Sue Benson, Managing Trustee of the Great Bowden Recital Trust, gives us an update on their group's involvement with Making Music's INCLUDE...
For groups looking to diversify their repertoire, this resource provides some links to online directories and publications to assist your research into under-represented composers.
Over the past few years, we’ve been talking to members about diversifying their repertoire, and playing more work by under-represented composers. The drivers and benefits of this are various; from addressing the inequity in the classical canon, to finding fresh musical challenges, and connecting with new audiences. Have a look at these case studies:
- Sheffield Philharmonic Orchestra (SPO) tells us how the orchestra has managed to successfully diversify its repertoire
- Jenn Fuller, researcher and singer with Vocal Accord, discusses repertoire diversity
One of the challenges of this approach however is finding the works that your group would like to learn, play and sing. In this resource, we’ve pulled together links to online sites and publications suggested to us by members, music leaders and researchers so you can explore repertoire that has been less played.
This is designed to be an evolving resource. If you have a suggestion that should be added here, please let us know by emailing info@makingmusic.org.uk. If you include new repertoire in your programmes following this research, you could write a blog to inspire others. And we’ve introduced an award for diverse programming into our annual Making Music Awards if you want to celebrate the impact this change has had.
General directories – searchable by identity
- Theodore Front – Search subcategories of composers: Women, Black, Asian and Asian-American, and Latin and Latin-American.
- Institute for Composer Diversity (US) – A database of composers from historically excluded groups. Search subcategories of composer including by Gender Identity, Sexual Orientation, Disabled, Demographic, Genre.
Directories by identity
- The Big List of Women Composers - an ever-expanding list featuring more than 5,000 women composers. Search by country, century, music genre.
- Boulanger Initiative - A repertoire database for women and gender-marginalised composers. Search by date of birth/death, continent and country.
- Oxford Music Online Timeline – List of women composers arranged by time period.
- Music by Black Composers – Living composers directory. Search by continent, gender and date of birth.
- Music by Black Composers – Historic composers directory. Search by continent, gender and date of birth / death.
- MLAG music research - A working list of the non-idiomatic choral music of Black composers. (not part of the traditional idiomatic canon associated with Black musicians)
- GALA Choruses’ Song Database (US) – repertoire that is LGBTQ+ identified by theme, composer, or lyrics, LGBTQ repertoire for newer choruses etc. Search by title, voicing, difficulty.
Publications
- The Oxford Book of Organ Music by Women Composers - 42 pieces for manuals and pedals, spanning the sixteenth century to the present day, a variety of difficulty levels.
- Breath of Song (compilation) - 10 concert works by women composers for SATB unaccompanied.
- Multitude of Voices – Publications of anthologies of sacred music by women composers.
- Explore Music by Women Composers – Boosey and Hawkes focus on their published works by women creators from the last century.
- The Oxford Book of Choral Music by Black Composers - 35 pieces for SATB choir, pieces from the Renaissance to twenty-first century, composers from a variety of nations.
- Earthsongs (US) - Publisher of multicultural choral music. By PDF, pronunciation CDs available.
- Dozan World – Publisher of Middle Eastern music for voices and instrumental ensembles.
Articles
- Making Music article – Spotlight on six inspiring female composers of colour.
Discounts on purchase and hire of music
- Making Music discounts – Making Music members can benefit from discounts on the purchase and hire of new music from ChoirCommunity, Composers Edition and musicroom.com
Thanks are due to Jeremy Haneman, Elizabeth de Brito and others who have provided these suggestions.
We hope you find this Making Music resource useful. If you have any comments or suggestions about the guidance please contact us. Whilst every effort is made to ensure that the content of this guidance is accurate and up to date, Making Music do not warrant, nor accept any liability or responsibility for the completeness or accuracy of the content, or for any loss which may arise from reliance on the information contained in it.
