Tag: chamber music

  • Contemporary Flute Music by Asian Women Composers

    Happy AANHPI Heritage Month! At the end of last year, I went through the music in the Virtuosa Flute Solos database with the goal of including a wider representation of women composers from underestimated demographics in the section on living composers. This month, I want to take a moment to share some of the highlights…

  • The ABCs of Salon Music

    There are several musical terms used in salon music that we don’t necessarily learn in standard music courses – especially as flutists, since many forms of salon compositions have become almost exclusively associated with piano repertoire in modern times.   However, digging into 19th century flute music by women composers can feel intimidating if we’re faced…

  • Flutey Careers of 18th Century Women

    I feel like there are a couple contradictory assumptions when it comes to historical flutists – some observe that a majority of modern flutists are women, and assume that’s always been the case, while others notice that most historical flute repertoire was composed by men, and conclude that women flutists were exceptions to the rule.…

  • Women Composers Bingo 2024

    Women Composers Bingo 2024

    Happy Women’s History Month! As has become a March tradition in my corner of the internet, it’s time for our annual Women Composers Bingo! Here in the US, this year’s theme from the National Women’s History Alliance is “Women Who Advocate for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion.” (Not to be confused with the UN theme for…

  • Contemporary Flute Solos by Black Women Composers

    February snuck up on me again… but this is actually good timing, since I wanted to highlight a few pieces I’ve included in my recent update to Virtuosa Flute Solos. Over the past several months, I came across a few flute solos from the 1950s-1980s that were only published relatively recently – and I wanted…

  • The Puzzle of Periodization

    I recently finished my annual update of Virtuosa Flute Solos, and also finally read the last chapter of Marcia Citron’s Gender and the Musical Canon – which has led me to a lot of reflection lately on the way I’ve set up & organized my database of flute solos by women composers. The traditional way…

  • Baroque Chamber Music for Flute by Women Composers

    In the process of researching flute music by historical women composers, I’ve come across many surprises that I did not expect.  One of those was the types of music that I encountered – in school, many of my teachers focused on solo repertoire like sonatas and concerti.  And as a result, I expected that a…

  • Flute Resources for Pride Month

    Happy Pride!! 🏳️‍🌈 Most of the resources for LGBTQ+ representation in classical music that I’ve seen center the biographies and works of queer composers.  And while that visibility is great,  this reminds me of the “add women and stir” approach to incorporating women into historical narratives – a method that’s at least 50 years out…

  • Additional Resources for Flute Music by Women Composers

    Virtuosa Flute Solos is great for finding flute solos by historical women composers, but what if you’re looking for chamber music or something more modern??  While those were outside the scope of my research for this particular project, there are many other educators and organizations with a variety of awesome resources.   Check out the list…

  • Women Composers Bingo – Romantic Era

    Happy Women’s History Month!! Guess what that means?  It’s also time for my annual Women Composers Bingo! The National Women’s History Alliance’s theme for 2023 is “Celebrating Women Who Tell Our Stories” – and I can’t think of a better way to do that than with music from the Romantic era, when character pieces, programmatic…