[Smt-talk] Female theorists in history

[Elizabeth Hoffman]

This is the first time in my decade of subscribing to this valuable
listserve that I have been motivated to post, prompted at the moment by what
feel to me personally as near-sighted remarks about women (or other
minorities) in cultural and intellectual history--and women's motivations
today, even if this negative valuation is clearly unintended! I don't mean
to pummel Michael Morse, who has strongly felt and carefully thought through
opinions, and who does not advocate discrimination per se; but, I was
surprised by the comments because of a host of issues they raise, already
remarked upon in this thread, and by their deprecatory tone. John Snyder's
original post mentioned "in historical context," by the way.

The participation of women in the fields of music theory and composition
over given historical periods,
and the writing of the histories of this are two different phenomena -- both
problematic for women in terms of equal opportunity and acknowledgment.
Though I'm unable to attend this year's SMT, I will take the liberty of
urging the SMT to find a time and place for open discussion of the issues at
stake here! to work toward clarification of the logic of these issues, for
the entire theory community's sake.

A ps-- is there some reason why living female theorists [and perhaps
composers] are of de facto no interest? Perspective gained by historical
distance is invaluable, but maybe an interesting starting point would be to
encourage study of current theoretical work which may nonetheless be having
an impact, and which may or may not reflect approaches influenced by the
theorist's gender.

Elizabeth Hoffman


Associate Professor and
Director of Graduate Studies
Department of Music
New York University

On Sun, Oct 16, 2011 at 10:13 PM, Andrew Westerhaus <westeraj at gmail.com>wrote:

> Dear John (and list),
>
> Regarding the original posting, there is a rather obscure pedagogical
> treatise by a female Scottish theorist that uses games to teach elementary
> music theory and dates from 1803:
>
> Anne Gunn (late Young), *An introduction to music in which the elementary
> parts of the science, and the principles of thorough bass and modulation, as
> illustrated by the musical games and apparatus, are fully and familiarly
> explained, with copious examples: together with a description of the
> apparatus, compleat directions for playing the several games, with
> introductory and additional games, illustrating the different cliffs on a
> plan entirely new* (Edinburgh: Muir, Wood and Company, 1803). [OCLC:
> 45716748]
>
> Cheers,
> Andrew
>
> ----------
> Andrew Westerhaus
> Ph.D. candidate, History and theory of music
> University of Chicago
> westeraj at uchicago.edu
>
>
> On Thu, Oct 13, 2011 at 1:43 PM, John Snyder <JLSnyder at uh.edu> wrote:
> > Dear Collective Wisdom,
> >
> > A student, looking for a paper topic, has inquired about the possibility
> of
> > writing
> > on a female theorist (or several), in historical context. I know a number
> of
> > outstanding
> > female theorists, but must admit that all of them are living, and
> wouldn't
> > make
> > good subjects for the paper in question. Help, anyone?
> >
> > Best,
> >
> > John
> >
> > --
> > John L. Snyder
> > Professor of Music Theory and Musicology
> > Moores School of Music
> > University of Houston
> > 713-743-3143
> > JLSnyder at uh.edu
> >
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-- 
Associate Professor and
Director of Graduate Studies
Department of Music
New York University
24 Waverly Place, #268
New York, NY 10003
(212) 998-8301
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