Pioneering women ethnomusicologists Part 2 - Frances Densmore



The now-famous photo capturing Frances Densmore and an Indian chief in a recording session of sorts!



FRANCES DENSMORE (1867-1957)

Unlike Alice Cunningham Fletcher who came to the music of the Native Americans (and to anthropology/comparative musicology) relatively late in life, and mainly as an enthusiastic 'amateur', Minnesota-born Frances Densmore was an Oberlin trained pianist who was reportedly 'frightened by the Indian music' she heard at the World Fair Columbian Exposition in Chicago (Myers, 1993). However, it was Fletcher's monograph on the Omaha Indians that sparked Densmore's own interest in the subject and initiated a lifelong career as a pioneering, prolific ethnomusicologist. I find it fascinating to trace the development of Densmore's own career and compare it to the development of the discipline of ethnomusicology. From 1903 until 1957, Densmore published more than 120 books, monographs and articles on American Indian music and produced over 2000 wax cylinder recordings of this music. In addition her collections of Chippewa and Teton Sioux musics continue to remain landmark reference works in the field even though they were written in 1915 and 1918 respectively.

'Music is intertwined with the life of every race. We understand the people better if we know their music and we appreciate the music better if we know the people.'

Pioneering women ethnomusicologists Part 1 - Alice Cunningham Fletcher

Alice Cunningham Fletcher (1838-1923)

 This blog post has been a long time coming - well, at least a few weeks! As some of you have noticed, I've been quite slack with updating the blog, and my radio program 'Offbeat' is also going through something of a revamp, partly because of work/study commitments and partly because of ill-health (which is quite normal for most of us this time of year). One of the main changes to 'Offbeat' will reflect my existing research interests and new 'direction' in life, but more about that soon.

In the meantime, I thought I'd share some thoughts on two pioneering, inspirational women in music, best remembered as two of the most significant scholars of North American music between the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. There is a strange serendipity to this blog post, for it was ten years ago that I found myself in a sleepy college town in Ohio, America: Oberlin, famous for its music conservatory and liberal arts college. As you will see, there is an 'Oberlin' connection with both Densmore and Fletcher. 

Stephen Posen, Executor of Glenn Gould's Estate remembers his close friend - An intimate birthday radio special

Stephen Posen and Karishmeh Felfeli

 

Glenn Gould (b. 25th September 1932)

CROSS POSTED FROM THE OFFBEAT RADIO PROGRAM WEBSITE 




"As far as I was concerned, Glenn was a warm, brilliant, funny fellow." - Stephen Posen

Glenn Gould Biographer Kevin Bazzana talks maverick pianists on "Offbeat", Dublin City FM

 Canadian Music Historian and Biographer Kevin Bazzana collaborated with me on Offbeat, my radio program for Dublin City FM,  and spoke about the end of the golden age of piano playing, maverick pianists, as well as the subjects of his two biographies - Glenn Gould and Ervin Nyiregyhazi. Most well known for his superb, award-winning biography of Glenn Gould "Wondrous Strange", Bazzana is also author of one of my favourite books of the past few years, "Lost Genius", the biography of the forgotten Hungarian pianist Ervin Nyiregyhazi.

Singing the Gathas in Avestan for an Irish Radio Play!

The House on Shareni Street

Written by Sheila Llewellyn and produced by Aidan Mathews for RTE Radio 1
Winner of the 2011 PJ O'Connor Award for Radio Drama

I've just listened to a radio play that aired on Ireland's national radio broadcaster - set during the '79 Revolution. I was asked to contribute, so I chose to sing some of my favourite Gathas from the Zend Avesta in the Avestan language.

On John Lennon and Glenn Gould - kindred souls that just did not know it!

John Winston Lennon

Glenn Herbert Gould

 Acerbic. Sharp. Cynical. Contradictory.Compassionate. Authentic. Mesmerising. Brilliant. Enigmatic. It might be a coincidence that Glenn Gould and John Lennon were both born under the zodiac sign of Libra but I've been thinking about both men and musicians for a while, and have found them to have far more in common than Gould would ever admit!

Me and my piano - on life without a piano, Glenn Gould's pianos and why I now identify with adult pianists

It has taken me a long time to write something here. And like many of the posts on this website, this too has been written on a train. I'll type it up when I'm back at a computer next. Today's travelling time was 8 hours and 10 minutes, and the journey would be a lot less bearable had I not brought two of my favourite "letters" volumes - those of Glenn Gould and Mozart. I'm not a Mozart "groupie" as such, but I always find the urge to dip into his letters from time to time, and they never fail to make me laugh, cry and get completely inspired. Though it always feels wrong reading his most private letters, ones that were never intended for my eyes.

Glenn Gould and Mahatma Gandhi (a celebration of two inspirational Librans)

I hold that the more helpless a creature, the more entitled it is to protection by man from the cruelty of man. - Mahatma Gandhi

 Today, October 2nd  is Mahatma Gandhi's Birthday. I never forget this date, because it was always a school holiday - "Gandhi Jayanti" as it is called in India. Gandhi's colourful life and extraordinary impact on the Indian freedom struggle formed a part of every history book in school, back when I was a child and teenager, though this old black and white photo of Mohandas  Gandhi as a young boy never made it into any of those books. The Gandhi that I know is the Gandhi that the rest of the world remembers today, the Gandhi portrayed so brilliantly by Sir Ben Kingsley in the 1982 film which also featured Rohini Hattangadi as Kasturba Gandhi (who studied in Pune as well). It was only when I saw the play Mahatma vs Gandhi written by Dinkar Joshi, when I was about 16 years old that I began to question the "Gandhi" that I had looked up to for so long. I guess that was also one of the moments when Gandhi became less of a God-like figure, more of a flawed human being with an inspiring mind and vision.