MUS 15 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Amy Beach, Ladylike, Uptons
Unit 4: The Piano-Girl and the Accomplished Woman: Gender Roles in Music
- Setting the stage
o Europe (England, Germany)
o United States
o 19th century
- The piano in the home
o Piano invented early 1700s
▪ Luxury item
▪ $$$
o Industrial Revolution = better manufacturing = cheaper pianos
o Becomes essential furnishing for middle/upper homes
- Accomplishments
o To be “accomplished” was to be “educated” in specific ways
o Painting, sewing, music, languages, etc.
o Acceptable hobbies
- Upward mobility
o Rise of the middle class
▪ Merchants and entrepreneurs become the economic leaders
o Status increasingly based on wealth, not birth
- The nuclear family
o Shift away from large, multigenerational families as primary unit
o Shift to the primacy of the nuclear family
▪ Kleinfamilie
o Result of increasing industrialization…
o And economic changes
o Intimacy valued within the family
- Difficult roles for women and men
o Sharply divided gender roles
o Men provide financial/material sustenance for family
▪ Practical unemotional business-like
o Women provided emotional/spiritual sustenance
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▪ Emotional, intuitive, nurturing, domestic
o Emotional labor
- Domesticity
o Focus on the home
o Leisure time (status symbol)
▪ Middle and upper class
o Symbolized a certain economic status
o Home music-making
o Often associated with gendered discourse
- The piano-girl
o One of the most pervasive images associated with daughterhood and young-
womanhood was the “piano-girl”
o But why the piano, exactly?
▪ String has too much motion
▪ Not ladylike (cello)
o Physicality of string instruments not considered appropriate
o Wind instruments require blowing/puffing of cheeks
o Play the piano, instead!
▪ With restrain
o Gendered body
- Why be accomplished anyway?
o Display social standing
o Making a match (attracting a mate)
o Preserve the social order
o Judith Butler refers to this process as ‘girling’
▪ ‘girling’ is a societal process that molds young women
▪ ‘girling’ is also their response to it
• Choose to resist it
• Choose to partially define themselves in relation to it
▪ The piano-girl as a symbol illustrates this process
▪ But this symbol also perpetuated the process
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Unit 4: the piano-girl and the accomplished woman: gender roles in music. Setting the stage: europe (england, germany, united states, 19th century. The piano in the home: piano invented early 1700s, luxury item, industrial revolution = better manufacturing = cheaper pianos, becomes essential furnishing for middle/upper homes. Accomplishments: to be accomplished was to be educated in specific ways, painting, sewing, music, languages, etc, acceptable hobbies. Upward mobility: rise of the middle class, merchants and entrepreneurs become the economic leaders, status increasingly based on wealth, not birth. The nuclear family: shift away from large, multigenerational families as primary unit, shift to the primacy of the nuclear family, kleinfamilie, result of increasing industrialization , and economic changes, intimacy valued within the family. Difficult roles for women and men: sharply divided gender roles, men provide financial/material sustenance for family, practical unemotional business-like, women provided emotional/spiritual sustenance, emotional, intuitive, nurturing, domestic, emotional labor.
