NYPL Blogs: Posts by Stevie Feliciano

Women Composers: From the Middle Ages to the Present

Stevie Feliciano, Hudson Park Library — Thu, 27 Jun 2013 12:43:30 -0400

Until relatively recent decades, women have had severely limited opportunities within Western art music especially composition. Unfortunately women were often encouraged as amateurs but not professionals. Historically, there have been many obstacles facing woman as professional performers and composers.

The first dates all the way back to the beginning of the fourth century, in keeping with the Pauline injuction, Mulier in ecclesia taceat, which translates to "Let women keep silence in church." Women could and did make music in their own seperate convents, but these insitutions did not compare to their male counterparts.

During the rise of of instrumental music in the Renaissance era, women faced sexual stereotyping when it came to instruments. Women were expected to cultivate "feminine" instruments that would not require an alteration in facial expression or physical demeanor. This left women with mostly keyboard instruments such as the piano and harpsichord. The lute and viol were also acceptable during the Renaissance and Baroque eras and the harp and guitar were acceptable in the Classic and Romantic periods. There were many more instruments that were deemed "masculine." This included winds, brass, percussion, and larger strings. This made orchestra and other ensembles mostly all-male affairs.

Women would compose music that fit their professional situations during that time but they were much more limited than men's. They did compose large works but not to the same proportion as men, simply because they did not hold the prestigious postions that offered opportunities for them to be performed.

With the rise of conservatories in the nineteenth century, the number of women who were able to train for professional careers increased dramatically. At first female conservatory students were accepted only in performance, but by the end of the century, women could enroll in theory and composition classes at most institutions. Between 1880 to 1920 the number of women composing and performing increased drastically, thanks to the momentum generated by the woman who came before them.

Since 1920 women have continued to press for acceptance in the composition field and have made great strides. Below I have listed women composers from the middle ages all the way to the present. All items listed below can be checked out with a NYPL card. Enjoy!

Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) CDs

Elisabeth-Claude Jacquet de la Guerre (1665-1729) Books

An Introduction to Elisabeth-Claude Jaquet de la Guerre by Edith Borrof

Printed Music

Pièces De Clavecin

Clara Schumann (1819-1896) CDs

Books

Clara Schumann: Piano Virtuoso by Susanna Reich
Clara Schumann: An Artist's Life by Berthold Litzmann
The Complete Correspondence of Clara and Robert Schumann

Printed Music

Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel (1805-1847) CDs

Books

The Letters of Fanny Hensel to Felix Mendelssohn

Printed Music

Amy Fay (1844-1928) Books

Ethel Smyth (1858-1944) CDs

Mass In D ; Mrs. Waters' Aria ; The March Of The Women

Books

The Memoirs of Ethel Smyth
What Happened next
Ethel Smyth, A Biography by Christopher St. John

Printed Music

Rebecca Clarke (1886-1979) CDs

Printed Music

Nadia Boulanger (1887-1979) Books

Mademoiselle: Conversations with Nadia Boulanger
Nadia and Lili Boulanger by Caroline Potter
The Tender Tyrant, Nadia Boulanger: A Life Devoted to Music by Alan Kendall

Printed Music

Ruth Crawford Seeger (1901-1953) CDs

Books

Ruth Crawford Seeger: A Composer's Search for American Music by Judith Tick
Ruth Crawford Seeger: Memoirs, Memories and Music by Matilda Gaume
"The Music of American Folk Song" and Selected Other Writings on American Folk Music

Printed Music

Joan Tower (1938-) CDs

Books

Joan Tower: The Comprehensive Bio-bibliography

Printed Music

The Riot Grrrl Movement

Stevie Feliciano, Hudson Park Library — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 07:29:37 -0400

Yesterday I went to the independent bookstore Bluestockings for a reading of Lisa Darms' The Riot Grrrl Collection with Johanna Fateman, Ramdasha Bikceem and Molly Neuman.

While I was sitting in the audience I thought about my first encounter with the Riot Grrrl movement. I was thirteen years old when I first heard the song Rebel Girl by Bikini Kill. After hearing that song I knew I wanted more. It lead me to other bands like Bratmobile, Sleater-Kinney, The Gits, Heavens to Betsey, Le Tigre and Team Dresch. Soon after I got into the zines associated with the movement. The music and the literature provided me with a different way of thinking about beauty and sexuality. It taught me that I didn't need to assimilate to somebody else's standards and that the punk rock idea that "you could do anything" didn't just apply to the boys.

A little background about the Riot Grrrl movement:

The emergence of the Riot Grrrl movement began in the early 1990s, when a group of women in Olympia, Washington, held a meeting to discuss how to address sexism in the punk scene. The women decided they wanted to start a “girl riot” against a society they felt offered no validation of women’s experiences. And thus the Riot Grrrl movement was born.

The Riot Grrrl movement believed in girls actively engaging in cultural production, creating their own music and fanzines rather than following existing materials. The bands associated with Riot Grrrl used their music to express feminist and anti-racist viewpoints. Bikini Kill, Bratmobile, and Heavens to Betsy created songs with extremely personal lyrics that dealt with topics such as rape, incest and eating disorders.

By the late '90s, "girl power," a slogan that began in the pages of Riot Grrrl zines, started being appropriated by pop sensations like the Spice Girls. Some claim this to be the end of the movement. Others contend that it never ended and that bands like Pussy Riot are still carrying the torch today.

In honor of the Riot Grrrl movement and the conversation that is starting again thanks to Lisa Darms' The Riot Grrrl Collection, I compiled a list of some books, films, CDs and articles from our collection that pertain to the movement. I hope you enjoy!

Books

Girls to the Front: The True Story of the Riot Grrrl Revolution by Sara Marcus

Cinderella’s Big Score: Women of the Punk and Indie Underground by Maria Raha

Girl Power: The Nineties Revolution in Music by Marisa Meltzer

Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer for Freedom: Letters from Prison, Songs, Poems, and Courtroom Statements, plus Tributes to the Punk Rock Band That Shook the World

Rock ‘n’ Roll Camp for Girls: How to Start a Band, Write Songs, Record an Album, and Rock Out!

In Library Use Only Books

Riot Grrrl: Revolution Girl Style Now!

Gender in the Music Industry: Rock, Discourse and Girl Power by Marion Leonard

Angry Women In Rock

She’s A Rebel: The History of Women in Rock & Roll by Gillian G. Gaar

Films

Don't Need You

Who Took The Bomp? Le Tigre on Tour

CDs

Pussy Whipped by Bikini Kill

The Hot Rock by Sleater-Kinney

Dig Me Out by Sleater-Kinney

In Library Use Only CDs

Reject All American - Bikini Kill

Gato Negro - 7 Year Bitch

Personal Best - Team Dresch

You can access these articles and more through Academic Search Premier, available at all library locations or at home with your NYPL library card:

Grunge, Riot Grrrl and the Forgetting of Women in Popular Culture

Riot In The Stacks

Revolution Grrrl and Lady Style, Now!

“A Little Too Ironic”: The Appropriation and Packaging of Riot Grrrl Politics by Mainstream Female Musicians

Riot Grrrl: Revolutions From Within

See also: Jefferson Market's Marie C. Hansen interviews Stephanie Kuehnert in Twist n' Shhhout!: Highlighting Rock n' Roll at NYPL: Riot Grrrl.

LGBTQ Books for All Ages

Stevie Feliciano, Hudson Park Library — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 10:41:04 -0400

To commemorate the the Stonewall riots, which occurred at the end of June 1969, this month has been proclaimed as LGBT Pride Month. To celebrate, I compiled some lists of LGBTQ-themed books. Happy Pride Month everyone!

Adult Fiction

Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson

Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg

The Hours by Michael Cunningham

The Correspondence Artist by Barbara Browning

Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon

Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters

Angels in America by Tony Kushner

Maurice by E. M. Forster

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood

A Map of Home by Randa Jarrar

The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall

Adult Non-Fiction

Eminent Outlaws: The Gay Writers Who Changed America by Christopher Bram

A Queer History of the United States by Michael Bronski

Nina Here Nor There: My Journey Beyond Gender by Nick Krieger

Barney Frank: The Story of America's Only Left-handed, Gay, Jewish, Congressman by Stuart E. Weisberg

Transparent Love: Love, Family and Living the T with Transgender Teenagers by Cris Beam

Gay Power: An American Revolution by David Eisenbach

She's Not There: A Life In Two Genders by Jennifer Finney Boylan

Why Are Faggots So Afraid of Faggots? Flaming Challenges to Masculinity, Objectification, and the Desire to Conform

Nobody Passes: Rejecting the Rules of Gender and Conformity

When We We're Outlaws: A Memoir of Love and Revolution by Jeanne Cordova

Secret Historian: The Life and Times of Samuel Steward, Professor, Tattoo Artist, and Sexual Renegade by Justin Spring

Young Adult Fiction

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green

Boy Meet Boy by David Levithan

Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden

Luna by Julie Anne Peters

Hero by Perry Moore

The Bermudez Triangle by Maureen Johnson

Empress of the World by Sara Ryan

Spark: The Epic, Completely True Blue, (almost) Holy Quest of Debbie by S. J. Adams

Gone, Gone, Gone by Hannah Moskowitz

Sprout by Dale Peck

Freaks and Revelations by Davida Hurwin

Young Adult Non-Fiction

October Mourning: A Song For Matthew Shepard by Lesľa Newman

The Letter Q: Queer Writers' Notes to Their Younger Selves

Gay America: Struggle for Equality by Linas Alsenas

Revolutionary Voices: A Multicultural Queer Youth Anthology

Children's

And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson

Heather Has Two Mommies by Lesľa Newman

King & King by Linda de Haan

Molly's Family by Nancy Garden

Daddy's Roommate by Michael Willhoite

Asha's Mums by Rosamund Elwin

In Our Mother's House by Patricia Polacco

Gertrude Is Gertrude Is Gertrude Is Gertrude by Jonah Winter

All the World by Elizabeth Garton Scanlon

Daddy, Papa, and Me by Leslea Newman

10,000 Dresses by Marcus Ewert

A Tale of Two Daddies by Vanita Oelschlager

Graphic Novels

Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel

Potential: The High School Chronicles of Ariel Schrag by Ariel Schrag

Calling Dr. Laura: A Graphic Memoir by Nicole J. Georges

A + E 4Ever by Ilike Merey

Skim by Mariko Tamaki

Wondering Son Volume 1 by Takako Shimura

The Essential Dykes to Watch Out for by Alison Bechdel

Where Are All The Cicadas?

Stevie Feliciano, Hudson Park Library — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 09:17:24 -0400

I have been anticipating for a long time the arrival of the cicadas that were laid as eggs in the year 1996. I can still remember the wall of white noise that their parents produced 17 years ago. Most people complained that it sounded like a jet engine revving up for takeoff but to me it sounded like a gorgeous and intricate symphony.

I was ecstatic to learn that the cicadas would be returning this year and filling the air with a 7 kHz mating buzz. Predictions stated that cicadas would outnumber people 600 to 1. I couldn't be happier. As time passed though I realized I wasn't hearing any of their synchronized love songs. Did the invitation get lost in the mail? Maybe they are just showing up fashionably late. No. It turns out that the dense urban design of New York City has blocked the cicadas almost completely. "The decline in cicadas in New York is likely the result of land use" states Gene Kritsky, a cicada expert at the College of Mount St. Joseph in Ohio. "If trees were removed from areas where cicadas had emerged in the past and they are not within a mile of other cicadas, then the population would not replenish itself. This has resulted in a very sporadic distribution of the cicadas in more urban areas." At this point, the experts say, about 90 percent of the cicadas that will emerge have emerged and only one borough is being visited by these insects. That borough is Staten Island.

Staten Island is the epicenter in New York City for this years cicada hatch. The residents there get to bear witness to the inch-long insects playing out their three-week ritual of sex and death and listen to the beautiful soundtrack that accompanies it.

Not everyone is a huge fan of these insects but there are some die hard cicada fans out there like myself. For instance, Radiolab has teamed up John Cooley and professor Chris Simon from the University of Connecticut Ecology & Evolutionary Biology department to obtain data for a cicada tracker. Another admirer is David Rothenberg, a professor of philosophy and music at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. Rothenberg has been traveling the region performing live duets with a clarinet and a collection of male cicadas. The Staten Island Museum also hosted a singles-themed cicada party where they celebrated its cicada collection with a night of drinks, art, music and conversation inspired by the mating strategies of cicadas.

I don't want to miss my six-legged friends brief visit so it looks like I'm going to venture to Staten Island in order to hear their songs of love and/or lust. It is only a matter of time before they die and if I don't catch them now I will have to wait another seventeen years to hear their children produce such wonderful sounds of magic.

For more information about cicadas you can access these articles and more through Academic Search Premier, available at all library locations or at home with your NYPL library card:

Acoustic adaptations to anthropogenic noise in the cicada Cryptotympana takasagona Kato (Hemiptera: Cicadidae).

Cicada ear geometry: species and sex effects - J. Sueur et al.

First Breeding Record of the Cicada Okanagana rimosa Say (Say's Cicada) in New Jersey.

Life Cycle Replacement by Gene Introduction under an Allee Effect in Periodical Cicadas.

Selection for Prime-Number Intervals in a Numerical Model of Periodical Cicada Evolution.

Specificity of cicada calling songs in the genus Tibicina (Hemiptera: Cicadidae).

You can also check out these children's books on cicadas:

Cicadas! Strange and Wonderful by Laurence Pringle

Cicadas by Anne O. Squire

Cicadas and Aphids: What They Have in Common by Sara Swan Miller

Download a free a track from David Rothenberg's CD Bug Music:

"Katydid Prehistory"

Make Music New York at NYPL Branches: June 21, 2013

Stevie Feliciano, Hudson Park Library — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 14:03:56 -0400

Make Music New York is a live, free musical celebration on June 21, the longest day of the year. From 10 in the morning to 10 at night, public spaces throughout the five boroughs become impromptu musical stages, dance floors, and social meeting points.

MMNY is in its seventh year and is based on France’s Fête de la Musique, a national musical holiday inaugurated in 1982. Ever since, the festival has become an international phenomenon, celebrated on the same day in more than 460 cities in 110 countries, including Germany, Italy, Egypt, Syria, Morocco, Australia, Vietnam, Congo, Cameroon, Fiji, Colombia, Chile, Nepal, and Japan. In North America, Chicago, Vancouver, Pasadena, Los Angeles, Denver, Santa Fe, and Baltimore are all planning “Make Music” days this year.

This year a number of NYPL branches will be taking part in this global celebration of making music. Take some time to check out some of the amazing artists at one of our branches Friday, June 21, 2013.

12-1 p.m. Aisling Peatree at New Amsterdam Library
1-2 p.m. Noah Becker at Kips Bay Library
1-2 p.m. Elizabeth Sher at Grand Central Library
1-2 p.m. Sharon Ostrov at Richmondtown Library
1-2 p.m. Barry Kay at Mulberry Street Library
1-3 p.m. Martha Mooke at Riverside Library
1-2 p.m. Brotherhood Experience at Jerome Park Library
2-3 p.m. Mariamusician at Roosevelt Island Library
2-3 p.m. Dalito ft. Ronny at George Bruce Library
2-3 p.m. Koh Kazama at Castle Hill Library
2-3 p.m. Kyle Tieman-Strauss & Buck McDaniel at Chatham Square Library
2-3 p.m. Adam Tully Tango Trio at Hudson Park Library
2-4 p.m. Primal at Sedgwick Library
2-2:30 p.m. Rolando Rockoso at 115th Street Library
2:30-4 p.m. Raymond Lyman at Morris Park Library
3-4 p.m. Ken Silverman at 125th Street Library
3-4:30 p.m. Kama Lindsen at Spuyten Dutvil Library
3-4 p.m. Akshara at Westchester Square Library
3-4 p.m. The Library is on Fire at Tompkins Square Library
3-4 p.m. Brotherhood Experience at Mott Haven Library
3-4 p.m. Canvas Radio at Tottenville Library
3:30-4:30 p.m. MaG at Francis Martin Library
3:30-4 p.m. Lowfi at Morrisania Library
3:30-4:30 p.m. Elina Akselrud at 67th Street Library
3:30-4:30 p.m. Fayola at Harlem Library
3:30-4:30 p.m. SusLife at Grand Concourse Library
4-4:30 p.m. Nazdaq Brixx at Morrisania Library

In 2011, Make Music New York also launched a winter solstice festival called Make Music Winter, with 12 participatory musical parades on December 21st. The next Make Music Winter will take place on Saturday, December 21, 2013.