Women in Music

Boulanger Initiative advocates for women and all gender marginalized composers. We foster inclusivity and representation to expand and enrich the collective understanding of what music is, has been, and can be. We promote music composed by women through performance, education, research, consulting, and commissions.

Eileen Southern and the Music of Black Americans is a digital exhibit centered on Eileen Jackson Southern (1920-2002), an extraordinary scholar whose landmark book The Music of Black Americans (W. W. Norton, 1st edition 1971) inspired the academic subfield of Black music studies. In 1976 Southern became the first African American woman tenured in Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences. In both research and teaching, she confronted racial and gender biases, yet she persistently pursued the work she believed in.

This exhibit highlights archival materials from the collection that Southern left to the Harvard University Archives, and it introduces visitors to Southern’s life and legacy.

A collection of encyclopedias and other reference sources which covers a variety of topics including history, literature, gender and sexuality, religion, the arts, and sciences.

Gender studies - scholarly journal articles, magazines, newspapers, newsletters, regional publications, books and NGO, government and special reports. This is a database of unique and diverse publications that focus on how gender impacts a broad spectrum of subject areas. With its archival material, dating back to 1970 in some cases, GenderWatch is a repository of important historical perspectives on the evolution of the women's movement, men's studies, the transgendered community and the changes in gender roles over the years. Publications include scholarly journals, magazines, newspapers, newsletters, regional publications, books and NGO, government and special reports.

Humanities Full Text™ includes many of the most important academic journals in the humanities with the full text of articles from over 300 periodicals dating back to 1995, and high-quality indexing for almost 700 journals—of which 470 are peer-reviewed—dating as far back as 1984. The database provides coverage of feature articles, interviews, bibliographies, obituaries, and original works of fiction, drama, poetry and book reviews, as well as reviews of ballets, dance programs, motion pictures, musicals, radio and television programs, plays, operas, and more.

JSTOR contains the full text of articles published in approximately 430 journals from the fields of arts and sciences, and business. Its archive spans from the first volume of the journal to within the past three to five years of the journal.

Currently, Project MUSE offers nearly 200 quality journal titles from some 30 scholarly publishers. ...Project MUSE covers the fields of literature and criticism, history, the visual and performing arts, cultural studies, education, political science, gender studies, economics, and many others." Project MUSE includes the full content of each journal with the exception of advertisements.

The Kassia Database is a resource geared toward aiding singers, instructors of voice, pianists, researchers, and music lovers to discover and celebrate art song by women composers. The database includes songs from the Baroque period through the 21st century, and have been categorized by level, voice type, language, composer, and composer dates. Related information includes range, tessitura, piano accompaniment, vocal line, and links to available scores. The analysis is intended for singers from beginning high school through the collegiate level and professional career. The database leads you to find the unique voices and expansive styles of each individual composer, with the hopes to increase performance and advocation of each woman's often overlooked works.

WSF is an online forum devoted to women’s voices in song, to the many songs by women, and to the many female musicians working in and with song, who have yet to be given the attention they deserve. The Women’s Song Forum provides an opportunity to expand and enhance knowledge and understanding of this rich and significant area of musical practice and scholarship, and – as the name “forum” suggests – aims to encourage discussion and debate across different interest groups. The forum aims to highlight compositions and performances of music that deserve more recognition.

Why are there so few female composers? But are they really so few? Welcome to Donne: Women in Music! A new space dedicated to female composers! We would like to invite you join us in this fascinating journey, which we hope will help to get historical and current female composers on the map.