USC School of Music: MUHL 428, Women in Music, Syllabus

MUHL 428: WOMEN IN MUSIC

COURSE SYLLABUS

Instructor: Asst. Prof. Maja Trochimczyk; USC Thornton School of Music
Instructor’s e-mail: polmusic@usc.edu; Phone no.: 213-740-9369;
Office: UMC 2nd floor, Polish Music Center;
Office hours: Monday 12-2 p.m.; Wednesday 12-2 p.m.

Description * Texts * Schedule * Evaluation
Class Home Page * Thornton School of Music * Polish Music Center

1. Availability:
This is a one-semester course, offered by the Department of Music History and Literature (MUHL), School of Music, and cross-listed in the curriculum of the Study of Women and Men in Society (SWMS), in both the major and minor programs. Students in the School of Music (at the undergraduate and graduate levels) may select this course as an elective, in accordance with the requirements of their programs. There are no pre-requisites for the course.

2. Brief Description:
The course explores the roles of women in various non-Western cultural traditions, highlights the contributions of women to various areas of music (composition, performance and teaching) in Europe and North America, and presents the music by an array of composers, from Hildegard of Bingen to Laurie Anderson.

3. Texts and Course Materials:

Textbook (required, available at the bookstore):
Neuls-Bates, Carol, ed. Women in Music: An Anthology of Source Readings from the Middle Ages to the Present (1982, rev. ed. 1996); (# ML82.W65 1996)

Additional textbook (optional, at the bookstore):
Pendle, Karin, ed. Women & Music: A History. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1991. (# ML82.W6)

Assignments and listening material:
Detailed information about reading and listening assignments as well as the music selected for each class will be available on the class web site (listed above). The music will be in Real Audio and students will be able to download their selections.

4. Student Evaluation:

(a) Term project (9-10 pages, paper or electronic equivalent) - 15 %

(b) Two written reports (4 pages, 7 % each) - 14 %

(d) Participation in class discussions - 10 %

(e) Midterm examination (in class, on October 18) - 20 %

(f) Final examination (in the examination period, TBA) - 25 %

5. Schedule:

NOTE that the syllabus is not updated yet. Please consult the printed handout for detailed information about reading assignments for fall 1999. Listening assignments are posted on the assignment page (up to October 4).

Week 1: Questions of Difference and Ideology

Introduction--Listening session: "Who dunnit'--man or woman?"
*Women musicians in Euro-American culture. Gender stereotypes of instruments.

Readings:

Neuls Bates: selection # 27 (The Female Amateur: from Accomplishment to Achievement), 4 pp.;
Neuls Bates: selection # 33 (Women performing in orchestras with men), 3 pp.

Week 2: Women’s Rituals of Life and Work: A Cross-cultural Perspective

Art music and folk music; The role of music in rituals and daily life.
Women as music-makers (examples from domestic and public life in various cultures).

Readings (optional):

Pendle: Chapter 14: "Women in non-Western music" by L. JF. Jones, pp. 314-330.
An online visit to IAWM site on women in music.

Week 3: Women in American Vernacular Musics. Part I.

Instrumentalists or Singers?
Blues (Bessie Smith); Jazz (Billie Holiday, Mary Lou Williams).

Readings (optional):

Pendle: "African-American women in blues and jazz" by Michael J Budds, 282-300.

Week 4: Women in American Vernacular Musics. Part II.

Country (Dolly Parton), Folk (Joni Mitchell), Rock (Janis Joplin).

Reading (optional):

Pendle: "American popular music" by K. Hoke, p. 258-281.

Week 5: European Women in Christian Society, Part I

Women in the Church (Hildegard of Bingen; life in the convent).
The trobiaritz tradition (Comtessa de Dia).

Readings:

Neuls-Bates: #1-10, pp. 3-64, from Christian antiquity, through convents, Hildegard, troubadours, renaissance, to Caccini and de la Guerre.
LISTENING TEST I

Week 6: European Women in Christian Society, Part II.

The Renaissance ideals: amateurs and professionals.
Women of the Court (Francesca Caccini; Elisabeth-Claude Jacquet de la Guerre).

Readings:

Pendle: "Women in music ca. 1450-1600" K. Pendle, pp. 31-53.
READING REPORT II DUE DATE

Week 7: Classical and Romantic Europe: Accomplishments. Part I

The virtuosa pianist (Maria Szymanowska, Clara Schumann);
Vocal music as women's genre (Romance, Lied, Melodie).

Readings:

Neuls Bates: # 17 and # 23 Clara Schuman.
Pendle: "European composers and musicians" by Nancy B. Reich, p. 97-122.

Week 8: Classical and Romantic Europe: Accomplishments. Part II

A great composer: Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel;
Orchestral music (Luise Adolpha Le Beau, Augusta Holmes).

Readings:

Neuls Bates: # 25 Le Beau, # 22 Hensel,
Internet Resources: Web Sites on Szymanowska, Wieck-Schumann.

Week 9: Music and Women’s Suffrage

Social status of women musicians. Women's ensembles and orchestras.
Ethel Smyth: the composer and activist.
Panel Discussion I: The "Woman Composer Question"

Readings:

Neuls-Bates: #30-32, on women in orchestras, pp. 192-201; #43, orchestras; pp. 251-252
Women composer question: Neuls-Bates: # 34-39, including Upton , Clarke, Meadows- White, Fay, Daniels, a corollary. Pp. 206--223. # 46-47, Smyth, Seashore, pp. 278-302.

Week 10: The 20th Century: New Worlds of Music

An American modernist: Ruth Crawford Seeger

Readings:

Neuls-Bates: #48, Crawford-Seeger, pp. 303-311.
Pendle: J.M. Edwards, "North America since 1920" pp. 215-218.
TERM PAPER (DRAFT) DEADLINE

Week 11: The 20th Century: Western Europe

France: Cécile Chaminade, Nadia and Lili Boulanger
England: Elisabeth Lutyens

Readings:

Neuls Bates: # 41 Nadia Boulanger, p. 239-246; # 49 Lutyens, p.312-322
Pendle: "European composers and musicians" by M. Citron, pp. 123-141
LISTENING TEST II

Week 12: The 20th Century: Eastern Europe

Russia: Sofia Gubaidulina
Poland: Grazyna Bacewicz, Hanna Kulenty

Readings:

Pendle: "Composers of modern Europe" R. Zierolf, p. 187-210
Handout material about Bacewicz, Gubaidulina, Kulenty

Week 13: The 20th Century: New Ideas in North America

Experimentators: Pauline Oliveros, Laurie Anderson
Traditionalists: Joan Towers

Readings:

Neuls Bates: # 52 Tower, pp. 343-358;
Pendle: "North America since 1920" J.M. Edwards, p. 211-257
MUSIC REPORT III DUE DATE

Week 14: Not only Prima Donnas

Women's voices and hands: The soloists and the conductors

Readings:

Neuls-Bates: # 45 Marian Anderson, pp. 273-277. #51 The Women Philharmonic, pp. 335-342.
LISTENING TEST III
TERM PAPER DEADLINE, last day of the last week of classes
FINAL EXAMINATION, TBA, in the formal examination period

MUHL 428: WOMEN IN MUSIC COURSE SYLLABUS

1. Availability:

2. Brief Description:

3. Texts and Course Materials:

4. Student Evaluation:

5. Schedule:

Week 1: Questions of Difference and Ideology

Week 2: Women’s Rituals of Life and Work: A Cross-cultural Perspective

Week 3: Women in American Vernacular Musics. Part I.

Week 4: Women in American Vernacular Musics. Part II.

Week 5: European Women in Christian Society, Part I

Week 6: European Women in Christian Society, Part II.

Week 7: Classical and Romantic Europe: Accomplishments. Part I

Week 8: Classical and Romantic Europe: Accomplishments. Part II

Week 9: Music and Women’s Suffrage

Week 10: The 20th Century: New Worlds of Music

Week 11: The 20th Century: Western Europe

Week 12: The 20th Century: Eastern Europe

Week 13: The 20th Century: New Ideas in North America

Week 14: Not only Prima Donnas

MUHL 428: WOMEN IN MUSIC

COURSE SYLLABUS