Sixteenth International Conference on the Arts in Society

Abstract

Throughout most of Western classical music history, there has been a gradual formation of what is referred to as the “canon:” a collection of pieces that has been deemed to have higher value in comparison to others. The formation of the canon has happened throughout a history that has generally favored cisgender, white, male composers of European descent, and it is in desperate need of reconstruction. Some female composers have gradually become more recognized, but the ones who lived and created during the classical era have largely been forgotten by all but a few historians. One possible way to address this issue is through the field of piano pedagogy. Since the piano is one of the most commonly taught instruments in the world, it is the first, and sometimes only lens through which many people experience classical music. HerClassical is a new online project in the field of piano pedagogy that attempts to make materials and information about female composers from the classical era more accessible, so that piano teachers are able to easily incorporate them into their curricula. This poster introduces the lives and works of three major female composers of the classical era: Marianne Martinez, Josepha Barbara Auernhammer, and Maria Theresia von Paradis. It explains how HerClassical is being used as a vehicle to create access to their music. The goal of the poster is to suggest that doing purposeful work in each of our fields can lead to social change on a larger scale.