MusL 200: Women and Music (Fall 2005)
Weds 6:10-9:00 p.m., Blair Rm 2135An investigation of the roles women have played in the development of Western music--performance, composition, patronage, education--and the social and economic factors which have influenced their position. Primary source readings, guided listening assignments, readings and discussion. Recommended: Mus 140 or 141 or familiarity with the style periods of classical Western music. (Non-majors welcome)
Professor Cynthia Cyrus: Blair Rm 1113B; 322-7693 or msg 322-7651
E-mail Cynthia.Cyrus@vanderbilt.edu; home phone 646-2516 (no calls after 9 p.m.)
Office Hours: Mondays 1:30-2:30; Wednesdays 4:30-5:30 and by appointment
Methods: I believe in the “participatory classroom,” and see this course as an opportunity to learn as much from each other as you will learn from me. We all bring different kinds of perspectives and different areas of musical expertise to the discussion. Most classes will involve a mixture of discussion and lecture; your thoughtful contributions are encouraged and expected. To assist you in thinking through some of the issues relevant to each class, I ask that you submit a journal entry via OAK by each Wednesday at noon–prior to the evening’s discussions. Some topics will be assigned in advance; others will be “free writing” about either the music or the readings we are studying.
Materials (edoption 716588):
- Bowers and Tick, Women Making Music (Univ of Illinois Press, 0-252-01470-7)
- Neuls-Bates, Women in Music: An Anthology of Source Readings (Northeastern Univ Press ISBN 1-55553-240-3)
- Clement, Opera or the Undoing of Women (Univ of Minnesota Press, 0-8166-1655-8)
- Heilbrun, Writing a Woman’s Life (Ballantine 0-345-36256-X)
- Streaming Audio as assigned
Grading:
- 10% Oral report on a global woman (week 4: due 9/14)
- 25% Research paper on a non-compositional woman (7-10 pp.) (week 7; drafts by Sun 10/2; final copy due in class 10/5)
- 20% Web site on a singer (equivalent of 5 pp) (week 11; drafts by 10/30; final copy 11/2)
- 20% Final “Creative” project (due at final exam slot, Friday Dec 16th at 9 a.m.)
- 25% Journal/Participation
Policies:
This class depends heavily on participation. You cannot participate if you are not present, and you cannot participate fully if you are not prepared. Regular, pro-active preparation for class is imperative. You are welcome to work ahead, but please don't get behind. Class activities depend on your familiarity with the material under discussion.
I welcome your questions, both in class and outside of class. Please avail yourself of office hours and e-mail. I usually answer e-mail within 48 hours, except when otherwise announced.
Students with disabilities should see me during the first week of classes to make any necessary arrangements.
For this course, you are bound by the terms of the Vanderbilt Honor System. Any breach of academic honesty, including cheating, plagiarism, or failing to report a known or suspected violation of the Code will be reported to the Honor Council. In particular, the paper must follow normal academic conventions for scholarly citations (footnotes and bibliography), in which material borrowed from another--quotations, paraphrases, key words, ideas, or methodology--must be credited. Web pages too should be clear on what material has an intellectual or verbal debt, but citation procedures there are more informal; references often take the form of a verbal allusion (“As Paula Higgins has shown, blah blah blah”) plus a bibliographic citation at the bottom of the page.
Journals via OAK: Journal entries are graded P/F. Assignments are due by noon on Wednesdays.
COURSE OUTLINE:
- Week 1: feminist phase theory and the woman composer question
- Week 2: creating as a woman (e.g. Kate Campbell, Laurie Anderson)
- Week 3: education and access
- Week 4: global women; laments [**Oral Report (15 min): a global woman – due 9/14**]
- Week 5: women’s songs and the life cycle
- Week 6: professional/private (e.g. women and the orchestra; the piano girl)
- Week 7: courtesans and other professionals [**Paper (7-10 pp.): a non-compositional woman – due 10/5**]
- Week 8: Madame Butterfly meets Miss Saigon
- Week 9: female fandom
- Week 10: Radical Harmonies
- Week 11: drag and dress [**Web page (equivalent of 5 pp.): a singer – due 11/2**]
- Week 12: nuns
- Week 13: feminists readings of Carmen
- Week 14: madwomen (Ophelia, Lucia and schizophrenia)
- Week 15: historiography
- Final “Creative” Project [**due by final exam slot--Friday Dec 16th at 9 a.m.**]
Three dozen “big names” of women involved in music
- Laurie Anderson
- Mrs. H.A.A. Beach
- Cathy Berberian
- Hildegard von Bingen
- Faustina Bordoni
- Lili Boulanger
- Nadia Boulanger
- Francesca Caccini
- Kate Campbell
- Cecile Chaminade
- Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge
- Chiara Margarita Cozzolani
- Francesca Cuzzoni
- Concerto di donne
- Doriot Dwyer
- Isabella d’Este
- Brigitte Fassbaender
- Veronica Franco
- Diamanda Galas
- Billie Holiday
- Mahalia Jackson
- Elizabeth Claude Jacquet de la Guerre
- Paula Kimper
- Uum Kulthum
- Susan McClary
- Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel
- Bronislava Nijinska
- RuPaul
- Anna Russell
- Clara Schumann
- The Shirelles
- Barbara Strozzi
- Joan Tower
- Maria von Trapp
- Camilla Urso
- Ellen Taafe Zwilich