I'm not sure why this thread is taking place. Women are certainly not victims of any sort of discrimination. Do we care how many of our lute-playing colleagues are left-handed, Black, gay, moustachioed?
Joseph Mayes On 9/10/09 1:01 PM, "Monica Hall" <mjlh...@tiscali.co.uk> wrote: > Wow - I seem to have put my foot in it here! As usual! > > Historically speaking - yes there were all these women who played the lute - > but they didn't earn their living doing it. Most of them played in the > private domestic sphere. The same is true of the guitar. > > Today - yes there are women who play professionally etc. but as one who is > occasionally privy to their private thoughts on the matter I can say that it > is not always easy for them to compete on the same terms. > > I would add that when I read music at university in the 1950s women were > certainly treated as 2nd class citizens. The professor in my music > department would not have had any women in his classes if not obliged to do > so by the university. > > We may all be created equal...but some are still more equal than others. > > Monica > > > > Monica > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Stewart McCoy" <lu...@tiscali.co.uk> > To: "Lute Net" <lute@cs.dartmouth.edu> > Sent: Thursday, September 10, 2009 5:29 PM > Subject: [LUTE] Imbalance > > >> Dear Monica, >> >> I don't think it is sad at all. We all have the opportunity to >> contribute to this list, whether we are men or women. The choice is >> ours. If there happen to be more men than women in Peter Martin's >> sample, so be it. That's the way it is. >> >> You could as well do a survey, as I did some years ago, to see how many >> contributors to the list had beards. Of those who responded, 70% had >> beards, and none of them was a woman. Donatella Galetti was the only >> female lute-netter to respond to the survey, and she confirmed that she >> didn't have a beard. (See the archives for 19th December 2004.) >> >> There have always been women who play the lute, at least as long as >> lutes were around. I have in mind those sideways-on pictures of women >> plucking lute-like instruments in ancient Egyptian pictures. You have >> only to look at a few old paintings from renaissance times to see a >> multitude of female lutenists, including our good Queen Elizabeth. As >> far as sources are concerned, we have the Jane Pickeringe lute book, the >> Margaret Board lute book, and the M (probably for Margaret) L lute book. >> A little later we have Mary Burwell's lute book and Lady Wemyss' book. >> There is the Thynne lute book, and one of the family members who used it >> was a young lady to be seen in a painting holding her lute. Some >> important patrons of music were women, including Isabella d'Este and >> Margaret of Austria in the early part of the 16th century. Even in times >> when women were treated very differently from men, music was a pursuit >> where women could flourish. So strongly was music seen to be associated >> with women, that macho Tobias Hume felt it necessary to confess that >> music was the only effeminate part of him. >> >> The situation is no different today. I think of Paula Chateauneuf, Lynda >> Sayce, Elizabeth Kenny, and many other women, who play the lute >> extremely well, and there are plenty of women who are fine musicologists >> too. It is a nonsense to say that the lute is a man's world, as if there >> were some latent prejudice we need to feel guilty about. We have enough >> barmy political correctness imposed upon us in other walks of life. May >> we be preserved from it here. >> >> Best wishes, >> >> Stewart McCoy. >> >> >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu [mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu] On >> Behalf Of Monica Hall >> Sent: 10 September 2009 13:17 >> To: David Tayler >> Cc: Lutelist >> Subject: [LUTE] Re: Imbalance >> >> It is indeed a sad story. I suspect this is also the case in the >> classical >> guitar world which may have a knock on effect. It's still a man's >> world. >> >> Monica >> >> >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: "David Tayler" <vidan...@sbcglobal.net> >> To: "lute-cs.dartmouth.edu" <lute@cs.dartmouth.edu> >> Sent: Thursday, September 10, 2009 9:06 AM >> Subject: [LUTE] Re: Imbalance >> >> >>> It is a sad story. >>> d >>> >>> >>> At 12:54 AM 9/10/2009, you wrote: >>>> Of the last 100 individuals to post to this list, 95 were men. Is >> >>>> this >>>> representative of the wider lute world? Any ideas why? >>>> >>>> Peter >>>> >>>> -- >>>> >>>> >>>> To get on or off this list see list information at >>>> http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html >>> >>> >>> >> >> >> >> >> > >
