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Music by Women Composers Ten Years Later
During the 2003-04 school year, we revisited the music of living women composers. Students at the Sunderland, Erving and Swift River Schools in Western Massachusetts wrote to approximately 100 composers at colleges and universities across the United States requesting audio and written samples of their original compositions.
Approximately 40 composers donated materials to the project. Without question, the quality of the work we reviewed was superior the material we received ten years earlier. In the 1993-94 unit, many scores were reproductions of handwritten originals; in the 2003-04 unit, virtually all were engraved prints. The 1993-94 unit included a majority of tapes, many of which were recordings of live performances. There were only a few CDs and LPs. The 2003-04 unit included a majority of professional CD recordings and only 1 tape.
The most profound difference between the two collections is in the quality of the actual compositions. The 2003-04 collection is highlighted by the large number of well written musical works. The artists show great confidence in this collection of music. There is a wide variety of styles, colors and approaches to musical composition. The form, instrumentation, and overall feeling of the material is in contrast to the earlier collection and makes it an important representation of excellent concert music from the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
In the classroom, students (ages 10-12) were very open to hearing new concert works for the first time and then participating in critical discussions. With television, videos, video games, CDs and digital downloads, the amount and variety of sounds children are now exposed to is hgreater than ever. In general, the kids were able to review each work with ease and comfort, and were able to express why they enjoyed (or didn't enjoy) any particular sample.
Many thanks to the following composers for their donations to the 2003-04 collection: Elaine Aberdam, Elinor Armer, Jennifer Barker, Elaine Bearer, Jane Ira Bloom, Kitty Brazelton, Elissa Brill, Andrea Clearfield, Teresa Davidian, Tamar Diesendruck, Marti Epstein, Nancy Galbraith, Stacy Garrop, Jennifer Higdon, Deborah Kavasch, Anne Kilstofte, Joan LaBarbara, Frances McKay, Elizabeth McNutt, Margarita Merriman, Joyce Soloman Moorman, Erica Muhl, Carol Nicholeris, Pauline Oliveros, Marta Ptaszynska, Julieanne Rabens, Patricia Ann Repar, Jenna Root, Elena Ruehr, Elizabeth Sellers, Sharon Shaheen, Judith Shatin, Williametta Spencer, Marilyn Taft Thomas, Diane Thome, Mary Jeanne van Appledorn, Mary Ann Joyce Walter, Annliese Weibel, Barbara White, Chen Yi.
The 2003-04 collection is archived with the original 1993-94 collection at the Sibley Music Library, Eastman School of Music, Rochester, New York. -EJH
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