Gender and Electronic Music
This paper is published in Switch Vol. 2 No. 1 'Sound'.
Going to computer music conferences, lectures about electronic music or hi-fi
shops etc., one learns that electronic music [1] is a man's world. One can
react to this in different ways. Here, I will give a limited overview of some
possibilities.
First of all, one can ignore the fact that most people in the world of
electronic music are male, or at least one can try to do so. Considering the
topics which are raised in conferences, books, journals etc., this is what most
people do. But this is changing a little. Last year, for instance, the
International Computer Music Conference encouraged to submit papers on women
and computer music; and with the ICMC'96, this is again the case. But although
there was a lively discussion about women and computer music at the ICMC'95,
only three papers on this topic were actually presented. And in the programme
of the ICMC'96, I can only find two papers on the issue of women and
computer/electroacoustic music.
One can ask: why are there wo few women in computer music? This is what
Mary Simoni did in her paper at the ICMC '95. The question is related to
questions like: why are there so few women working in the field of
(specialized) technology? why are there so few women working with (the more
specialized aspects of) computers? why are there so few women composers? The
answers are complex. Simoni also gave suggestions for ways to get more women
into computer music. Central here seems the ideal of equality between men and
women.
In her paper at the ICMC'95, Andra McCartney focused on women composers.
She interviewed many Canadian women composers, and gave an overview of the
specific experiences and practices of these women composers. This approach
focuses on the differences women make. McCartney not only reports negative
experiences of women with sexism in electronic music practice. She also shows
interesting positive specific feminine practices of electronic music (including
teaching etc.).
My paper at the ICMC'95 was not focused on (female or male) composers, but
on the music itself. The subject of this paper was computer compositions with
voice sounds, and the question was: Do male and female voices have different
roles in this type of music? The answer was: yes. First of all, there are a lot
of compositions for live singing female vocalist and tape or computer, but
almost no compositions for live singing male vocalist and tape/computer.
Furthermore, female voices in computer music often sing non-verbal,
melismatic vocal lines, whereas, male voices in computer music tend to speak
more. This is a similar gender pattern as had been found in film (Silverman
1988) and nineteenth-century opera (Poizat, Dame 1994). This paper was
concerned with representations of gender in computer compositions.
Instead of focusing on composers or compositions, one can also focus on
listeners. This approach is developed by Dame (1994), but she doesn't apply it
to electronic music. Women can, as 'resisting listeners', create different
interpretations and different reception practices of musical pieces.
A focus on performers would also be possible. I tried to developed this a
little in my papers for the ICMC'95 and ICMC'96.
Probably, there are many other ways to study women's or gender issues in
electronic music, and I would like to invite anyone whose work in this field I
haven't mentioned, to contact me.
Last but not least, I think that an important omission in the research
regarding gender issues in electronic music so far, is the topic of men in
electronic music. Why are so many men involved in electronic music? How is
electronic music related to masculinity? Can we find traces or representations
of masculinity or reactions to masculinity in electronic compositions or in hard-
and software used in electronic music? Many more questions can be thought of.
Exploring these topics would give us more insight in electronic music and its
practices. But personally, I first want to focus on female voices in electronic
music. Since electronic music is so much a man's world, it seems a good idea to
me to pay special attention to female aspects. But gender issues are related to
femininity and masculinity, to women and men. Focusing on masculinity seems to
me a very interesting issue for future research. Furthermore, what is needed
urgently, I think, is that men in electronic music also reflect on their roles,
on masculinity and on gender.
[1] With 'electronic music', I also refer to electroacoustic and computer music and musique concréte.
More information:
Proceedings ICMC '95 are published by:
International Computer Music Association
2040 Polk Street, Suite 330
San Francisco, California 94109 USA
and:
the International Computer Music Conference '95
The Banff Centre for the Arts
Box 1020
Banff, Alberta, T0L 0C0 Canada
Andra McCartney's homepage: http://www.finearts.yorku.ca/andra/andra.html
(with many interesting references related to gender and technology).
Articles by AndraMcCartney on gender issues appeared in the journal of the
Canadian Electroacoustic Community (CEC): Contact! 8.2 Spring 1995 and 9.1
Autumn 1995. In the next issue will appear one also.
Address of the CEC:
1908 Panet suite 302
Montreal QC
CANADA H2L 3A2
T: +1 514 523 7951
F: +1 514 524 0323
Email: cec@vax2.concordia.ca
WWW:
http://www-fofa.concordia.ca/cec/home.html
See for many interesting information and references related to women, gender,
electronic music and technology:
http://www.studioxx.org
References:
Buikema, Rosemarie en Smelik, Anneke (red.)
1993
Vrouwenstudies in de cultuurwetenschappen. Muiderberg: Coutinho.
Translated as: Women's Studies and Culture: A Feminist Introduction.
London: Zed Books.
Citron, Marcia
1993
Gender and the Musical Canon. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Dame, Joke
1992
'Rocky times: Feminist musicology in the 1990s', Muziek en Wetenschap
2/1, 25-31.
Dame, Joke
1994
Het zingend lichaam: Betekenissen van de stem in de westerse vocale
muziek. Kampen: Kok Agora.
Dame, Joke
1993
'Theme and Variations: Feminist musicology', in Buikema & Smelik (eds.).
Poizat, Michel
1986
L'opÈra ou le cri de l'ange: Essai sur la jouissance de l'amateur
d'opera. Paris: MÈtailiÈ.
Translated by Arthur Denner as:
1992
The Angel's Cry: Beyond the Pleasure Principle in Opera. Ithaca, NY:
Cornell University Press.
Silverman, Kaja
1988
The Acoustic Mirror: The Female Voice in Psychoanalysis and Cinema.
Bloomington etc.: Indiana University Press.
Wajcman, Judy
1991
Feminism Confronts Technology. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Comments welcome to: Hannah Bosma
