Sunday, October 30, 2005
women in the composing world
After the recent storm of commentary on the representation of women composers here and in concert programming, I’d like to offer a few meditations on being a woman composer. It’s an issue that I can’t help but be aware of and devote a least a little thought to. Of course, I don’t pretend to speak for all woman composers…
I would rather be identified as composer, just plain old composer without reference to my gender. I see myself as part of the greater lineage of Western composers and as such would rather have my music presented alongside that of Bartok, Ligeti, Webern, and my contemporaries, than set off in a “women composers” program. My compositional concerns and goals are not any different than a man’s. The only difference comes in navigating a male-dominated scene, and that’s not a music-specific issue. Although I’ll admit that I would rather have my music presented in all-female concerts than not at all.
I greatly resent identification on musical genres, syntax, etc with feminine/masculine qualities first because I believe that these distinctions are inadequate and secondly because the feminine most always is aligned with whatever is considered weak and of less value, thereby perpetuating destructive cultural stereotypes.
Nonetheless, being a woman composer does have a significant meaning. As an undergrad, most of my high-level theory classes, as well as my electronic music studio classes, were male dominated. I was often the only woman in the room. I was informed that I was the first woman to pursue my school’s Music and Technology major since its inception 10 years before. These are facts a lone woman can hardly ignore. Luckily for me, being the odd woman more often pushed me to be more assertive and make my presence felt. At NEC, there are more women, maybe 3-6 (including me) per class, but most of them are younger.
I’m not sure why this is so. None of my composition teachers has ever indicated that they thought less of my work because of my gender. I don’t feel like I am taken less seriously because I’m a woman. But… there are significant differences in the way women and men are socialized, and these differences conspire to keep women out of the center even when no one intentionally marginalizes them. I don’t give any credence to those who would attribute every male/female difference in behavior, thought, etc to biology. I believe that socialization has more to do with gender behavior and identity than anything else. And in either case, biology isn’t destiny, a fact our society and culture relies on.
The women in my classes (myself included) don’t contribute as much to discussions. I personally push myself to speak up at least once in every session, and I know that other women make similar efforts. (As for my presence on the blog and forum, well, I’m a grad student with a 25 hr/week job…) I don’t feel like my comments are sneered at or automatically dismissed. And yet, with a male dominated class, interruption and blurting out of thoughts is the order of the day. (I’m not saying this out of adherance to stereotypes. It’s just been my observation.) These things don’t come as easy to women, who are more strongly socialized to be polite, wait their turn, wait to be called on for contributions rather than leaping into the fray. Just last week I spoke up to add to a discussion of the merits of Varese, and a guy interrupted me when not two words had left my mouth. I’m not going to pin it on gender bias. The guys interrupt each other all the time, and don’t seem stymied by it in the least. But I think women interpret it differently (or at least I do).
So yeah, the simple fact that the composing world is male-dominated and thus runs according to their styles of socialization can be a stumbling block for women. What do we do about it? I’m not sure. The only thing I can offer is the fact that I’ve only been successful in pushing myself to jump right in after hearing this advice from my sister’s (male) composition teacher: “just go ahead and interrupt the guys!”
Now back to my regular activities as a grad student: composing and analyzing music.
posted by Stefanie Lubkowski
10:12 PM
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