"Death" of the Lilith Fair

The Lilith Fair was extremely successful when it first started touring. Then it tried to make a comeback, but failed. I think one of the biggest reasons this occurred is because women artists don't have as hard of a time making tours as they used to. Lilith fair might have opened the door to this because of its huge success the first time it happened. Lilith Fair showed women that they could be successful in booking venues despite their gender. It also proved to record/management companies that women can sell out big venues as well as small ones. Ingrid Michaelson recently had a concert at a grand opening, and she sold out the venue three weeks in advance. People thought Sarah McLachlan was crazy to think a bunch of women could sell out huge venues, yet she succeeded. Since then, many women artists of every genre have been selling out large venues across the country.

Even though the Lilith Fair has been called the Sarah Mclachlan fair recently because she is the only artist to play every show, it may be because she created it. She was the one who came up with the idea and saw it through, so it makes sense she would play every show. She would make it her commitment to play every show, while other artists who come on to the project later could only make shows that fit into their already busy schedules. Maybe we all should cut her some slack, and give her some credit for paving the way for new and upcoming women artists.

Kiya Heartwood

Kiya's class was very eye opening to the music business. Her story could be a movie. It would be a great way to open people's eyes to the world of money, backstabbing, greed, and music. It seems unfortunate that the music is not the top priority in this business. Only what sells. And sexy women sell, not women like Kiya, no matter how good their music is. Kiya's music is really good. It was amazing to hear her talk about how she writes music. It is very true that traditional Western notation is very limiting. I very much admire her for going back to school to learn things she hasn't learned about music. She is a true musician, and good for this school for recognizing it. There are things I don't know about the cultures she tries to replicate in her music. I wonder how she went about researching different cultures to emulate them in her three movement choral work. I wish we could have printed it out and sung it. Even though technology is good, and those sound files weren't bad for sound files, there is something about performing choral music with real voices that is so much better than listening to it through finale. I really admire her desire and effort to bring music to amateur choirs that don't have very much skill. Her whole story of getting into the music business, and getting out to start her own publishing company is inspiring, and one that should be told more often. I can't wait to see what she does in the future.

Coffehouse for Women Singer/songwriters

Last night was the last even for “Women in Music Week”. SAI put on a coffeehouse of all women singer/songwriters on Westminster Campus. The first woman to perform sang a few songs that were fantastic. Her chord progressions were very standard, but the lyrics and melody she put above them were unique and interesting. Her song material was in the vain of figuring out the world, love, and life in general. After discussing this idea in Music Education lab, it was very interesting to see this in action. We discussed the difference between boys and girls in the songwriting process. The women’s group was concentrated on their love lives, and the subject matter was introspective. An alumnae of Westminster, who had only been writing for two months, wrote some very interesting material as well. She wrote for piano instead of guitar, which every other performer of the night did. Her music was bluesy, and her slow vibrato added to this affect. Her material was also very introspective in love and life. One song was about the idea that everyone is told when they are young that they can do anything, and ends with the question of what happens when one loses their way and doesn’t know which star is for oneself. The night all in all was a huge success. One of the faculty members did an expose of Melissa Ethridge and Amy Grant. It was a great showcase of women and their role in popular music.

Alma is Awesome

Alma Mahler might be one of the most fascinating women of the late romantic period. She started off writing music at a very young age, before her teens, and wrote some very intelligent music. Her artistically inclined father encourage this, which was very uncommon for these times. The other composers we read about were encourage to learn music, but not like Alma's father it seems. After such an influence it is hard to understand why she gave up music-making so easily when she married Gustav. Although, who knows what kind of a fight she put up when he told her not to compose anymore. Something that interested me after reading the snippet about her in the chapter was the father figure reference to Gustav. Gustav was considerably older than she was, and was a very dominant figure in the relationship(well before the cheating ensued). This is basically an example of the Oedipus complex for a woman. She wanted to marry a man that was very much like a man that was so critical to her love for artistry and culture. Although her track record for keeping a man was not the best in the world. She had three husbands, and who knows how many lovers: one of them being a prominent artist Oscar Kokoschka. Overall, her actions mirrored those of a man, and her charm and personality was so seductive it led Gustav to relinquish his hold over her compositional abilities. Any woman who can become a successful composer in this time period with the way she acted is a very special woman indeed.

Nun vs. Courtesan

This post lists the pros and cons of being a nun and a courtesan during the Renaissance period. Being a nun would be very sheltering in that one would live in a convent with many rules to follow. Nuns had a certain dress code to abide by at all times, they were not allowed to leave the walls of the convent, and everything they did was to serve a purpose that furthered their relationship with God. The only education they received was for sacred purposes. However, they did receive some education. They were allowed to sing, even if they weren't allowed to be seen. They had the knowledge to notate music in manuscripts, which requires a lot of musical literacy. They did not have to worry about disease, childbirth, or any other illness or societal pressure that went along with living out in the real world.

Courtesans lived a very different life. They were educated in many different ways so that they were smart enough to very charming around the noblemen they entertained. They knew about many different current events of the time because of the company they kept, and also had access to many different social events these men's wives didn't have access to. They had musical training, and were often musicians and/or poets. There was a certain freedom to this lifestyle that came with some consequences. Courtesans were more susceptible to STDs and becoming pregnant, and childbirth was not the safest thing at that time. Also, becoming an old courtesan if no one wanted to marry you was not the most glamorous lifestyle. We can see that there are pros and cons to both sides, and making a decision to become one of the these women would not be a very easy decision.

Post for Week of Feb 1

I know this is very late, but here goes. I wanted to discuss the irony and double standards of the role of women in society to ca. 1450. There were many double standards when it came to men in society as a whole, not in just the musical world. The music, esp. poetry, found by the women of this era summarizes the idea that women want more a voice in all aspects of society. Women had no voice if they were uneducated, and it was even known that women should not be educated. That was the man's job, and women who were educated were looked down upon in society. Some of the most musically educated women in more than one culture were courtesans, another name for high-end prostitutes. They never got married, and were only paid to entertain men with their wit and charm, among other things.

We see this kind of double standard in religion as well. Some of the most educated women were nuns. If a woman wasn’t married off by the time she reached the end of her teenage years, she was either sent to the convent, or chose to go there. These women were very involved in music, and actually literate enough to notate music. One thing I found extremely ironic was the idea of why women joined Christianity in its early stages. I don’t understand how women keeping their virginity until marriage changed the role of wife and mother. Women would only be able to have children after they married, which is the traditional role of a wife, isn’t it? Feel free to comment and explain what I am missing here. That role they were trying to redefine just became reinforced by the new Christianity ideals.

Week One: Discovering Women in Music

As reluctant as I was about this class, just the Preface of the textbook helped open my eyes to what a good experience this class will be. It will not primarily be about women empowerment only, but a realization of a whole other aspect of music not regularly studied. I have come to the realization that this class will broaden my musical horizons, and help me grow as a musician.

For example, I have never considered the nuances and suggestions of music and story-lines written by males. It all seems so clear now that men write women as being crazy. The unstable tonality Lorraine talks about is all true. In most music written by men, men are written as being stable, and women are written as being overly sensual and erotic. It almost disgusts me how demeaning old Disney movies are. I will still love them, but it gives me a whole new perspective on what is really going on socially and culturally with these movies. It will be interesting to see the growth in music written by women, and if this will effect how men portray women in their own music.

I found it very interesting when Lorraine pointed out the fact that some women don't like to be identified as women composers. I don't believe it is important to identify music as being written by a women, so it is going to sound a certain way. I do believe it is important to take the fact that a piece has been written by a women into consideration when analyzing the music. Certain stylistic choices can be better understood when related to a situation that could only happen to a woman. The mere fact that women are different from men should be taken into consideration when analyzing any music, whether it was written by a woman or not.

That's pretty much all the commentary I have for Chapter 1. Hope you enjoyed it.