[Smt-talk] Message from the Chair of the CSW (Laurel Parsons)

[David K Feurzeig]

laurence willis <laurence.willis at live.co.uk> wrote:
> What are some good strategies for encouraging profitable and interesting debate (and learning) on the subject of equality in the field?  How do members of the list go about raising awareness of these issues in a class setting?

In theory class, I not only use examples from women composers: I also use the general *paucity* of music by women in published score anthologies and on concert programs as an occasion to discuss the historical reasons women were discouraged or excluded from public composition--and to extrapolate to the present, to speculate on some of the reasons women are still under-represented.

I applaud the recent anthologization of excellent pieces by C. Schumann, Hensel, and Crawford Seeger. But the frequently  anthologized "Sicilienne" ascribed to Maria Theresisa von Paradis (but actually, I'm told, composed by Samuel Dushkin) provides a "teachable moment" as well. It occasions a discussion about why modern anthologists might be eager even to the point of gullibility to include historical music by women, and from there to why there is relatively little to choose from. 

This angle is key to an informed understanding of the historical situation, just as the inclusion, wherever apt, of music that is (for real) by women is a valuable corective. But we can correct only so much what is past.

That said, I limit all socio-historical asides to a few minutes per class: social context is vital but incidental to the core skills of the theory curriculum. (And still my student evals comment routinely, both pro and con, on my cultural tangents.)

David Feurzeig
University of Vermont