Book Review
Jan. 13th, 2019 10:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kenjariMusic and Women: The Story of Women in Their Relation to Music
by Sophie Drinker
I am of two minds about this book. On the one hand, this book, published in 1948, was landmark work in the study of musicology and the emerging discipline of ethnomusicology. Drinker was the first to write a major work on how women's musical place in society and how it changed over the course of history. She pretty much initiated the study of women in music. Music and Women is impressive in its scope and its championing of women and their creative power and potential as musicians.
But.
Music and Women suffers a lot from the prejudices of its time. Drinker's approach towards "primitive" non-Western cultures is hopelessly colonial and proceeds from the erroneous thesis that these societies are time capsules of pre-historic civilization. When she discusses ancient Greece and Sappho, she lays the homophobia on really thick. Plus, there is some subtle but detectable anti-Semitism in her discussions of Judaism and its music. And to top it all off, Drinker's main ideas about women and their creative power are entirely tied to the ability to bear children and take on the role of motherhood, an experience which she repeatedly describes as the pinnacle and purpose of a woman's life. It's extremely essentialist and reductive.
While there isn't any other one volume that brings everything together the way Drinker does, much of what she writes about can be found elsewhere these days (and without the essentialism and bigotry). Thus, I wouldn't recommend this unless one has a deep interest in the study of women in music. We could all benefit from an updated and improved book that addresses the same concerns.
by Sophie Drinker
I am of two minds about this book. On the one hand, this book, published in 1948, was landmark work in the study of musicology and the emerging discipline of ethnomusicology. Drinker was the first to write a major work on how women's musical place in society and how it changed over the course of history. She pretty much initiated the study of women in music. Music and Women is impressive in its scope and its championing of women and their creative power and potential as musicians.
But.
Music and Women suffers a lot from the prejudices of its time. Drinker's approach towards "primitive" non-Western cultures is hopelessly colonial and proceeds from the erroneous thesis that these societies are time capsules of pre-historic civilization. When she discusses ancient Greece and Sappho, she lays the homophobia on really thick. Plus, there is some subtle but detectable anti-Semitism in her discussions of Judaism and its music. And to top it all off, Drinker's main ideas about women and their creative power are entirely tied to the ability to bear children and take on the role of motherhood, an experience which she repeatedly describes as the pinnacle and purpose of a woman's life. It's extremely essentialist and reductive.
While there isn't any other one volume that brings everything together the way Drinker does, much of what she writes about can be found elsewhere these days (and without the essentialism and bigotry). Thus, I wouldn't recommend this unless one has a deep interest in the study of women in music. We could all benefit from an updated and improved book that addresses the same concerns.
