Collection Spotlight: Diversifying Your Repertoire
by Amanda DuBose, Visual and Performing Arts Librarian
The Western Musical Canon is a problem. We all love the canon; Stravinsky makes our nerves riot and Strauss makes us want to waltz on stage; but it does not truly represent the music of the era. If every oboist plays the Cimarosa C minor Concerto and every pianist plays Chopin Polonaises, then the richness of the era is lost, and its true expression is never heard.
So, what is an enterprising musician to do but choose music from outside the canon?
There is a plethora of excellent caliber music by musicians that fell outside the canon of Western European Classical Music despite operating within the paradigm simply because it was not selected for the canon: the music of composers who were not white or male. These pieces can fulfill genre and style dictates for recitals, such as performing a work by Joseph de Bologne Chevalier de Saint-Georges, to meet a Classical period requirement, or be used to display technical achievement and study just as well as those that had been previously selected for such study. While finding such works may not be as easy as selecting from a repertoire list, the journey is rewarding.
There are many strategies for finding works by diverse composers. One way is to broadly search for pieces using ethnicity metadata contained in the library catalog, the other is to locate a composer first and then locate a work.
Strategy One: Broad Search
When searching in Libraries Search, repertoire specific subject headings can be used to help locate music by diverse composers:
- Music by African American composers
- Music by African American women composers
- Music by Black composers
- Music by Jewish composers
- Music by women composers
Use the advanced search function in Libraries Search and search with these subjects. Make sure to choose contains exact phrase and select subject in the dropdown area box and use quotes around the terms.
Select music score from the resource type dropdown box.
Add your instrumentation to the second search box and browse your results!
To provide feedback or suggest a title to add to the collection, please complete the Resource Feedback Form.