Oliveros: Ana von't LtUt 1 nem LUu.

y <vv'"t''"''""

a piece of music cannot, however, account for the meaning of that piece unless it
is placed in a historical continuity. By the same token a "theory" derived from him to select, to process, to combine the ~y aspects of reality, al'":a_Y~ h~aring
analysis can never legitimately he used as a tool for producing music. Attempts in mind that any significant musi~al id~~ not the result of a neo-positiVIstlc pro-
to do this betray an idea of musical language based solely on procedures for com- cedure but a system of interrelati~pShips m pr~gress. . ..
bining elements, which is, to say the least,' irrelevant to any serious discussion of A theory cannot substitute £ meaning and Idea; a discrete. an~lytiC~l tool c~n
music. never be turned to creatio y dint of polishing and perfectmg It. It 1s poetics
Such a concept of music gives rise to the well-known query which opens many which guide discovery not procedural attitudes; ~t i~ idea and. not style.
"~eoreti~al" ~cussions th~se da~s: "H~w did he get the notes?" Shuffling notes This basic fact · been missed by those who ms1st on trymg to ~reate_ a
With the tllus10n that one ts dealmg With the formation of music is like using twelve-tone uto · of "twelve-tone coherence" by forcing on us the dubmus g1ft
words like "peace" and "freedom" in speaking about Vietnam without touching of twelve-ton melodies in which, as someone has written, "the tw~lv~-tone
the underlying relationships that constitute the real and horrifYing meaning of rhythmic s cturalization is totally identical (sic) with the structurahzatiOn. of
that rotten war. · the twel tones." Alas, this industrialized twelve-tone horse, dull on the outst~e
tp
But, rather than pursue that unhappy metaphor, let me tum another, this and e pty inside, constantly being perfected and dragged to a n~w Tror m
sh ow of an ideological war long since fought and won by responsible mmds
time from linguistics. The choice is logical, with all one hears ab ' t "language of
music," "musical grammar," and such, and discussions of musi always seem to · e Schoenberg, with neither systems nor scholarship for armor!
:Iemand an eventual resort to metaphor anyway. ·
Reprinted from The Christian Science Mon_ito: (July ~5, 1968).by permission of the publisher. Copy-
Recently a major breakthrough was witnessed in the field f linguistics. At its right© 1968 by the Christian Science Pubhshmg Soc!~. All ng~ts r:-ger:_edl' ~ ~ lh ,s::-'\..J ~'1:.,.
lead was N oam Chomsky, who pointed out the need to ab don the dead end CJ~G S"i::.'e:O..y~ ~ I ~e§lr-.: ~ ........ ~.I .
>f taxonomic linguistics, which is based on segmentatio I and classification of . ~~~ ~) -b::i'-'T~~\ts.-1<1'\b
llements. These elements are found by "discovery proc ures" which are con-
:idered supremely scientific by some because they are plied only to given se-
JU~n~s of sounds without regard to the underlying ructure of the language.
fhis 1s a consequence of the notion that the sequen of sounds represents the
tructure of the sentence in some direct way.
Chomsky's insight was that one must begin, not 'th discrete units (in a loose
ense, sounds) hut with a semantically meaning£ deep structure, from which is
And Don't Call Them "Lady'' Composers

An artist who works in acoustic, electronic, and mixed performance media,

Oliveros (born 1932) resigned from an academic career to he an independent com-
Pauline
G
lerive~, by a series of operations, the surface st cture, which is then assigned a ser/performer. She has received numerous awards, commissions, and grants for her
•honetic form, The grammar, then, which des~rihes these steps, shows how the :rk in composition, performance, music therapy, and criticism. Many of her purely
ense of a sentence is related to its words. homsky repeatedly asserts that a electronic works were produced in the 1960s, when she was eo-director of the _san .
rammar is a theory of language in that it d scribes what a person must know in Francisco Tape Center and director of the Mills Tape Music Center. Her multimedia
rder to speak and understand hut that it s not a model for the speaker or the works incorporate dramatic narrative,.electronic sound sources (both precomposed and
earer; that is, it does not explain the Ian age user's ability, nor can it be used to improvised), acoustic sound sources, improvisation, film, text,_and choreography. An ~c­
roduce language. complished performer on the piano, accordion, hom, and vwlm, .she often seor:s her m-
The par~Iels to m~sic here are no~ ccidental. The composer's steps always im- strumental works for strikingly diverse combinations. She has wntten many articles on
Iy ~heoreti~ ~~enence, hut he i , so to speak, condemned by the very nature music and has published two books: Pauline's Proverbs (1976) and Software for People:
fhis respo?sthilitie~. never to sue ed fully in reconciling theory and practice. To Collected Writings, 1963-80 (1984). In response to an article published in T~e New Y~rk
se Adomos terms, the proble facing the composer is not so much how to or- Times on the theme "why there are no great women composers," she wrote' And Don t
mize a ~usical meaning bu ather how to give a meaning to organization." Call Them 'Lady' Composers" (1970), a frank discussion of the professional bamers
There IS th~ story of the an who stopped his watch, which had been running faced by women composers.
ow, s? that It would at east give the exact time twice a day. The composer's
atch 1s always too slo or too fast. Still, he falsifies the nature of his work and
)dicates his respon · ilities if he stops the mechanism to assure himself a nar- Th:
Wh have there been no ..great" women composers? The question is often as~ed.
answer is no mystery. In the past, talent, education, abilit:Y, int~rests,
motiva-
tion were irrelevant because being female was a unique qual1ficatmn for domes-
•w range of absol e accuracy and security. He is bound, instead, to resist sur-
mdering to the rejudice of The Theory and be prepared to face the multiple tic work and for continual obedience to and dependence upon_ men. . . .
:taracter of experience. He must find conceptual schemes open enough to allow This is no less true today. Women have been taught to desp1se actiVIty outst_de
of the domestic realm as unfeminine, just as men have been taught to despise
 domestic duties. For men, independence, mobility and creative action are im- with their local composers. Agencies such as the Rockefeller and Ford Founda-
perative. Society has perpetuated an unnatural atmosphere which encourages tions have helped establish centers for new music in universities across the coun-
distortions such as "girl" used as a bad word by little boys from the age of nine . try, and independent organizations such as the O~ce Group of Ann Arbor a~d
or ten. From infancy, boys are wrapped in blue blankets and continually di- the San Francisco Tape Music Center promoted hvely programs of new music
recte? agai.nst what is consi~ered feminine activity. What kind of self-image throughout the nineteen sixties. Isolated individual efforts throughout the coun-
can little gir!s have, then, With half their peers despising them because they try have gradually created an active, new music network.
have been dtscouraged from so-called masculine activity and wrapped in pink At last, the symphony and opera organizations may have to wake up to the fact
blankets? that music of our time is necessary to draw audiences from the people :.mder
. The distortion continues when puberty arrives and boys tum to girls as sex ob- thirty. The mass media, radio, TV and the press coul?. have greater infl~ence in
Jects ?ut do not understand how to relate on other important levels. Consider encouraging American music by ending the competitiOn between music of the
the divorce rate! No matter what her achievements might be, when the time past and music of the present. . . . . ..
comes, a woman is expected to knuckle under, pay attention to her feminine du- Many composers of today are not interested m the cnt~n~ applie~ by cnhcs
ties and obediently follow her husband wherever his endeavor or inclination to their work and it is up to the critic to discern new cntena by gomg to the
takes him-no matter how detrimental it might to be to her own. composer. With more performances of new works at ~hich the co~posers are
A well-known contemporary composer has a wife who is also a competent present, and with the greater mobility of our society, cntics have~ umque oppor-
composer. They travel together extensively and often return to the same places tunity-a duty-to converse directly with the composer. Then (smce performers
for performances of his work. She is rarely if ever solicited for her own work and are often irresponsible with new works because of disrespect for or lack of estab-
no one seems to see anything wrong with constantly ignoring her output while lished models), works with which the critics have familiarized themse~ves wo~~d
continually seeking out her husband's work. escape some scathing misjudgments due to poor performances. The ~de~ cnt1c
. Many c~tics and professors cannot refer to women who are also composers could not only interpret technically and encourage an atmosphere which IS sym-
WJ.thout us1~g c~te or condescending language. She is a "lady composer." Rightly, pathetic to the phenomenon of new musi:, but p;,esent..the composer as ~ real
this expression IS anathema to many self-respecting women composers. It effec- and reasonable person to audiences. Certamly, no great compose,:, esp~~Ially. a
tively separates women's efforts from the mainstream. According to the Dictio- woman, has a chance to emerge in a society which believes that all great music
nary·of A;nencan Sl~~g, "lady~ used in such a context is almost always insulting has been written by those long dead.
or sarcastic. What cnbc today speaks of a "gentleman composer"? The second trend is, of course, dependent on the first because of the cultural
deprivation of women in the past. Critics do a great deal of damage by wishing to
discover "greatness." It does not matter that not all composers are gr~at com-
It is still true that unless she is super-excellent, th(:! woman in music wiU al- posers; it matters that this activity be encouraged among all the population, that
ways be subjugated, while men of the same or lesser talent will find places for we communicate with each other in nondestructive ways. Women composers are
themselves. It is not enough th.at a woman chooses to be a composer or conduc- very often dismissed as minor or light-weight talents on the basis of one work by
to~ or to play ins.truments formerly played exclusively by men; she cannot escape critics who have never examined their scores or waited for later developments.
bemg squashed m her efforts-if not directly, then by subtle and insidious exclu- Men do not have to commit sexual suicide in order to encourage their sisters
sion by her male counterparts.
in music. Since they have been on top for so long, they could seek out women
And yet some women do break through. The current Schwann Catalog lists and encourage them in all professional fields. Libraries of wome.n:s music s~ould
over one thousand different composers. Clara Schumann of the Romantic Pe- be established. Women need to know what they can achieve. Cntics can qmt be-
riod and Elizabeth J. dela Guerre of the Baroque are the sole representatives for ing cute and start studying scores. . . .
women composers of the past. But on the positive side, over seventy five percent Near the beginning of this century, Nikola Tesla, elect~cal engineer and I~­
of those listed are composers of the present and twenty four of these are women. ventor of electrical power from alternating current, predicted that women Will
~hese approximate.statistics point to two happy trends: 1) that composers of our some day unleash their enormous creative potential and fo~ a time will excel men
tim~ are.no lon~er ~gn?red, and 2) that women could be emerging from musical in all fields because they have been so long dormant. Certrunly the grea.t~s: prob-
subJugation. (It Is Significant that in a biography of Schumann that I have read lems of society will never be solved until an egalitarian atmosphere utlhzmg the
Clara is always talked about as a pianist, not a composer, and she is quoted as say~ total creative energies exists among all men and women.
ing 'Td give my life for Robert.")
The firs~ of the two trends is developing even though the majority of perform- Reprinted from the New York Times (September 13, 1970) and Software for People: Collected Writ-
ers do not mclude contemporary music in their repertoire and private teachers ings, 1963-80 by Pauline Oliveros (Smith Public~tions-Printed Editions, 1984), by permiSSion of
seldom encourage their students to try new music or even to become acquainted the author. Copyright© 1970, 1984 by Paulme Ohveros,