Music, Voice, Message
People who identify as women
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.
At the heart of the forum is our commitment to diverse approaches and subjects and access by a wide-ranging audience. We normally publish 2-3 posts each month by members of our team and guest bloggers.
Four exceptional women composers underwent mid-career conversions. Having favored male poets for the first decades of their careers, they began in their 40s to favor women poets.
In the decades before and after 1900, did it matter to women composers whether the poems they set were written by a man or a woman?
By 1914 the NACWC had 50,000 members. Their motto, “Lifting as We Climb,” was worked into songs performed regularly at meetings. It reverberates to this day.
With this essay on Black Swan Records, we at WSF celebrate our 2nd anniversary. On 30 Oct. 2020 our first post was Mark Burford’s essay on Marian Anderson.
Are there possibly more songs about fall than any other season? Here are 13 great songs and two striking photos.
From accounts of individual women or performances to historical essays, from interviews with songwriters and performers to discussions of gender, race and culture in and through song.
