It looks like a fascinating subject. I play the guitar (though not as much as I would like to) and occasionally compose. On reading your research subject I dived into the Internet and discovered a wealth of women composers I had never heard of - with a few exceptions such as Clara Schumann and Hildegard von Bingen. After that, there is a huge jump to pop music and some wonderful compositions by Carole King.

Are there any composers you would like to recommend to me?

http://www.kapralova.org/DATABASE.htm

http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/public/page/womencomposerstime

for starters

best

Hello Dawn, 

That does sound like a very interesting project. I am a PhD student and am in the process of compiling qualitative data on female improvisers, predominantly in the jazz domain. Many compelling themes. Best wishes.

Sally Macarthur is someone you might speak to, at this University. She has several books and journal articles: Feminist aesthetics in music; Towards a 21st century politics of music; Feminist aesthetics in music - politics and practices in Australia; The woman composer, new music and neoliberalism. She also has conducted study on Ann Boyd's music. If you want me to say anything to her, I'd be pleased.

Thanks everyone! I have enlisted the help of Sally Macarthur and Cat Hope for this study, and we have a flier ready to go. Martina, really happy to chat by email and skype. Could you send me an abstract of the study? Leon, your PhD sounds great as well. Do you have an abstract to share? Robin, absolutely! If you have a look at the Australian Music Centre's website and the list of artists, you will find many female composers. Try also looking at the sites of Diana Blom, Sally Whitwell, Cat Hope, Clare McLean and Lisa Cheney. Can I be in touch again once we launch? Next week, I hope!

Eva Weissweiler is a German expert in this field; see her book: Komponistinnen vom Mittelalter bis zur Gegenwart, München 1999. More and detailled information via Google and Wikipedia.

Good luck and greetings from Dr. Herfrid Kier

Thank you Herfrid - I will grab this book straight away. Dawn

Check out the resources of GRIME (Gender Research in Music Education) - many scholars there have done research on women composers: http://genderresearchinmusiceducation.org

and the GRIME Journal GEMS (Gender, Education, Music and Society) http://library.queensu.ca/ojs/index.php/gems/index

Indeed! Interestingly, we have a huge amount of interest in this from the Netherlands. We will refrain from chess questions though...

Thank you, I agree absolutely and hope to share some results soon. Dawn

Thanks Dawn - good luck with it - I've shared it with colleagues here and on the Community Music Activity Facebook page - hope you get loads of responses!

 Thanks everyone! 171 respondents and counting, so this is going well!

Hi Everyone, we are about to launch the 3rd of the 3 surveys. Please spread the word - people are still joining in at survey 1 and working their way through. Almost 200 women composers are participating. We are so pleased!

Hi Dawn

Good to meet up with you on researchgate and good to see some interest in our research. I've sent the flier to the IAWM (Patricia Morehead) and hope she will distribute it to the list.

Sally

I am rather shocked at the reactions of my male academics to the chess question.  The allegedly innocuous question as to why women allegedly cannot play chess is most certainly due to male prejudices. Why else should women have a problem playing chess?

It might be better for Henk Smid to refrain from comments if he cannot find a better reply than the one he has given.

There is enough research on gender nowadays to demonstrate how gender prejudices are applied in hierarchical societies. We only need take it from there.

I agree with you Robin. These prejudicial statements are based in the idea that the biological make-up of women prevent them from playing chess (and composing good music). Biological determinism has long had its day as the wealth of research in the field indicates.

Our first short paper was published today! It is available here: https://theconversation.com/the-sound-of-silence-why-arent-australias-female-composers-being-heard-59743

Our surveys are still open and we are looking for, hoping for 200 complete cases.