Graduation Year

2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree

Ph.D.

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

Degree Granting Department

Music

Major Professor

C. Victor Fung, Ph.D.

Committee Member

David A. Williams, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Clint Randles, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Janet Richards, Ph.D.

Keywords

feminist theory, repertoire, women's studies, music education

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to evaluate gender representation in recommended literature in wind band repertoire and prominent performances. I collected data from music lists approved by the National Band Association (NBA) state chapters, programs from the Midwest Clinic and College Band Directors National Association, music vendor catalogues, the Teaching Music Through Performance in Band series, and Florida Bandmasters Association (FBA) Music Performance Assessment (MPA) past performances. I evaluated names of composers to determine the male-female ratios and quantities for recommended works from these sources. I conducted further analysis to determine if trends existed in the relationships between composer gender and music grade level, gender of conductor, publisher, and frequency of performance. Women composers wrote an average of 3.6% of the works across all the sources listed above. There was a moderate association (χ² = 221.37, Cramer’s V = .34, p < .05, df = 1, n = 2,080) for publishers on the Editors’ Choice list and a strong association (χ² = 280.72, Cramer’s V = .60, p < .05, df = 1, n = 1,682) found for publishers on the FBA list. There was no significant relationship found among the other variables. Based on the results, I draw recommendations for band directors and music educators.

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