Where are the Women in Composition?

A few weeks ago, before the craziness of my marching season job got going, I had a conversation on Twitter with a few colleagues. @BrandtSchneider started the whole thing by talking about trying to program more female composers for our school bands. We have a lot of girls in our programs(probably a majority in many programs). Do these girls know that composition could be a career for them? Are we doing them an injustice by programming male composers almost exclusively? They are so many questions that flew through my mind after this tweet. It seems a 140 characters can always get me riled up in one way or another.

First, I said good music is good music. We program good music for music's sake and that should be priority number 1. I didn't want this to be some kind of musical affirmative action. We could say these things about any group of people(by race, gender, locale, etc..) but that's not a good reason to program them. 

However, there is some good music out there written by women so why not program. I quizzed myself on female composers for wind band, after all I am a conducting master's student. I should do well. Libby Larsen, Anne McGinty, Julie Giroux, Cindy McTee, and Augusta Read Thomas. Wow, that's it. I could name 5 and this is what I do. The only one of I've ever programmed is McGinty because I taught in a small school and middle school. Giroux and Thomas I hadn't even heard of until my grad studies. I was ashamed, but should I have been? I didn't have groups that could do this stuff! Oh and FYI, Clare Grundman is a dude...

My teachers have programmed these composers because they have had ensembles that could play it. It's good writing and worthy of being programmed, but there aren't a lot of groups that will be playing the music of Julie Giroux at the HS level. I think the real issue is that we lack pieces that fit technical demands of the average band. If you look back at wind band history, the clear answer to this issue is commissioning for grade 3/4 works by up and coming women in composition. It's a possibility that some great music will come out of this if someone can back it. Maybe it's time we become a consortium!

I'll close with a conversation/interview I did with the only female composer I converse with on Twitter, Jennifer Jolley. Jennifer is a blogger and composer in Cincinnati. Feel free to start a conversation with her, @JennJolley I'm sure she'll be glad to discuss her work. I also invite you to view her blog, www.whycompose.com and her website, www.jenniferjolley.com 


KF: A colleague of mine has been discussing programming choices and female composers as role models since band programs are majority girls.

JJ: That's so cool! I'm glad to hear this.

KF: Why composition?

JJ: Like how I got started composing? I was in high school and I wanted to write music for films. This was the first time I was conscious about wanting to be a composer; in the past, I would get bored practicing piano and doodle around a bit. Had I known I was improvising and that improvising was a form of composing, I think I would have started sooner.

KF: Issues because of gender?

JJ: Yes and no. I feel like I have not been held back because of my gender, but I'm wondering why there aren't as many girls who want to be composers when they grow up.

KF: Thoughts on writing for winds?

JJ: It's tricky! When I was writing my first band piece, I was a little scared because I didn't play a band instrument. To compensate, I studied scores and attended rehearsals. Also, my composition teacher gave me a good exercise to familiarize myself with the ensemble: he had me write scales from the low end of the ensemble to the high end. This gave me an idea where my ranges and color were, and I discovered that the wind ensemble is thick in the middle! Ack! What do you do? How do you balance this? At least I was aware of the situation. Now that I've written my first band piece, I will have more confidence when I write my next one.

What are your thoughts? Where do we go from here? I'm all for finding great music in all places. I'm sure there are some great musical ideas in some women out there, how do we find them and get them to write for the wind band?

Are We Successful Teachers?

Last week's #MusEdChat on Twitter focused on what makes a music teacher successful. We discovered the answer is varied depending on the perspective of parents, students, administrators, and ourselves. I always love these chats and I can't wait for the next one. They always make me think a little deeper. It's not talk about philosophy instead of just pedagogy. Honestly, I think more deeply about pedagogy most of the time.

Anyway, we tweeted about all these different groups. We talked of how sometimes parents just want it to be fun for their kids. I spoke about the idea of teaching parents during the school concert. An Informance instead of a Performance if you will. Teachers all view their own success very differently, some more noble than others. I wish I was more noble actually...and then bringing up administrators always starts an uproar.

The most important group for me is the students. Sure, I want to myself and my peers to view me as successful. I want the administrators and parents to respect what I do. However, if they students don't see me as successful, what kind of leader or teacher am I? I'm not a clown to entertain them, but I am there to be a counselor, their musicality leader, an explorer, a knowledge giver as well as seeker, and many other things.

Since I let me former students find me on Facebook, I put up a post asking what makes a successful teacher? I was impressed that a few took the time to tell me. Even more impressed that one(who is a history ed major now) sent me a paper he wrote for class. So here are some response excerpts below. What do your kids think?


"I feel a music teacher should be judged on his musicianship and how he uses it to improve his students' musicianship. The teachers who go out of their way and use their time to help a student in need or a student who just wants to be the best is always a teacher I would choose. Also I feel that teacher should push his students to their greatest potential and not give up on any student because he, the teacher, doesn't feel the student has the capablilties to improve or expand. Lastly and most importantly: I feel a music teacher should have a great love for all musics and children or teens (whatever age group) he is working with and should accept any student, no matter their skill level, who comes to him with an intrest in music and accept that student with open arms."


"Have fun and being able to connect with the students and just lay back and have a blast playing!"


"Discipline is extremely important because you also earn respect from your students. And strong leadership skills will tell students that you are the one in charge-not them."


"I think its a combination of two things, character and wisdom. Students won't respect a teacher unless they see something there to respect, if you know your stuff and your able to portray that knowledge in an interesting way I think you've got it made. I know that if I have a professor that is more knowedgeable about music than I could ever hope to be and that professor can show that through his conducting, his assistance with different instruments, personal accounts, and on a one on one basis that is the best teacher I can get. And I would hope that, at least on a collegiate level, that respect would counter the need for discipline."


"talking and getting to know your students. that way you know and understand what drives them to work hard and improve."


"...seemingly in constant motion with one thing or another going. ..Very early on in my education, I was inspired by my teachers. I admired their work ethic and their ability to make me enjoy learning. That was quite an accomplishment with my case, for I was not too interested in learning at that time. "

I hope those first couple of classes of mine, the grads of 08-10 continue to think as well as post goofy videos on FB. :)

Long Time, No See

Hello Blogosphere, it's been awhile.

I always get myself excited to blog and then life gets in this way. Now I feel like I have reason to blog, that's not just purely for my own archives. I've locked on to to Twitter and it's given me an instant connection to around 80 educator all over the globe. I'm serious this time(and with summer coming up it should be easier) to any of you who find this I'm looking forward to reading comments and adding your blogs to my reader.

So here's the reasons I've been so absent. I will go into more detail when break starts, especially about future plans as they unfold.

In the next few days I will finish my year at Schuyler-Industry. I know it was a short-lived, but I learned a lot about myself and where I want to go. I think I did a fair job of helping some young musicians attain some lofty goals as well(middle schoolers knowing all 12 major scales in a little rural school!) I'm not sad to be going just because things are looking so bright.

I'm leaving to attend Wright State University to earn my Master of Music degree in Wind Conducting with Dr. David Booth. While I'm there I get to earn my assistantship(full tuition and stipend) by serving as Athletic Band Director, teaching a jazz history course, and being the assistant conductor for the Wind Symphony and Chamber Winds. In addition to that I emailed some area band directors about helping with marching band and the response was great. A few schools were interested in my help, but I never would imagined getting a spot on my "Dream Team". I get to help at Centerville High School with the CHS Jazz Band. Earning a conducting degree in a great midwest town while staffing with one of the best marching bands in the country. Oh I'm all smiles here!

I also spent the last 6 weeks working as the Music Director for Community Players production of "The Producers" by Mel Brooks. As you know musicals take a ton of time, to make matters worse the show went up in a town 93 miles from where I work. I know, it was not the best judgement to take on the show, but they needed someone and I got to work with some of my good friends in Bloomington/Normal. Not to mention my lovely fiancee was a featured dancer and I got to watch her on the monitor every night. It was a hit, I've never heard so many good things about the orchestra. Since we were hidden in the back and piped through the speakers some patrons thought we were a CD. I take it as a compliment to the pit!

Tonight is #musedchat and I have a class coming up. Today we are playing "May Madness" we have a scale challenge bracket and we're going head to head to see who's the scale master today!