2 Thinking about diversifying programming more broadly
As you have learned, women composers were not the only group who were excluded from the classical music canon. Historically, many composers were also excluded because of race, ethnicity, class, disability and/or neurodiversity, religion, and sexuality/sexual identity. The classical music canon was (for a very long time) dominated by the music of middle-class, white men. When you are thinking about diversifying the repertoire which you perform, it’s important to think about this intersectionally.
Beyond including more works by women, you could also think about diversifying your programmes more broadly, ensuring that you also perform music by composers from other groups who have historically been excluded. This section suggests a number of resources that you might find useful as you start to approach this.
The Institute for Composer Diversity [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] , based at the School of Music at the State University of New York at Fredonia, brings together a range of extremely useful resources, including a number of databases of composers and works from historically excluded groups. The Resources for repertoire: composer diversity, pages brought together and hosted by the Julliard School, brings together multiple suggestions for essential online resources and suggestions for diversifying repertoire. Music by Black Composers is an extremely important resource for music by Black composers, including a range of repertoire directories, which also offers valuable pedagogic materials. plainsightSOUND is a research project focused on the stories of classical performers and composers active in Britain before 1970, which also includes a valuable database.
It is also important to think about fostering inclusive practice more generally. In the next section, you will hear Deborah Keyser discussing her work promoting inclusive practices at Tŷ Cerdd/ Music Centre Wales.