So You Want to Sing Music by Women: A Guide for Performers
ONLINE RESOURCES:
Chapters 2 & 3 Chapters 4 & 5 Chapters 6 & 7 Chapters 8, 9, & 10
Chapter 11 Chapters 12 & 13 Appendix Authors & Contributors
Chapter 1 – Music by Women: A Brief History
Women Composers in Western Classical Music:
- Hildegard of Bingen: “O frondens virga” from Symphonia
- The Dancing Book of Margaret of Austria
- Élisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre: Prelude from Suite I in D minor for harpsichord
- Marianna von Martines: Overture (“Sinfonia”) in C Major
- Clara Schumann: Piano Trio, Op. 17
- Ruth Crawford Seeger: Music for Small Orchestra
Women in American Popular Music:
- Ethel Merman (Broadway)
- Mahalia Jackson (Gospel)
- Ella Fitzgerald (Jazz)
- Kitty Wells (Country)
- Irma Thomas (Soul)
- Janis Joplin (Rock)
- Joni Mitchell (Folk)
- Madonna (Pop)
- Lauryn Hill (R&B/Hip Hop)
Women in World Music:
- Umm Kulthum (Egypt - Arabic Music)
- Édith Piaf (France - Chanson)
- Chavela Vargas (Mexico - Ranchera)
- Amália Rodrigues (Portugal - Fado)
- Celia Cruz (Cuba - Salsa)
- Asha Bhosle (India - Bollywood)
- Esma Redžepova (Macedonia - Romani Music)
- Elis Regina (Brazil - Bossa nova)
- Radmilla Cody (USA - Traditional Navajo)
- Concha Buika (Spain - Flamenco)
Pulitzer Prize Winners:
- Ellen Taaffe Zwilich: Three Movements for Orchestra (1983)
- Shulamit Ran: Symphony (1991)
- Melinda Wagner: Concerto for Flute, Strings, and Percussion (1999)
- Jennifer Higdon: Violin Concerto (2010)
- Caroline Shaw: Partita for 8 Voices (2013)
- Julia Wolfe: Anthracite Fields (2015)
- Du Yun: Angel’s Bone (2017)
Grawemeyer Award Winners:
Academy Award Winners:
Chapter 2 – Women Composers: Historical and Contemporary Challenges
- Fanny Mendelssohn: “Italien”
- Clara Schumann: “Liebst du um Schönheit” from Your True Calling
- Jocelyn Hagen: “Telegram” from Test Pilot
- Jay-Z and Beyoncé: “APES**T” from Everything Is Love
- The Simon Sisters: “It Rains in My Heart”
- The Pointer Sisters: “Fairytale”
- The Court Yard Hounds: “Sunshine”
- The Caged Bird: The Life and Music of Florence B. Price
- Margaret Bonds: “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands”
- Jeanine Tesori: Women in Theatre Interview
- Sara Bareilles: “She Used to Be Mine” from Waitress
- Lilith Fair 2010
- She Is the Music
Chapter 3 –Art Songs by Women
- Barbara Strozzi: “Spesso per entro”
- Corona Schröter: “Erlkönig”
- Maria Theresia von Paradis: “Morgenlied eines armen Mannes”
- Fanny Hensel: “Bergeslust”
- Clara Schumann: “Lorelei”
- Alma Mahler: Complete Songs
- Josephine Lang: “Im Frühling”
- Pauline Viardot: “Havanaise”
- Cécile Chaminade: “Mignonne”
- Nadia Boulanger: “Le couteau”
- Lili Boulanger: “Reflets”
- Germaine Tailleferre: Six chansons françaises
- Ethel Smyth: “The Clown”
- Amy Beach: “Twilight,” Op. 2, No. 1
- Mary Howe: “The Lake Isle of Innisfree”
- Rebecca Clarke: "The Cloths of Heaven"
- Florence Price: "Hold Fast to Dreams"
- Undine Smith Moore: “Love, Let the Wind Cry”
- Dorothy Rudd Moore: “From the Dark Tower”
- Margaret Bonds: "I, Too"
- Tania León: "Mi amor es"
- Madeleine Dring: "Song of a Nightclub Proprietress"
- Rhian Samuel: “A Swift Radiant Morning”
- Libby Larsen: “Big Sister Says, 1967”
- Lori Laitman: "I'm Nobody"
- Juliana Hall: "Under the Harvest Moon"
- Judith Cloud: “If Your Eyes Were Not the Color of the Moon”
- Cynthia Lee Wong: “Six Gupta Songs”
- Jennifer Bellor: "Songs in the Dark"
- Alex Temple: "Second Moon"
Chapter 4 – Operas by Women
- Ethel Smyth: “March of the Women”
- Kaija Saariaho: L’amour de loin
- Francesca Caccini: La liberazione di Ruggiero dall’isola d’Alcina
- Deidre Murray: The Blackamoor Angel
- Thea Musgrave: Mary, Queen of Scots
- Libby Larsen: A Wrinkle in Time
- Lori Laitman: The Scarlet Letter
- Rachel Portman: The Little Prince
- Jennifer Higdon: Cold Mountain
- Missy Mazzoli: Proving Up
- Leanna Kirchoff: The Clever Artifice of Harriet and Margaret
- Laura Kaminsky: As One
- Unsuk Chin: Alice in Wonderland
- Du Yun: Angel’s Bone
- Victoria Bond: Mrs. President
Chapter 5 – Choral Music by Women
- Maddalena Casulana: “Morir non può il mio core”
- Chiara Margarita Cozzolani: Magnificat
- Fanny Hensel: Hiob (Job)
- Ethel Smyth: Mass in D
- Lili Boulanger: Psalm CXXX
- Amy Beach: Canticle of the Sun
- Elisabeth Lutyens: Five Bagatelles
- Thea Musgrave: Rorate Coeli
- Judith Bingham: Water Lilies
- Eleanor Daley: Requiem
- Alice Parker: "You Can Tell the World"
- Pauline Oliveros: Sound Patterns
- Edie Hill: Alma Beata et Bella
- Tania Léon: Inura
- Rosephanye Powell: “The Word Was God”
- Santa Ratneice: “Horo horo hata hata”
- Dale Trumbore: “Threads of Joy”
Chapter 6 – Experimental Music and Extended Techniques
- Cathy Berberian: Stripsody (live performance)
- Meredith Monk: Turtle Dreams
- Joan La Barbara: Twelvesong (Zwölfgesang)
- Bethany Beardslee: Philomel (Milton Babbitt)
- Jan De Gaetani: “The Night in Silence under Many a Star” from Apparition (George Crumb)
- Phyllis Bryn-Julson: “Mondestrucken” from Pierrot lunaire, Op. 21 (Arnold Schoenberg)
- Sharon Mabry: “Boogie for Leda” from Irreveries from Sappho (Elizabeth Vercoe)
- Roomful of Teeth: Partita for Eight Voices (Caroline Shaw)
- The Crossing: “Ad Genua/To the Knees” from Seven Responses (Anna Thorvaldsdottir)
Chapter 7 – Music Theater by Women (Erin Guinup)
- Rida Johnson Young: “Sweet Mystery of Life”
- Anne Caldwell: “I Know That You Know”
- Kay Swift: “Fine and Dandy”
- Dorothy Fields: “If My Friends Could See Me Now”
- Carolyn Leigh: “I’ve Got Your Number”
- Betty Comden: “One Hundred Easy Ways”
- Mary Rodgers: “Shy”
- Gretchen Cryer & Nancy Ford: “Natural High”
- Elizabeth Swados: “Lullaby from Baby to Baby”
- Micki Grant: “Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope”
- Lucy Simon: “Lily’s Eyes”
- Jeanine Tesori: “I Know It’s Today”
- Brenda Russell & Allee Willis: “I’m Here”
- Sara Bareilles: “She Used to Be Mine”
- Kristen Anderson-Lopez: “Monster”
Chapter 8 – CCM by Women (Amanda Wansa Morgan)
- Memphis Minnie: “Bumble Bee”
- Memphis Minnie: “Nothin’ in Ramblin”
- Joni Mitchell: “My Old Man”
- Erykah Badu: “Window Seat”
- Loretta Lynn: “Fist City”
- Dolly Parton: “Jolene”
- Interview with Dianne Warren
- Gloria Estefan: “Words Get in the Way”
Chapter 9 – Singing and Voice Science (Scott McCoy)
- Your Voice: An Inside View
- National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS)
- National Center for Voice and Speech (NCVS)
- The Voice Foundation (TVF)
Chapter 10 – Vocal Health for Singers (Wendy LeBorgne)
Chapter 11 – Using Audio Enhancement Technology (Matthew Edwards)
Equipment Manufacturers:
Recommended Equipment:
- SM58 Microphone (with on/off switch)
- Behringer Eurolive B212XL
- TC-Helicon Voice Live Play Vocal Effects Processor
- 10-Foot XLR Cable
Comparisons of Singers (on and off mic):
Tutorials:
Trade Publications:
Chapter 12 – Advocacy for Women Composers
- Institute for Composer Diversity
- Music Theory Examples and Posters
- Female Film Score Composer Playlist
- New Musical Theatre
- Sheet Music by Women
- Jenny Giering Songs
- Sheltering Voices Project
Chapter 13 – Music by Women: The Future
- Julia Mortyakova Interview: MUW’s Music by Women Festival
- Lani Ramos Music Video: “See (Just What We’re Fighting For)”
- Niloufar Nourbakhsh: “An Aria for the Executive Order”
- Olga Vocal Ensemble: Hildegard vs. Beyoncé
- Luna Composition Lab
Appendix – Further Resources
Repertoire Databases and Catalogs:
- Audible Women
- Choral Music by Women Composers Database
- ClarNan Resources: Historic Music by Women Composers
- Institute for Composer Diversity
- The Kapralova Society
- LiederNet Archive
- Music Theory Examples by Women
- Musik und Gender im Internet
Other Digital Resources:
- Compos(h)er
- Donne: Women in Music
- Hildegard Publishing Company
- The Margaret Zach International Women Composers Library
- Women and Music: A Journal of Gender and Culture
- Women in Music Timeline
Print Resources:
- Beer: Sounds and Sweet Airs: The Forgotten Women of Classical Music
- Briscoe: Contemporary Anthology of Music by Women
- Briscoe: New Historical Anthology of Music by Women
- Citron: Gender and the Musical Canon
- Dunbar: Music, Women, Culture: An Introduction
- Friedberg: Art Songs by American Women Composers
- Gray: The World of Women in Classical Music
- Kimball: Women Composers: A Heritage of Song
- Marrazzo: The First Solos: Songs by Women Composers
- McClary: Feminine Endings: Music, Gender, Sexuality
- Neuls-Bates: Women in Music: An Anthology of Source Readings
- Pendle: Women and Music: A History
- Sadie and Samuel: The Norton/Grove Dictionary of Women Composers
- Taylor: Art Songs and Spirituals by African-American Women Composers
- Tick: Women Making Music: The Western Art Tradition, 1050–1950
Journal of Singing Articles by Sharon Mabry:
- “Music by Contemporary Women Composers: Part I” (September/October 1990)
- “Music by Contemporary Women Composers: Part II” (November/December 1990)
- “Music by Contemporary Women Composers: Part III” (January/February 1991)
- “Music by Contemporary Women Composers: Part IV” (March/April 1991)
- “Finding Music by Women Composers” (January/February 1992)
- “A Woman’s Place” (May/June 1994)
- “Song Cycles by Twentieth-Century Women Composers” (September/October 1999)
- “More Song Cycles by Women Composers” (November/December 1999)
- "Two Gems for Soprano" (September/October 2000)
- “Song Cycles by Women Composers: Part III” (January/February 2000)
- “What to Do About Women Composers!” (September/October 2002)
- “Music by Women: An Intentional Choice” (May/June 2009)
Festivals and Workshops:
- 3Rivers Womyn’s Music Festival
- Balancing the Score: Supporting Female Composers
- Canadian Women Composers Project
- Festival Présences Féminines
- Frauenkomponiert
- International Festival of Women Composers
- Iranian Female Composers Association (IFCA)
- LunArt Festival
- Music by Women Festival (Mississippi University for Women)
- National Women’s Music Festival (NWMF)
- The Summers Night Project
- Women Composers Festival of Hartford
- Women’s Redrock Music Festival
- Young Women Composers Camp
Grants and Awards:
- Billie Burke Ziegfeld Award
- IAWM Competitions
- The Lilly Awards
- Listen Up! Music by Women Artist Grants (Allied Arts Foundation)
- National Sawdust Hildegard Competition
- New York Women Composers Seed Grants
- Opera America Discovery Grants for Female Composers
- Roberta Stephen Composition Award (ACWC)
- Sirens Funding: Association of British Orchestras
- Women Make Music (PRS Foundation)
- Women’s Philharmonic Advocacy Performance Grants
Professional Organizations:
- Asian Women Composers Association New York City
- Association of Canadian Women Composers (ACWC)
- The Boulanger Initiative
- Chinese Woman Composers Association (CWCA)
- Frau und Musik
- International Alliance for Women in Music (IAWM)
- Luna Composition Lab
- Nadia and Lili Boulanger International Centre
- New York Women Composers, Inc. (NYWC)
- The Rebecca Clarke Society
- The Sorel Organization
- Women in Music (WiM) - UK
- Women in Music (WIM) - USA
