Hidden Harmonies

This collection of essays sheds light on a variety of fascinating female musicians and music enthusiasts, many who have not yet been studied in mainstream scholarly discourse. Musicologists, including myself, will warmly welcome the kind of work that this collection aims to do.--Tracey E. W. Laird, Harry L., Corinne Bryant, and Cottie Beverly Slade Professor of Music at Agnes Scott College Addressing genres and topics less frequently covered in music research, this collection broadens understanding of women's musical activities in the US (with one British exception), from the antebellum South through the Civi1 Rights movement of the 1960s-70s. Focusing not on composers and great works but instead looking outside cultural spotlights, the ten essays chronicle women's activities as, for example, organists and whistlers, and one chronicles the life of an Appalachian woman whose lyric notebooks were part of her search for middle-class respectability. Some contributors show more ease discussing race than others.--J. M. Edwards "CHOICE" Hidden Harmonies contains important new research on women who have been under- or unrecognized in music and musicology. The scholars involved have created a deep sense of these women's stories, musical lives, and the social worlds they navigated to make their music possible. Together, the chapters demonstrate the research and care it takes to include women in music history.--Christa Anne Bentley, assistant professor of musicology at the University of Arkansas