Tag: women composers

  • 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…

  • The Biggest Tour of 1900s America

    I’ve seen several articles over the past several weeks discussing how Beyoncé and Taylor Swift’s recent tours have stimulated the U.S. economy. And although those articles focused on the economic power of women, they also got me thinking: if Clara and Robert Schumann were like the 19th century Beyoncé and Jay-Z… who was the Romantic…

  • Classical Music Needs Gender Studies – Here’s Why

    If I had a dollar for every time I attended a concert featuring music written by women or a workshop on female composers where the presenter said something along the lines of  “I don’t understand why women’s compositions aren’t performed more often, there’s a lot of really great music here!” … I wouldn’t have a…

  • Free Flute Music by Women Composers!

    Flute solos by women composers in the public domain on IMSLP Maybe you want to start performing flute solos by women composers, but purchasing new music is outside your budget right now.  Maybe you’re curious what flute music by historical women is all about, but aren’t quite ready to invest your time & energy… or…

  • A Quick-Start Guide to Virtuosa Flute Solos

    If you just scrolled through the Virtuosa Flute Solos database and feel overwhelmed… now what??  It’s a lot of information if you’re new to flute music by women composers – so here’s a brief rundown of some suggestions for where to start and a few programming tips, to help make sure this database doesn’t become…

  • 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…

  • 3 Books on My TBR List for Gender Studies & Classical Music

    Over the past several months, I’ve added a few books about women in music history to my to-be-read list that I’m SUPER excited about… but after a few conversations with other educators who teach about classical music by women composers, I’ve come to realize that the resources I tend to favor are very different from…

  • 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…

  • The Secret History of Amateurism in Classical Music

    Why does it feel like there’s something lesser about being an amateur, and where did the idea that musical clubs can’t be “serious” ensembles even come from?  Read on for a brief rundown of the history of amateurism in classical music. Early last month, I had a troubling discussion with someone who seemed to be…

  • Flute Resources for Black History Month

    Happy February!! In the spirit of the month, I wanted to take a moment to highlight some resources for flute music by Black composers and performers that I’ve come across over the past several years. I’m always in full support of anything that amplifies voices from outside the narrow canon of Western classical music that’s…