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HONOURING WOMEN

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GOING GREEN

GOING GREEN

‘Fifty scholarships have been established, of which twenty-five confer a free education in music, and twenty-five provide, not only a free education, but also maintenance for the scholars. Of these scholarships, half are held by boys and half by girls.’

Extract from speech of HRH The Prince of Wales, at the opening of the Royal College of Music as reported in The Times, 8 May 1883.

From its inception, the RCM set out with a mandate of providing quality musical education, with an onus on ensuring access to all those with the talent and desire to learn. This has, from the College’s very first intake, deliberately included an equal number of young women and young men, and the RCM and the classical music scene have been benefitting ever since.

Gender parity in the student body is a key facet of life at the College (female students made up 50% of the College according to the 2018–19 RCM Annual Review), and there have long been efforts to encourage performances of work by female composers. But women feeling represented and nurtured in classical music also means a cultural reckoning with how women experience support and encouragement from a young age, and how they see themselves playing a part in the broader history and direction of the musical profession. Creating ths supportive environment for young women is an integral part of what the RCM sets out to achieve. Two women who can testify to the role the RCM has played in shaping and encouraging their careers in music are Helen Grime and Errollyn Wallen. Grime, who studied for her Master of Music at the College, and Wallen, a composition professor at the RCM, have both forged singular paths as composers of renown, and have been honoured with awards, high-profile performances of their work and, in January, an MBE and CBE (respectively) in The Queen’s New Year’s Honours List.

Success, or even recognition, as a female composer is far from guaranteed: the Donne: Women in Music project, released in 2018, found that 97.6% of the music (classical and contemporary) performed in three seasons across Europe in 2018/19 was written by men. But Grime and Wallen have belied these figures in exciting ways: Wallen’s Concerto for Percussion and Orchestra was the first piece by a black woman ever performed at the BBC Proms, in 1998, and in 2016 Wigmore Hall hosted a day of performances of Grime’s music, in recognition of her role as the distinguished venue’s Composer in Residence for the 2016/17 and 2017/18 seasons. For these sorts of opportunities to be available to women in classical music, there need to be places where talent and skill is nurtured, performance and commissioning opportunities offered and professional knowledge shared, so those venturing into the professional musical world can envision a successful future. The RCM knows the value of being one of those places.

As well as standalone events such as the 2014 RCM Women in Music Festival, and the College’s annual roster of events for International Women’s Day, an environment of mentorship and collaboration at the RCM places emphasis on students feeling empowered to pursue careers in music. Grime agrees. When asked about being a composer in 21st-century Britain, she said that: ‘the musical landscape

is incredibly rich and varied and I think what the RCM offers, in terms of training and opportunities, has a strong role in feeding into that.’ Of mentorship, she says that: ‘it can be extremely important and a great way to nurture talent.’ On 8 March, one of the events at the RCM on the 2020 International Women’s Day was a ‘Meet the Professionals’ session, at which young musicians could interact with some of the influential women making an impact in the arts.

From the outset, one of the most valuable ways to empower young women to enter classical music is for them to hear strong female voices in education, and so see themselves in their examples of succesful women in the industry. It’s important too for young musicians to see inspirational figures opening up opportunities that haven’t existed before. Belize-born Wallen has made a career of breaching new frontiers, both figuratively and literally; in 2006 she composed a song in collaboration with astronaut Steve Maclean while he was aboard space shuttle STS-115. As an example for young people in education, she offers a sense of confidence and conviction, crucial in allowing young women to feel there are spaces for them to occupy in the professional sphere. In an interview in 2019 with music blog I Care if You Listen, Wallen said that: ‘music and the making of music belongs to everyone. Talent isn’t about class or wealth.’

Errollyn Wallen CBE

One of the RCM’s first ever teachers when it opened in 1883 was Arabella Goddard, a celebrated pianist who had been one of the first group of recipients of the Gold Medal of the Royal Philharmonic Society in 1871. As the RCM’s first female teacher, Goddard was a pioneer, and her legacy can be felt in today’s Keyboard Faculty, led by Professor Vanessa Latarche. Young women can also be inspired towards careers in musical education by the RCM’s first female director, Dame Janet Ritterman, who led the College from 1993–2005 and who remains a VicePresident. Examples of women in leadership and education are as important to the musical community as to any other, and it is with pride that the RCM is a home for pioneering women.

As well as ensuring that women play a key role in musical education, both in teaching and direction, it is vital that women’s music is studied, performed and promoted. The exciting work being done by contemporary composers such as Wallen and Grime has a valuable role to play, in both inspiring young musicians and ensuring programming is innovative and modern. Grime says that: ‘there are so many composers that I had no idea about growing up, other than maybe Clara Schumann and Fanny Hensel, and [I] have been very pleased to realise there have always been female composers right through history.’

Education will always play a vital role in enshrining women’s roles in history. This extends both to the work that students are exposed to and discover for themselves. To that end, an effort is underway at the RCM to produce a single-source glossary of work by female composers, leading to a database that students in every faculty can filter by instrument and through which discover works written by women. Grime notes that: ‘it is so important for young composers to learn that it is actually nothing new for women to compose and that is definitely something that could be right for them.’ She goes on to touch on a wider point about the role event programming can play in redressing this gender imbalance in the music that gets to be heard. ‘It’s definitely important to raise awareness of female composers and musicians. Eventually it would obviously be great to have equality in programming so that these concerts were not one-off focus events. I think we all want our music to be programmed for many reasons, not only to group women together as a genre.’

This is the type of environment that young female musicians should both experience and be able to create for themselves. And so from forwardlooking programming to visits from successful female professionals, such as Nicola Benedetti, Holly Mathieson and Dame Sarah Connolly, the RCM will continue to explore what women excelling in their careers can offer young people just beginning in theirs.

Head to the RCM’s YouTube channel to hear Head of Postgraduate Programmes Dr Natasha Loges and student ensemble the Eumelia Trio talk about their experiences of studying and performing music by female composers, inspired by this year’s International Women’s Day events.

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