Description
Book SynopsisWomen's Bands in America is the first comprehensive exploration of women's bands across the three centuries in American history. Contributors trace women's emerging roles in society as seen through women's bandsconcert and marchingspanning three centuries of American history. Authors explore town, immigrant,industry, family, school, suffrage, military, jazz, and rock bands, adopting a variety of methodologies and theoretical lenses in order to assemble and interrogate their findings within the context of women's roles in American society over time. Contributors bring together a series of disciplines in this unique work, including music education, musicology, American history, women's studies, and history of education. They also draw on numerous primary sources: diaries, film, military records, newspaper articles, oral-history interviews, personal letters, photographs, published ephemera, radio broadcasts, and recordings. Thoroughly, contributors engage in archival historical research
Trade ReviewSullivan expands her topic from women’s military bands, the subject of her Bands of Sisters, to virtually all band types encountered in the US: professional, town, vaudeville, school, drum and bugle corps, jazz, and rock as well as military (in the last chapter she extends the discussion to a military band in Mexico). The arrangement is mostly chronological, and the chapters span the 140 years from the late 19th century (starting with Helen May Butler’s various ensembles) to the 21st century (rock bands in the Twin Cities)…. [O]f special merit are contributions by Gayle Murchison and Jeananne Nichols. Murchison writes about the ‘intersectionality of race and gender in jazz,’ as seen through the life and recordings of Mary Lou Williams’s Girl Stars, while untangling a web of connections among members of the jazz world. Nichols details the US WAF Band history, drawing on many primary documents, interviews, and recent theory. Coauthors Dawn Farmer and David Rickels also make effective use of extensive primary sources in bringing to life the stories of pathbreaking band directors Lillian Williams Linsey and Gladys Stone Wright, who served as role models and left lasting legacies in the band world. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals. * CHOICE *
This collection presents a sweeping 140-year story of successful all-women's bands in the United States and Mexico and fills many gaps in our inherited musical histories. Taken together, these essays present a powerful story of resilience, showing that in creating these musical ensembles, women also created an empowering space for their own gendered agency. It would be useful in a variety of undergraduate and graduate courses on gender and music, gender studies, historical musicology and ethnomusicology. -- Ellen Koskoff, University of Rochester's Eastman School of Music
A thrilling journey through the history of women’s bands in the USA. Feminist theory is interwoven with compensatory history, to reveal a web of power and constraint versus liberation and resistance in the gendered musical world. Threading it all together is the Editor’s exciting introduction. Highly recommended. -- Lucy Green, Professor of Music Education, UCL Institute of Education, London UK
Women’s Bands in America is a comprehensive and clear ‘must-read’ source for anyone interested in the history of American bands. Jill Sullivan and her contributors have filled the void of women’s mostly forgotten contributions to American bands, and indeed their contributions to music and our culture in general. Understanding these unique contributions is necessary to fully comprehend the role of bands in our society. Bravo to all of the authors, and especially Dr. Sullivan, for telling these amazing stories! -- Steven N. Kelly, Florida State University
Women’s Bands in America provides a fascinating, well-researched and compelling history of women forming bands dating back to 1876. Kudos to Jill Sullivan et. al. for recognizing the women whose talents and accomplishments might otherwise never have been brought to light. I am amazed and empowered by the life stories herein! -- Paula A. Crider, Professor Emeritus, The University of Texas
Table of ContentsChapter 1: Introduction Jill M. Sullivan Chapter 2: Helen May Butler and Her Ladies' Military Band: Being Professional during the Golden Age of Bands Brian Meyers Chapter 3: Town Bands, 1870–1920 Sondra Wieland Howe Chapter 4: "An Attraction of Unusual Merit," Women's Bands on the Vaudeville Stage Joanna Ross Hersey Chapter 5: All-Female School Bands: Separate Spheres and Gender Equality Jill M. Sullivan Amy Spears Chapter 6: Legacies of Leadership: Lillian Williams Linsey and Gladys Stone Wright Dawn M. Farmer David A. Rickels Chapter 7: A Survey of All-Female Drum and Bugle Corps featuring “The Hormel Girls" Danelle D. Larson Chapter 8: Mary Lou Williams’s Girl Stars and the Politics of Negotiation: Jazz, Gender, and Jim Crow Gayle Murchison Chapter 9: Parading Women: Objectification and Commodification of Women’s Military Bands during WW II Jill M. Sullivan Chapter 10: Into the Wild Blue Yonder: A History of the US WAF Band 1949-1961 Jeananne Nichols Chapter 11: Rockin' it Local: Conversations with All-Women Rock Bands in the Twin Cities Sarah Schmalenberger Sarah Minette Chapter 12: Blowing the Tradition: Women Forming Community and Military Bands in Mexico Vilka E. Castillo Silva Chapter 13: Conclusions and Recommendations Jill M. Sullivan
