainly the amount that people fawn over these 'divas' is a bit ridiculous and can border on fanatical, but maybe those that subscribe to the 'cult' mentality are lacking a more realistic version of what they believe their diva represents to them. If I respect Madonna for being so free and open about her body and being a sexual being, perhaps I am sexually repressed and lack a healthy dose of respect for my body.  I applaud her optimism that the deification is starting to remove the negative stigma attached to divas, however I doubt that it's the case. As any Saturday morning/after school cartoon will tell you, it's usually better not to meet your idols, because they're almost all jerks and full of themselves.

Review of Article about Women Conductors

Lawson, Kay D. "A Woman's Place Is at the Podium." Music Educators Journal 70,
no. 9 (May 1984): 46-49. Accessed January 3, 2011. http://www.jstor.org/
stable/3400741.

This article discusses different women who have been successful as conductors. It discusses obstacles these women overcame to become as successful as they are. Lawson does a great job in defining what these women went through throughout their careers and things that stood in their way. For example, Margaret Hillis was told that would "sink" in she tried to enter the world of orchestral conducting, so she was told by her teacher to start conducting choirs instead. She did just that, and now conducts the Chicago Symphony Chorus, which gives her a chance to conduct choral music that combines with the instrumental music she grew up loving.

Throughout the article she also goes through and highlights specific images women must face as obstacles of conductors. Margaret Harris says women are looked at as “daddy’s little girl,” meaning they cannot do anything without daddy to support them. This gives an idea that women cannot be independent strong women, which is imperative to standing in front of a large ensemble. This point is very true to how women are portrayed as authority figures, which a conductor is. Lawson brings up many other good points like this.

She also discusses ways in which women have overcome these obstacles. She gives examples of the opportunities available to women, but does not give many examples of how women can get to the positions they want. Overall, this article brings up the issues women face in a way that is accessible to anyone, not just women. Lawson also explains different ways in which specific women have broken barriers and overcome obstacles, but there are much more obstacles out there women face.

Margaret Hillis Conducting in 1956

http://community.ascap.com/_Wife39s-Aria-There-You-Go-from-LIMA-BEANS-1955-by-Douglas-Townsend/AUDIO/829199/27521.html

This is an audio of soprano Halley Gilbert singing the Wife's Aria from the one-act opera LIMA BEANS by Dougles Townsend. This is an important opera in that the premier of this opera was conducted by Margaret Hillis in 1956. She got her first big successful breakthrough in 1954 when she was asked to prepare a chorus for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Two years later, despite the ideas of her composition teacher, she conducted an orchestra in a premier of an opera. She overcame the odds set forth by her that women could only conduct choral music and had no place in the orchestral conducting world. She was one of the first women to prove women can conduct orchestras just as well as men can.

Music is from Venus CD cover

http://www.flickr.com/photos/agatendo/3346488009/

This is a link to a picture of a CD cover "Music is from Venus". This CD cover depicts three different types of successful women: an astronaut holding a keyboard, an artist holding a guitar and a microphone, and a mother holding a child that has drum sticks. The portrayal that all of these women have the ability to be musicians is an important statement to make. All of these women have been successful in some capacity and can also be musical. I believe this statement says women can really do anything, and shouldn’t be looked down upon because they do music. Even though society doesn’t always look at women who are musicians as prostitutes, this would have been a nice political statement to make when this was a relevant idea. It is nice to see a change in how women musicians are being viewed. However, all of these women are projected with a similar body type: small waists and distinguished features. This portrays all successful women as being the societal ideal of beautiful. Even this women empowerment CD cover is marketing the “sexy” woman, not a real life woman who may not have the perfect curves. It gives off the idea of a successful woman who wants to be a musician must have the “perfect figure” to enter this world to music.

Picasso's "Guitar Lesson"

We have seen a lot of depictions of music lessons in visual art involving women being taught music by men, often in a very idyllic setting. Also, most of the visual works of art we have seen that deal with this have been done in a "realist" fashion. I remembered looking at this painting by Picasso when I was in high school and discussing the grotesqueness and vulgarity of it. Here we see a woman giving a young girl a "music lesson." I think that this is a totally different take on the attitudes we have seen thus far about women in music in general. Comments?

ADELE

I think it is important to note how societal standards of "beauty," a.k.a. the idea that you have to be thin in order to be beautiful, are beginning to have less of a bearing on whether or not a label will market you. Most of you probably know the singer Adele. Her albums have been hugely successful ever since she came onto the music scene, and she most certainly does not fit into the standard "slender and beautiful" category. I personally think that Adele is a gorgeous woman, and a very talented musician at that. Her success is a milestone in the effort to change ideas about image and the effect it can have on a musician's career in the business today.

My friend Valentina

Here are some videos of my friend Valentina Mitzkat singing songs that she wrote.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwCMbXlUFL8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfIfLfCydU8

Valentina is my friend from high school. She is originally from Texas but we both went to Walnut Hill School in Natick, Massachusetts. She was recently signed to a record label. She has an EP out and some songs that you can buy on her Facebook page. I believe her album is scheduled for release in the U.S. soon. After the lecture that Kiya Heartwood gave us before spring break, I started to think a little bit about Valentina and how the music industry will try to shape her image. I was reminded of this again after our Lilith Fair discussion. If you watch her videos, ask yourself what kind of audience she is trying to reach, and conversely, how will her label attempt to market her.

Check out Valentina's publicity shots on her Facebook page if you don't get a very clear idea of her image from the videos! Search for Valentina Mitzkat

Essay on women cellists and the Elgar cello concerto with CD review

Edward Elgar’s cello concerto is a testament to the devastation and pain he saw and felt due to the First World-War, and eerily foreshadows the destruction and death that would befall Europe during World-War Two.  Elgar’s concerto was premiered in 1919 and although the public did not receive it well at the time, it is now a staple in any professional cellists repertoire. There also seems to be a connection between the concerto and certain female cellists and although it was premiered by a male cellist (Felix Salmond), the concerto, one could argue, has been pushed to public conscience by women.  

Beatrice Harrison was born in India and came to England when she was an infant.  She entered the Royal College of Music at quite a young.  She was a friend of the composer Roger Quilter, and also was the first cellist to perform many of Delius’s works for cello.  Ms. Harrison personally studied the concerto with Elgar himself.  Subsequently he requested that she perform the work every time he conducted it.  The first “official” recording (which can be found on youtube!) was made in 1919 with Beatrice Harrison and Edward Elgar conducting.  She played a cello made by Pietro Guarneri.

Not until Jacqueline du Pre came on to the scene around 1962 was the concerto really made “famous.”   Du Pre was born in 1945 and for her first professional concert with orchestra she played the Elgar concerto with the BBC Symphony.  Like Beatrice Harrison, Elgar’s concerto is a piece with which she most closely identified.  Many would consider her as the consummate interpreter of the concerto.  During her brief career she recorded the concerto 4 times and they remain her most popular recordings.  For a large portion of her career she performed on the Davidov cello of Antonio Stradivarius.  During the last 3-4 years of her career she played on a Goffriller cello and then a modern instrument by Sergio Peresson.

I personally discovered the Elgar concerto in high school and instantly fell in love with it.  I immediately found a score and forced my cello teacher (also a woman) to give me the fingerings to the opening movement.  I have briefly listened to many cellists perform Elgar via youtube or iTunes clips, including Rostropovich, Yo-Yo-Ma, Jan Vogler, etc. and none of there interpretations have impressed me.  Finally I came across a recording featuring the Argentinean cellist Sol Gabetta with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra.

Sol Gabetta was born in 1981 and won her first competition at age 10.  She studied at schools in Madrid, Switzerland, and Berlin, and currently teaches at the Basel Academy of Music in Switzerland. She has performed with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and has received outstanding reviews by The Times, Gramophone Magazine, The Strad and others.  Ms. Gabetta plays a G. B. Guadagnini cello dated around 1759.

The opening e-minor chord of the first movement (adagio-moderato) is the most resonant opening of this concerto I have yet heard.  The following passage is both musical and dramatic and the double-stop chords are precisely in tune.  When the opening theme is presented in the solo cello, Gabetta’s playing is lyrical yet commanding especially when she reaches the top of the e-scale and the full orchestra enters.  When the second theme comes in, her playing remains lyrical and tender and evokes the yearning that one feels from the middle section.  She and the orchestra end the first movement with a repeat of the first theme and stunningly charge into the second movement.

The recitative-like introduction to the second movement (lento-allegro molto) is so excitingly pulled off.  Sol Gabetta then takes charge and joyfully performs the jolly, scherzo type second movement.  She leaves the listener on the edge of their seat right up till the last notes.

Sol Gabetta brings back her tender and lyrical playing in the third movement (adagio).  Her rich sound wholeheartedly evokes the sense of nostalgia one feels upon hearing this movement.

Sol Gabetta’s virtuosity shines in the fourth (Allegro-Moderato-Allegro, ma non troppo-Poco più lento-Adagio) and last movement of Elgar’s concerto.  She firmly, yet at the same time delicately states the opening theme, though gradually intensifies until she reaches the pinnacle of the opening with an arpeggiated cadenza-like passage sounding as though she had picked up a seasoned violin in her cello’s place.  Here the movements momentum begins and cello and orchestra play a game of cat and mouse in this rondo movement until finally the low strings and solo cello become one.  It is then that Elgar changes mood and brings back the elegiac and nostalgic quality of the third movement, which she executes perfectly.  Ms. Gabetta beautifully lulls us into a false sense of calm, but Elgar ends the movement and his concerto with a coda utilizing the opening chords of the first movement.  With yet again an unreal resonance Sol Gabetta strikes the chords and then with the orchestra quickly brings the work to a close.

For me, Sol Gabetta’s performance is very much inspired from Jacqueline du Pre, but of course she truly makes it her own.  All three of the women it seems have really made this piece their own.  Why there seems to be this connect between these women and Elgar’s concerto, I don’t think there is a proper answer.  I have not come across nor do I have immediate access to any personal information in regards to Beatrice Hamilton and therefore have no insight into her thoughts.  For Jacqueline du Pre, the Elgar strikes a personal note only at the end of her life when she is suffering from Multiple Sclerosis and is eventually killed by the disease.  But she essentially began her career with this piece and it is only through retrospect that we see the significance of the piece’s elegiac quality.              As for Ms. Gabetta, again there is not enough information out there seeing as she is a living and still very young artist.  But there is no denying the work’s significance to her.  I see in her the intelligence, vibrancy, and virtuosity that the world saw in Jacqueline du Pre, though hopefully she is left to us for a much longer time.

Natalie Dessay

Here is a video of Natalie Dessay singing The Doll Aria in a very modern production of Tales of Hoffman.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1k5l4oiCEc

This woman is absolutely incredible. The amount of control that she has is completely incredible and her range is utterly astounding. This particular production of Tales of Hoffman takes place in an asylum. Take a look in her eyes when she is singing, especially at the very beginning. The fact that she can stay so completely involved and in character while flawlessly executing the difficult coloratura is a testament to her abilities not only as a singer, but as an actress and an overall well-rounded performer. This is the direction that I think opera should be moving toward. Feel free to disagree.

Bach's Wives

Johann Sebastian Bach was married twice: first to Maria Barbara Bach from 1707 to her death in 1720 and then to Anna Magdalena Wilcke from 1721 to his death in 1750. He had many children with both of them, and both marriages appeared to be happy.

Maria Barbara Bach (1684-1720) was the daughter of one of Johann Sebastian's father's cousins, Johann Michael. She was known to sing within family circles (as was expected of everyone in the Bach clan), but probably did not do so publicly. There are reports, however, of Bach coming under fire a little for having a "stranger woman" in the organ loft with him and allowing him to sing. While it is never specified who this woman was, Maria Barbara is considered a legitimate guess.

There are no known records of Maria Barbara helping Bach out with any copying, though it is worth mentioning that while he was married to her, there were not nearly as many compositional demands as in Leipzig (where he was while married to Anna Magdalena). In Weimar, Bach was expected to compose music to amuse the duke for whom he worked; this included birthdays, special occasions and royal visits. Besides that, it was likely that the duke would have provided copyists for Bach to use.

After Maria Barbara's death in July 1720 while Bach was away with his employer on holiday, court records show the hire of one Anna Magdalena Wilke as a singer in the group of musicians kept at hand. Anna Magdalena came from a family of musicians in a town not far away from where Bach was; both her father and brother were trumpeters and all of her older sisters were married to trumpeters. She and one of her sisters had taken voice lessons in their teens and Magdalena (19 years old by this time) was employed in Zeitz, a town far from neither her hometown or Bach's court. While she had never worked for Bach before, it was likely they had met earlier (as Bach had worked with her father some years earlier in a performance of the cantata "Was mir behagt, ist nur die muntre Jagd", BWV 208, written for the birthday of the duke for whom Anna Magdalena's father had worked, though Anna Magdalena would have been twelve at the time and probably would not have sung).

At the court, Anna Magdalena made about half of what Bach did - and more than many of her co-workers. She was not the only female on the payroll, either: there were two other women (also singers), the "Sisters Monjou". While employed there, Anna Magdalena probably sang secular music that was not by her future husband (almost all of the music he produced for this period was either for solo instruments and/or orchestra - none for solo voice or choir).

It is unclear exactly when Anna Magdalena and Bach began courting (or whatever they did in the early 18th century), but by September 1721, they both served as godparents to a friend of Bach's, an indication that they had begun to be associated together. In December of that year they were married in a small ceremony at St. Angus, the Lutheran church in the town (their employer was a Calvinist, but he allowed his employees to practice whichever religion they wished - probably within the realm of Christianity, anyway).

After their marriage, Anna Magdalena continued to work. What subtracted from this was not actually her marriage, but the marriage of the prince to a woman who was utterly disinterested in music. After THAT particular marriage (for which Bach wrote music which is now lost), the duties of every musician employed at that court became fewer and fewer. The list of musicians shrunk until Bach, Anna Magdalena and a small handful of other musicians were the only ones remaining. At this time, Bach began to look for other work. Anna Magdalena probably knew that whatever career move he made next would diminish or destroy her own completely.

As a result of the prince's marriage, the Bachs relocated to Leipzig, where Sebastian was the "Cantor". Duties of this position included teaching at the St. Thomas School, directing the choir, and (perhaps most famously) composing a cantata for Sunday every week, in addition to special occasions (Christmas, Michaelmas and other important days in the liturgical calendar). Anna Magdalena never held a professional post again, though she sometimes would accompany Bach on his trips and sing with him for private events.

The cantatas which Bach composed had to be put into parts for the singers and the instrumentalist. This meant many hours each week spent copying out these parts. Many cantatas survive only in the handwriting of Bach's pupils and many more only in what has been determined to have been Anna Magdalena's handwriting (which looks remarkably like Bach's to the untrained eye). One of the surviving copies of the Cello Suites are in Anna Magdalena's hand; there was some speculation for a long time that she might have composed them, though this has been dismissed in recent years.

Though she was no longer singing professionally after the move to Leipzig, Anna Magdalena was known to have helped establish the household as musical one; she and her husband would arrange for friends to come over hand have the most contrapuntal of jam sessions ever to have been known to exist. After Bach took over as director of the Collegium Musicum Leipzig, many of these events were moved to Zimmermann's Coffeehouse, not a few blocks away from their apartment in the Thomas School. This is the place where two of Bach's most famous secular cantatas is thought to have been premiered: The Coffee Cantata (Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht), BWV 211 and The Peasant Cantata (Mer hahn en neue Oberkeet), BWV 212. These both have significant soprano parts in them, and the possibility of Anna Magdalena performing them is not at all unreasonable.

Perhaps the most important compositional contribution as a result of Anna Magdalena is the "Notenbüchlein für Anna Magdalena Bach", two notebooks (from 1722 and 1725) with collections of keyboard works by Bach, his pupils, his sons and other composers (notably Francois Couperin). These works were intended as fun little diddies to entertain Anna Magdalena. There are very simple works (many of which any keyboard student can sing one or two of) and there are far more advanced works (including some keyboard partitas), some songs, some four-part chorales, and even a few fragments from various (sacred) cantatas.

Bach's eldest daughter (Catharina Dorothea) was also known to have had a nice voice (in Bach's own words in a letter to a friend in 1730) - everyone in his family was musical! Because their ages were so close (seven years apart), Anna Magdalena and Catharina Dorothea may have had a particularly unique relationship. Perhaps Anna Magdalena gave her some lessons, though there is no way to prove that now.

Both of Bach's wives served as important figures in his life and it is thanks to them that his music is what it is and survives today. Anna Magdalena particularly has always had a special place in my heart for having been in the professional world, even if just for a few years.

Lippincott

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kimmelcenter/5474084219/in/photostream/#/photos/kimmelcenter/5474084219/in/photostream/lightbox/

Wonderful photo of Joan Lippincott, one of the three American female organists I am focusing on for my project and presentation. She played a recital at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia at the end of February. I was fortunate enough to be there and enjoy the wonderful music she made. At the age of 75, all the notes and beautiful musicianship are as apparent as her recordings from earlier in her career.

Music Portrayed in Art

The arts often overlap, especially with historical eras and movements. It is interesting to notice, however, how music is portrayed in the art world because most represent female muses. Additionally, women musicians are most often depicted as singers or piano players. More men are shown in orchestras and as playing guitars. It is interesting that Mary Cassatt a well renowned Impressionist painter mostly depicted women as audience members at the opera. It seems that art is depicting the musical society of the late nineteenth century and highlighting women singers and musical events as upper class entertainment. One can also demise that if a woman was a professional musician then she was a singer, but piano playing and violin playing were mostly domestic past-times and good skills for young women. Here are some paintings:

Two Young Girls at the Piano, Renoir, 1892

The Daughters of Catulle Mendes, Renoir 1888

Mary Cassatt

The Orchestra at the Opera, Degas, 1870

Singer with a Glove, Degas, 1878

The Daughters of Catulle Mendes, Renoir 1888

The Arts Series: Music, Mucha, 1898

Yvette Guilbert, Lautrec

The Music Lesson, Manet, 1870

Mary Cassatt

At the Opera, Cassatt, 1879

The Old Guitarist, Picasso, 1903

Music, Klimt, 1895

Janis Joplin

I've always loved Janis Joplin's music, and after the discussion we had about Lilith Fair, I figured Janis deserved a mention. I'm sure if she had lived long enough, she would have loved to have been a part of that tour!

Janis Joplin is perhaps the most famed female “rock singer” to date. Born January 19^th, 1943, in Port Arthur, Texas, her music is in a category that defines a generation while continuing to maintain its specific originality. Joplin had a raw, gritty sound to her voice that some have said would be well suited to today’s heavy metal genre. There are indeed many female singers in this realm of music who possess some of Joplin’s distinct vocal qualities. What discerns her from the world of heavy metal though is not just the time that she lived in, but also her stylistic uniqueness. She emerged onto the music scene around 1965 during the rock era in the time when the Hippie movement was prevalent and influential. Her music derives from the R&B bands of the day, combined with her own bluesy vocal style and the kind of folk-rock that was characteristic of the 1960’s. Her distinct trademark of having a section of a song reserved for instrumental improvisation where she would often talk to the audience about a subject she felt particularly passionate about and that tied into the message of the song was something that also set her aside from other artists. This part of her music can be observed in songs such as “Ball and Chain” and in some live versions of songs like “Cry Baby.”

Many of Joplin’s critics have said that her voice was simply too “manly” sounding, and that it was lacking in many of the “feminine” qualities that typically characterize the voice of a woman. The fact that Joplin’s voice did not conform to the standards of singing is hardly surprising; Janis Joplin did not conform to anything. She was a rebel and a misfit in almost as many ways as a person could be. This is one very identifiable instance where we see a woman who has risen to celebrity status defying societal standards and given conceptions about women. Joplin’s music and her vocal delivery of it blatantly say to the audience that a woman’s voice does not have to be pretty in order to be powerful and marketable, and a woman’s music does not have to be tame and dainty; Joplin in fact tended to release her wild side through her songs. Songs such as “Try (Just a Little Bit Harder)” and her timeless classic “Piece of My Heart” contain rousing beats that rise and swell to a point of ecstatic release where Joplin lets out wild impassioned cries. It is really quite effective from an interpretive point of view.

In addition to criticisms about the sound of her voice, Joplin also encountered opposition about her image. She did not necessarily conform to the accepted American standards of beauty. She was an outcast in her teenage years for this reason. Her hair was mangy and unruly and her acne was so bad that she was left with deep facial scars before reaching adulthood. She was teased, jeered at, and called names throughout her time at school. Perhaps these physical shortcomings in regards to the accepted societal standards were what drove Joplin to her non-conformist ways. In one regard, Joplin was an inspiration to many American women who also fell short of the typical image of beauty. She has been called “the plain woman’s diva” by some.

Joplin’s success showed that it was not necessary imperative to be conventionally “beautiful” to make it big, and her fearless and fierce delivery of her music sent the message that it was ok for women not only to be ok with themselves and their physical appearance, but to let loose. Beneath the surface of her uninhibited and impassioned performance, there was also an underlying vulnerability that attracted audiences to her, and spoke – one might venture to say – to American women. While the Hippie movement was certainly underway at this point, women in America were just coming out of the repressive, stifling environment of life in the 1950’s where they were expected to be perfect compliant housewives for their husbands coming home from the war. Janis Joplin’s music was an overflowing outpouring of pure emotion that let the common woman know that it was ok to have feelings and to express them.

Janis Joplin is known as one of the most influential rock musicians ever to have lived. The fact that she was a woman has little bearing on this, or on her talent. What is interesting though is that the three different bands that she was associated with throughout her career – Big Brother and the Holding Company, The Kozmic Blues Band, and The Full Tilt Boogie Band – were all entirely comprised of males. One possible explanation for her association with Big Brother is that her distinctly “unfeminine” style attracted them to her. However, the other two bands she performed with were formed by Joplin herself, leading one to believe that Joplin may have actually identified more with the typically “masculine” qualities of rock and roll.

Drug and alcohol addiction played a large role in Joplin’s life and, to a certain extent, lessened her credibility and the legitimacy of her message. She had a reputation as a speed freak and a dope fiend, meaning that she was a heavy user of both cocaine and heroin. She was also a heavy drinker throughout most of her life. She would reportedly drink an entire bottle of Southern Comfort before she went onstage. This may be in part why she was reputed to be such an “uninhibited performer.” This also was presumably part of the reason why despite her messages as a woman to other women (and ultimately anyone who was hurting) through her music, she was not always considered a viable idol or role model. One might also argue however that this side of her increased the public’s accessibility to her because it highlighted her flaws and her sincere humanity. It also informed her interpretation and performance of her own music, no doubt. The amount of pain (both physical and emotional) that Joplin experienced from her troubled adolescence into her drug-addled adulthood is audible in her voice and her songs. She undoubtedly reached many people in just this way who were also hurting. Her music has remained a staple of rock culture for perhaps this very reason.