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I realized I was supposed to use another quote so I hope this still counts (please)

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I realized I was supposed to use another quote so I hope this still counts (please)

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"Not surprisingly, these early canons contained works by authors of a race, gender, social standing and perspective similar to the early canon-makers. For decades, this situation remained relatively the same."   -Jordan Bates

It's sad and still unsurprising that certain groups are left out when it comes to historical narratives of anything really. Much like politics and typical careers that men would have because it has always been this way, The "manly" thing to do to be an influential figure while women get to stay in the sidelines. With equality coming up as major topics nowadays, we women deserve our turn in some aspect, and this can be achieved in the sub-genre of music the Western Canon.

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So African Music is pretty awesome. I was a percussionist, and the rhythms and instruments from Africa is cool. The native voices are unique in their song as they are loud and strong, varied in pitches, and holds strength through it's players and listeners.

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So NPR also comprised a list (a canon) of female artists and Sade's Smooth Operator was on the list. I really love the jazz elements of the song, and her voice has a soulful touch to it. Her vocal range is beautifully smooth and wide and I think her voice fits the song perfectly. I suggest a listen of the song, and the list from NPR.

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Sade - Smooth Operator - Official - 1984

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Alright so this picture is from National Geographic and this doesn't really relate much to music HOWEVER, I'd just like to say that in the animal kingdom, the females have a lot of power. Spotted Hyenas (female) are the alphas in a pack; even the lowest ranking female hyena is higher than the highest ranking male hyena. Plus they have pseudo-penises.
So ladies, in the homo-sapiens aspect, should totally have more power when it comes to history and it's influence on music (Canon) since they comprise of half the human population.

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One of the few female exceptions of greatness. Not really much to say except it's freaking Beyonce. Hopefully girl power can continue to be a force in pop culture.

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Beyoncé - Run the World (Girls) (Official Video)

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"...the general history of popular music is told through the great works of men, and that without a serious revision of the canon, women will always remain on the margins."             -Ann Powers

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"...the general history of popular music is told through the great works of men, and that without a serious revision of the canon, women will always remain on the margins."             -Ann Powers

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This is one of the fundamental problems of the Western Canon and it's elaborated a lot by Powers in her NPR article. But when one really thinks about history and the Canon as a whole, it really is dominated by men of higher class or education. Any woman who tried or tries to make herself a stand alone figure, difficulties are almost always subject to criticism, compared to men. Though it seems that efforts are being made to make sure that others will consider women AND other people of colors and ethnicities are included in history.

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"Oh man, she ruined the song."                 -My Dad

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"Oh man, she ruined the song."                 -My Dad

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So my family went to the Stockyards and we walked around the bars and all. I don't remember what song we both heard, it was definitely rock, but a woman sang the intro for it. When my dad heard it, he said the aforementioned quote (to be fair though, I think she sang off key so I agreed with him). Though I must say that even though I'm a female, i thought it was weird for another female to sing a rock song that's normally sung by men.

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Man I've always wanted to go watch a Philharmonic

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Man I've always wanted to go watch a Philharmonic

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But there's a small problem with them; their lack of diversity in their musical repertoire. Looking at the super famous New York Phili (NYP), they have about two themes for their concert season, classical music that's actually relatively recent (Philip Glass, Mahler, and others) and those that are also still considered part of the Western Canon (Brahms, Prokofiev, and others). The problem with this is that there's a lack of female composers in their repertoire; the same even applies for our own Dallas Symphony Orchestra as they have Debussy and Ravel among their classical repertoire. However the DSO does include contemporary pieces from the great John Williams and his Star Wars Compositions. The main problem with the Western Canon is it's exclusion of certain groups of people of a certain gender (singular) and of certain ethnicities. More "un-western" music could certainly be played to audiences from the DSO and NYP to broaden listeners' tastes in music, and I would certainly see myself going to watch them (if I had the time and money to do so) since I already like the classical repertoire and appreciate different genres such as African based music or great pieces by women who have been unheard.