MUSIC 67: Music, Performance, and Gender Fall, 1991 Deborah Wong, Pomona College DWONG@POMONA.BITNET DWONG@POMONA.CLAREMONT.EDU Music Dept., Thatcher 108 x2456/Music office 621-8155 This course is for students interested in music, anthropology, and women's studies. Much of the world's music is gender-specific, and gender is often culturally defined through music and performance. This overview will examine genres from a number of cultures, including laments, dancing girl traditions, the song of male and female shamans, the castrati in European opera, and heavy metal rock bands. Homosexuality in the performing arts and cross-gender performance will also be addressed. The final grade will be based on 3 exams (60%), two brief concert reports (10%), and a final paper of 9-10 pages (30%). Buy the coursepack at Kinko's on 2nd St. in the Village, as well as the following books at Huntley: Hanna, Judith Lynn 1988 Dance, Sex, and Gender: Signs of Identity, Dominance, Defiance, and Desire. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Koskoff, Ellen, ed. 1987 Women and Music in Cross-Cultural Perspective. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press. McClary, Susan 1991 Feminine Endings: Music, Gender, and Sexuality. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Rice, Anne 1988 Cry to Heaven. New York: Pinnacle Books. Tannen, Deborah 1990 You Just Don't Understand: Men and Women in Conversation. New York: Morrow. ********************** SCHEDULE Jan. 20 (Mon.) Introduction: defining "performance." Jan 22 (Wed.) Are there cross cultural universals in the performance of gender? READ: "An Introduction to Women, Music, and Culture," in Koskoff; Hanna, Chap. 1. Jan 27 (Mon.) Language and gender. READ: Tannen, You Just Don't Understand. Jan 29 (Wed.) Venezuelan bird song and gender. Guest speaker: Rachel Levin (Pomona, Biology Dept). READ: Ortner, "Is Female to Male as Nature is to Culture?" CASE STUDIES Feb. 3 (Mon.) Classical Thai music. Feb. 5 (Wed.) The Suya of Brazil. READ: Basso, "Musical Expression and Gender Identity in the Myth and Ritual of the Kalapalo of Central Brazil," in Koskoff. Feb. 10 (Mon.) Shamans: Korea and Laos, female & male. READ: Conquergood, I Am a Shaman, excerpts; and Kendall, Chaps. 1 and 8; Hanna, pp. 70-72. Feb. 12 (Wed.) Men and drumming. READ: Needham, "Percussion and Transition"; Gabriel, "Call of the Wildmen"; Hanna, Chap. 4. Feb. 17 (Mon.) Shoshone women. READ: Vander, "The Song Repertoire of Four Shoshone Women." Feb. 19 (Wed.) Women's laments. READ: Auerbach, "From Singing to Lamenting: Women's Musical Role in a Greek Village," in Koskoff. Feb. 24 (Mon.) Laments: the Kaluli of New Guinea. READ: Feld, "Song That Moves Men to Tears." Feb. 26 (Wed.) EXAM #1. DANCING GIRL TRADITIONS Mar. 2 (Mon.) Dancing girls and musicians: India. READ: Post, "Professional Women in Indian Music: The Death of the Courtesan Tradition," in Koskoff; Hanna, pp. 45-70. Mar. 4 (Wed.) Hindustani film, Pakeezah. READ: Booth,"Changing Images of the 'Fallen Woman'". Mar. 9 (Mon.) Pakeezah continued. Mar. 11 (Wed.) Dancing girls and musicians: Java. Guest speaker: Rene Lysloff. READ: Sutton, "Identity and Individuality in an Ensemble Tradition: The Female Vocalist in Java," in Koskoff. Mar. 13-22: SPRING RECESS! GENDER IN AMERICAN POPULAR CULTURE Mar. 23 (Mon.) Gender and the popular music industry. READ: Shepherd, "Music and Male Hegemony," and Rawlins, "Out from Under the Rock." Mar. 25 (Wed.) Madonna. READ: McClary, Chap. 7: "Living to Tell: Madonna's Resurrection of the Fleshly." Mar. 30 (Mon.) Heavy metal. READ: Walser, "Real Men Don't Wear Makeup" and Gross, "Heavy Metal Music: A New Subculture in American Society." Apr. 1 (Wed.) Martial arts: wrestling and Thai boxing. READ: Mazer, "The Doggie Doggie World of Professional Wrestling." Apr. 6 (Mon.) Rap: gender confrontations. READ: Wallace, "Women Rap Back"; Thigpen, "Not for Men Only"; Nelson & Gonzalez, "Queen Latifah.". DUE: one-page description of final paper topic. Apr. 8 (Wed.) Laurie Anderson. READ: McClary, Chap. 6: "This Is Not a Story My People Tell: Musical Time and Space According to Laurie Anderson." Apr. 13 (Mon.) EXAM #2. Apr. 15 (Wed.) Mad women in opera. READ: McClary, Chap. 4: "Excess and Frame: The Musical Representation of Madwomen." GENDER BENDING Apr. 20 (Mon.) Cross-gender performance in Nigeria and India. READ: Kiefer, "A Note on Cross-Sex Identification Among Musicians"; Nanda, "The Hijras of India: Cultural and Individual Dimensions of an Institutionalized Third Gender Role"; and Hanna, Chap. 5. Apr. 22 (Wed.) Gender-bending in 18th-c. European opera. Guest speaker: Graydon Beeks (Pomona, Music Dept.). DUE: Term paper bibliography. Apr. 27 (Mon.) Castrati. READ: Scott, "On Wings of Song," and "Castrato," in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Apr. 29 (Wed.) Discussion of Cry to Heaven. READ entire novel by this class! May 4 (Mon.) Transvestism and nightclubs: Victor/Victoria. READ: Herrmann, "'Passing' Women, Performing Men"; Hanna, pp. 226-40. DUE: Term papers. May 6 (Wed.) Towards a cross-cultural perspective on gender & performance. READ: Robertson, "Power and Gender in the Musical Experiences of Women," in Koskoff; Hanna, Chap. 11. May 11 (Mon.) Final exam, 2:00. ****** List of Readings Booth, Gregory 1991 "Changing Images of the 'Fallen Woman'." Manuscript. Conquergood, Dwight 1989 I Am a Shaman: A Hmong Lifestory with Ethnographic Commentary. Southeast Asian Refugee Studies, Occasional Paper No. 8. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, Southeast Asian Refugee Studies Project, Center for Urban & Regional Affairs. Feld, Steven 1982 Sound and Sentiment. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Gross, Robert L. 1990 "Heavy Metal Music: A New Subculture in American Society." Journal of Popular Culture 24:119-30 (Summer 1990). Herrmann, Anne 1991 "'Passing' Women, Performing Men." Michigan Quarterly Review 30(1):60-71. Kendall, Laurel 1985 Shamans, Housewives, and Other Restless Spirits: Women in Korean Ritual Life. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Kiefer, Thomas M. 1968 "A Note on Cross-Sex Identification Among Musicians." Ethnomusicology 12(1):107-9. Nanda, Serena 1986 "The Hijras of India: Cultural and Individual Dimensions of an Institutionalized Third Gender Role," in The Many Faces of Homosexuality, ed. Evelyn Blackwood. New York: Harrington Park Press. Needham, Rodney 1967 "Percussion and Transition." Man n.s. 2:606-14. Nelson, Havelock, and Michael A. Gonzalez 1991 Bring the Noise: A Guide to Rap Music and Hip-Hop Culture. New York: Harmony. Ortner, Sherry B. 1974 "Is Female to Male as Nature is to Culture?" In Woman, Culture, and Society, ed. Michelle Zimbalist Rosaldo and Louise Lamphere. Stanford: Stanford University Press. Rawlins, Melissa 1991 "Out from Under the Rock." Entertainment Weekly No. 95, Dec. 6. Sadie, Stanley, ed. 1980 "Castrato." In The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. London: Macmillan. Scott, Michael 1984 "On Wings of Song." Opera News 48:19-22. Shepherd, John 1987 "Music and Male Hegemony." In Music and Society: The Politics of Composition, Performance, and Reception, ed. Richard Leppert and Susan McClary. Cambridge & New York: Cambridge University Press. Thigpen, David E. 1991 "Not for Men Only." Time May 27, 1991. Vander, Judith 1982 "The Song Repertoire of Four Shoshone Women." Ethnomusicology 26(1):73-83. Wallace, Michelle 1990 "Women Rap Back." Ms. Magazine November-December 1990. Walser, Robert 1989 "Real Men Don't Wear Makeup: Gender and Authenticity in Popular Music." Unpublished manuscript. (2)