Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- Acknowledgements
- Notes on Contributors
- Preface
- Introduction
- Part I Establishing a Place for Women Musicians in Irish Society of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries
- Part II Women and Practice in Irish Traditional Music
- Part III Gaps and Gender Politics in the History of Twentieth-Century Women Composers and Performers
- Part IV Situating Discourses of Women, Gender and Music in the Twenty-First Century
- Bibliography
- Index
- Irish Musical Studies Previous volumes
14 - Surveying the Scene: Current Thoughts on Women and Electroacoustic Music in Ireland
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 08 June 2023
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- Acknowledgements
- Notes on Contributors
- Preface
- Introduction
- Part I Establishing a Place for Women Musicians in Irish Society of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries
- Part II Women and Practice in Irish Traditional Music
- Part III Gaps and Gender Politics in the History of Twentieth-Century Women Composers and Performers
- Part IV Situating Discourses of Women, Gender and Music in the Twenty-First Century
- Bibliography
- Index
- Irish Musical Studies Previous volumes
Summary
To be a woman composer of electroacoustic music is to straddle two worlds, both gendered male.
Background
At the 2010 Women and Music in Ireland conference, I presented a paper on women and electroacoustic music, a topic rarely discussed by musicologists at the time. This was unsurprising given that the term ‘electroacoustic’ was neither frequently employed in mainstream musicological discourse, nor was its definition clear. However, while this explains why most of the literature on the subject has been produced by composers, it does not elucidate why the contributions of women have been largely overlooked. Recent research by female musicians has attempted to close this gap, supported by online communities (Audible Women, Female:Pressure, DONNE, Women in Music) providing promotion opportunities, networking databases and a digital encyclopaedia of European living women in music. In Ireland, efforts to encourage balanced discourse around women in contemporary music have been re-energised since the launch of the advocacy collective Sounding the Feminists in 2017. Yet, little concentrated research exists on women’s creative practices in the electroacoustic arena, with the notable exception of several texts on Jennifer Walshe, who has garnered much international attention owing to her innovative auteur-inspired aesthetic. It seems timely, then, to resurvey the scene, placing the genre in context and reviewing the current status of women in electroacoustic music in Ireland as evidenced through the opinions and experiences of creative artists. Various issues are considered and suggestions for the future presented.
The Irish Electroacoustic Context
In 2003, Paschall de Paor concluded his discussion of the early development of electroacoustic music in Ireland thus:
From slow and gradual beginnings, this genre is currently enjoying an energetic developmental period. Many international fora now recognise the work of our composers and researchers, and, given current educational initiatives, the future is promising.
His positivity was not unfounded: Ireland was flourishing amid the Celtic Tiger years; government spending on education, art and culture was high and many technology-driven programmes were in receipt of support from the European Union. De Paor notes that electroacoustic music proper emerged relatively late despite early explorations on par with international developments; he posits that, had Brian Boydell – the pre-eminent advocate for new music in Ireland, who undertook early experiments with tape recorders c.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Women and Music in Ireland , pp. 191 - 205Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2022