Name:Tristan Burfield. Course: CTLLS Music Educator Module: Specialist Delivery Techniques Research Question: Can the introduction of female single sex music technology classes (at Golden Triangle Girls WI, Norwich) encourage increased female participation in a traditionally male dominated subject area?

Chapter 1: Identifying learning needs through the introduction of female single sex music technology classes at Golden Triangle Girls Women's Institute The specialist delivery techniques I shall use will encourage female learners to engage with music technology and electronic music through utilizing:

• Feminist theory to explore musicological concerns and gender biases in the field.

• Positive discrimination to present female pioneers of electronic musicians as motivational female role models.

I shall encourage hands on electronic music making in reference to the work of pioneering female electronic musicians. Specialist delivery techniques shall be presented exclusively to women via the Golden Triangle Girls Womens Institute in Norwich. The Golden Triangle Girls WI dubs itself an urban and young WI (as opposed to rural and mature WI), with ages ranging from early teens to mid 50’s. For my PEL Theory assignment, I investigated the gender imbalance of my two music technology placements. All of my pupils were exclusively male (due to the masculine nature of the subject). When I investigated exam entries for music technology courses on a national scale (through analyzing gender break downs of Edexcel exam entries), I found that males outnumbered female students in 2008 by roughly 4 to 1 (Exam board Edexcel 2008 AS Music Technology male entries were 4209 male to 1077 Female. A2 was 2792 Male to 589 Female) 1.

Victoria Armstrong in ‘The gendering of music technology’ explains gender role expectations to be the reason for this disparity. She claims technology is commonly perceived to be a male pursuit because “our cultural imagination aligns masculinity and rationality with technology and science”2. Other factors affecting gender imbalance in the field include:

• Peer pressure from media, parents and social group reproduces gendered social norms.

• Male bias makes it an uncomfortable and intimidating environment for women.

• Lack of industry role models. For my lecture/workshop I wish to de-mystify the subject and open it up to a female audience through presenting the topic in a jargon free and inclusive way which encourages participation rather than male competition. I wish to use a punky DIY approach which can be democratically utilized by women of all abilities. I wish to encourage women to form their own feminist DIY musical revolutions through linking the lecture to the work of electro Riot Grrl feminist punks Chicks on speed. The Golden Triangle Girls WI is one the

youngest WI’s in the country (ages 20-50), the WI is currently going through a period of re-invention and attracting younger women to the network (especially in metropolitan areas). The talk’s contemporary feminist ideas will hopefully radicalize members and address the political needs of the organization (the WI has strong early links with the suffragettes and the women’s liberation movement). I wish this presentation to re-invent the teaching of Music Technology through re-evaluating the gender bias of electronic music and celebrating the achievements of often overlooked female composers. This will hopefully get more women to enter the field.

Through celebrating the work of pioneering female electronic musicians I hope to provide my class with positive role models. I wish to encourage them to take up a new hobby and investigate the talents of pioneering women who have been historically overlooked.

Victoria Armstrong’s research of 84 mixed gender students at A-level/GCSE level at four varied host colleges showed that only 48% female students claimed to be confident computer uses compared to 90% of males3. The reason for this lack of confidence may be due to cultural factors and male dominance in mixed sex groupings. Through teaching at the WI in a single sex context, I hope to increase female musical confidence through demystifying the electronic music making process.

The workshop activities will use cheap and affordable equipment and will be explained in a jargon free and inclusive way which encourages participation rather than male competition. I shall use feminist ideology to radicalize my client base into action!

Through using the WI as the host for my project I am able to present the subject to women in an environment they feel comfortable (without the intrusion of other males competing for resources and attention). The specialist techniques I shall utilize aim:

• To counter the male bias of electronic music by celebrating the

accomplishments of female electronic musicians who have often been historically overlooked.

• To encourage more women to take up electronic music as a fun hobby through hands on workshop activities, and presenting the topic in an welcoming gender inclusive context.

• To demystify electronic music making and deconstruct dominant determinist assumptions about technology, gender and power.

• To explore risk taking experimental ways of making music that reach beyond gendered norms.

Presenting Music Technology in a single sex context, means that many women will be able to relax and have fun with their peers in a non-pressured informal environment. The advantages of single sex classes for females are that:

• Single sex classrooms are free of the male gaze. • Single sex classrooms are a safe space for young women. Girls have

more of a chance to express themselves in an non rowdy atmosphere and to engage in learning processes without having to fear being ridiculed by boys or competing with them for time and attention.

Researcher Abramo (2009) reflects on the loud rehearsal volume used by some of the boys in mixed sex music technology/popular music classes below:

“electronic instruments (...) have the luxury of increasing the volume simply by a turning a knob and the drums are easily played at a full volume. This allowed the boys to overpower any extraneous sounds that were not part of the rehearsals…Perhaps, their need to create volume was a way to show power, to call attention to themselves, and to carve out their own physical space through sound”4

An Anon teacher from Lucy Green’s study of mixed sex music making in secondary schools and colleges was also aware of male musical dominance:

“Boys (unless checked) dominate music technology resources: synthesizers/computer controlled notation; girls therefore veer towards orchestral instruments if allowed!”5

Through presenting at the WI, I shall be given a platform to deconstruct the dominant male discourses of music technology and present the subject in a more girl friendly way. Through presenting my ideas outside of formal educational institutions I have freedom to encourage punky DIY grassroots feminist music making without the restrictions of vocational emphasis, male government control or corporate award body interference.

Bibliography

Armstrong, Victoria (2011) Technology and the gendering of music education. Ashgate. Dzuvweovix, Lina et. Al (2005) Her Noise. Forma Arts and Media Farrugia, Rebekah (2012) Beyond the Dance Floor: Female DJS, Technology and Electronic Dance Music Culture. Intellect. Green, Lucy (1997) Music, gender, education. Oxford University Press Gurian, Micheal et. al (2011). Boys and girls learn differently. Jossey Bass. Oliveros, Pauline (1995) Deep Listening: A composers sound practice. iUniverse Robinson, Jane (2011) A force to be reckoned with: A history of the women’s institute. Virago. Rodgers, Tara (2010) Pink Noises: Women on electronic music and sound. Continuum Whyte, Judith et. al (1985) Girl friendly Schooling. Routledge. Collins, Nicolas (2006) Handmade Electronic Music: The Art of Hardware Hacking Routledge Hegarty, Paul (2007) Noise/Music: A History Continuum Anon (2007) Battlenoise! War Office Propaganda/Mozgalom Blanco, Maria et. Al (2010) Popular Ghosts: The Haunted Spaces of Everyday Culture Continuum Reynolds, Simon (2011) Retromania: Pop cultures addiction to its own past Faber and Faber Ltd Roman, Annette Et. Al (1999) Japan Edge: The Insiders Guide to Japanese Pop Subculture Cadance Books Carnell, Eileen Et. Al (2009) Retiring Lives Institute of Education Anon (2001) Japanese Independent Music Sonore Gualdoni, Flaminio (2009) Futurism Skira Mini Art Books

Internet Resources

Bjorck, Cecillia (2011) Claiming Space: Discourses on Gender, Popular Music, and Social Change [Internet], Sweden, University of Gothenburg. Available from: <https://gupea.ub.gu.se/bitstream/2077/24290/1/gupea_2077_24290_1.pdf> [Accessed 1/7/2013]

References

1 Armstrong, Victoria (2011) Technology and the gendering of music education. Ashgate. pp. 2/3

2 Armstrong, Victoria (2011) Technology and the gendering of music education. Ashgate. pp. 34

3 Armstrong, Victoria (2011) Technology and the gendering of music education. Ashgate. pp. 55 4 Bjorck, Cecillia (2011) Claiming Space: Discourses on Gender, Popular Music, and Social Change [Internet], Sweden, University of Gothenburg. Available from: <https://gupea.ub.gu.se/bitstream/2077/24290/1/gupea_2077_24290_1.pdf> [Accessed 1/7/2013] pp. 111 5 Green, Lucy (1997) Music, gender, education. Oxford University Press pp.176

Chapter 2: Meeting learning needs and learning objectives through single sex music technology classes at Golden Triangle Girls Women's Institute. “Males and females are equal in their common membership of the same species, humankind, but to maintain that they are the same in aptitude, skill or behavior is to build a society based on a biological and scientific lie.”1 Anne Moir and David Jessel, Brain Sex.

The specialist delivery techniques I used at Golden Girls WI encouraged exclusively female learners to engage with music technology and electronic music through using:

• Feminist theory to explore musicological concerns and gender biases

in the field. • Positive discrimination to present female pioneers of electronic

musicians as motivational female role models. I define specialist activities as female only kinesthetic activities, which encourage female learners to take leadership positions that develop assertive and experimental and risk taking approaches to working with electronic music. Michael Gurian defines risk taking as an area that is deficient in female educational participation, but tends to be dominant with male learners.

In order to encourage hands on music making amongst my learners I devised four electronic music activities, which referenced the work of the female electronic music pioneers.

In my workshop activities I wanted women to be in the forefront of making all the electronic sounds. Anthony Recker (a middle school teacher in Kansas City, Missouri) talks about the need for women to take leadership positions in modern classrooms:

“Being a math teacher, I’m very aware of the bias against girls in math. I try to always point out their talents in math, and encourage them to pursue math. I also try to make sure I call on girls an appropriate number of times to answer questions. I showcase them by asking them to take leadership positions. I showcase my girls to make them comfortable in their mathematical Achievement”2

Many of my practical activities and specialist delivery techniques were inspired by brain research. I wanted my specialist delivery techniques to draw less from subjective sociological issues and more from provable scientific gendered brain difference.

Many American schools that have participated in brain research educational programs have seen vast improvements in all aspects of school life. Discipline coordinator Michael Boothe of Hickman Mills School (Kansas City) discusses his participation in a 6-month program by the Gurian Institute of brain research:

“Hickman Mills has noted an appreciable drop in discipline referrals to the principle. In reviewing the middle school discipline statistics from the first semester of the 1998-99 school year with first semester 1999-2000 we can see significant drops. For example we see 35% drops in fights, 25% drops in cafeteria misconduct. As we look at the variables, the only major addition to the mix this year was the district’s participation in the Gurian institute”3

Dan Colgan superintendent of the St. Jospeh School District noted similar results:

“In St. Joseph, an elementary school, Edison Elementary, was selected to pilot the Gurian Institute for the district. The institute has really changed the way we are doing business at Edison. Students are learning more with less disruptions”4

Risk

My activities were designed to facilitate risk taking and experimentation. My research in brain theory had revealed that risk is dominant and natural to men, but needs further encouragement in women.

Shawna Middletree (of Smith-Hale Middle School) noticed a female aversion to risk in her classes, as Gurian explains:

“She continues to have boys and girls separated in her class, with boys on one side of the room and girls on the other. During a particular week, the class was reading ‘Island of the Blue Dolphins’. She asked the students to raise their hand if they believed that it was better to seek risks in life than be safe. All but one male student immediately raised their hands in agreement with this statement. Not one girl raised a hand. This became a very interesting topic of conversation for the class, and it led to interesting gender and psychosocial teaching. It was available as a teaching opportunity because having separated the boys and the girls manifested the gender difference so clearly in the room.“5

The researcher Michael Gurian uses brain research to justify this gendered difference:

“It is important to look honestly at gender strengths and weaknesses in the classroom, from a neurological point of view. Statistics bear this out, as we know: boys in fact suffer most learning disabilities. At the same time, it should also not surprise us that girls may well appear to have weakness in the area of risk taking. This fits their general, inherent, natural difference from boys. Every opportunity we take to encourage a girl towards risk taking in academic learning enriches the individual girl and the classroom too.” 6

Researcher Lucy Green in ‘gender, music and education’ (1992) interviewed 78 teachers in state secondary Schools in the UK and the results revealed:

“That girls are more interested in ‘getting things right’, better at ‘exercises’ and rather conservative. The boys on the other hand, are said to have more ‘natural ability’; as one teacher noted, ‘much of the creative, adventurous composing comes from boys’…The main features of boy’s success in composition were depicted as their imagination, exploratory inclinations, inventiveness, creativity, improvisatory ability and natural talent. These qualities were explicitly described as lacking in girls, who are instead characterized as conservative, traditional and reliant on notation” 7

One anon teacher speaking to Green admitted:

“Boys are not so afraid to be inventive, and experiment. Girls tend to stick to set forms.” 8

The researcher Walkerdine in 1990, looked at gender creativity in schools and concluded that:

“Those estimations that do acknowledge some success in girls attribute it to rule following and rote learning, which are distinguished from and even opposed to understanding. ‘Hence they negate that success at the moment they announce it: girls ‘just’ follow rules- they are good compared with ‘naughty boys’ who can ‘break set’ (make conceptual leaps)” 9

Eliminating controlling male behavior from my teaching

My research revealed that many female learners didn’t appreciate interference from male tutors who tended to be dominant or controlling. DJ Blondie claimed in 2003 that she was reluctant to learn about music production due to the gender incompatibility of her male tutors:

“There are maybe two women producers out of the thousands of psy-trance producers. No one ever wants to show you how to do it; they just expect you to know. When you go over to a guy’s house and they tell you they’re going to teach you, they DJ the whole time, where a girl would be like, ‘Yeah, cool, now let me hear you try it.’ Guys always table hog because they want to show off. So with the whole technology thing your intimidated because everyone else is trying to show off, especially guys who are dominant, who are very aggressive, [and] want to be in the spotlight” 10

DJ Pamela Z below talks about the male bias of music technology and the need for single sex teaching in this area:

“They were like, I’ve taken these classes and all the men gather around and they won’t let you touch anything, or they make you feel stupid’…The women I taught were so shocked that it could be taught in plain language, and they could understand it. And then I realized that there was a total need for that, to do something specifically for women” 11

In my practical activities I wanted to provide support as necessary but tried to intervene as little as possible. I wanted my talk to be a forum for women to explore electronics rather than a podium for my own ego.

In all instances I made sure the audience gave the participant a round of applause after the performance (in accordance with Michael Gurian’s gendered approach to teaching). He claims, good teachers should:

“Provide healthy and constant feedback, so that girls get encouragement and have high expectations from teachers.” 12

Practical activity 1: Daphne Oram and translating drawing to sounds

The first practical activity referenced the theories and practical application of Daphne Oram’s concept of Oramics. Oram in the late 1950’s devised the Oramics machine, which could translate drawings into sound. My practical activity placed Oram’s ideas in a contemporary context explaining how Oram’s ideas of drawing sounds have become common currency in contemporary computer sequencing and even gaming (most computers now allow you to draw exact pitches and durations).

My practical activity involved drawing sounds on a Nintendo DS Gameboy, which is controlled by a stylus and touchscreen configuration. I plugged the Gameboy into a miniature amplifier to create fluid synth like tones. Volunteers were encouraged to experiment with a musical application called Elektroplankton. See the enclosed PowerPoint presentation in Assignment 4 folder for reference.

Multi-media artist Toshio Iwai conceived Elektroplankton to be a combination of a microscope, a tape recorder, a synthesizer and a NES. The program pays tribute to the things that captivated Toshio as a child.

The dominant determinist masculine discourse of music technology dictates that complexity; power and control are favored above artistic deconstructive concerns. The use of Gameboy as toy was proposed as a liberating tool for feminists, creative limitations can be explored as an alternative to the dominant hard technological male ideal.

The educational researcher Michael Gurian uses brain science to explain the female aversion to gaming culture below:

“The female brain is not so naturally inclined toward the kind of quick, right- hemisphere stimulation that computer games (especially fast-moving ones) generate. We just don’t see girls playing these games as frequently as boys, and probably, from a statistical viewpoint, never will” 13

Gurian claims this aversion to gaming culture, also seemingly applies to computer based activities as well:

“Girls are more inclined, if in a social situation, to choose a verbalizing activity or relationship activity over zone out time in front of a computer screen.” 14

As the program contains c5mpetitive gaming elements to activate musical sounds. I was able to develop and encourage more masculine elements of music making not traditionally explored by female learners. This helped broaden my learner’s musical approach and encourage divergent thinking. This tactic was inspired by Michael Gurian, who uses brain research to justify gendered teaching methods, he claims teachers should:

“Encourage healthy competitive learning as well so that girls do not end up disadvantaged compared to boys (who may naturally seek competitive activities activities in other parts of life)” 15

Encouraging competitive games in class can be seen as healthy in some circles. Gurian explains this as a wider program of aggression nurturance:

“Aggression nurturance is the term I use for nurturance that involves aggression activities such as aggressive physical touch, competitive games, and aggressive nonverbal gestures…this kind of nurturance is as valuable as empathy nurturance.”16

The activity involved an element of spatial processing, which I utilized to broaden my learners musical approach. Gurian uses brain theory to discuss gendered difference, below:

“For some young women, the spatial and abstract computation elements of the brain may not be naturally as developed as they are in many males.”17

As many audience members would not be able to see the miniaturized screen, I provided a picture of the user interface on my PowerPoint presentation. I gave a brief synopsis of the concept to the audience, but kept this as a minimum as I wanted my learner to gain fulfillment through discovery learning techniques when completing the task.

Practical Activity 2: Pauline Oliveros’s Deep Listening Exercises

For my second activity I referenced the ‘Deep Listening’ theories of female electronic composer Pauline Oliveros. Oliveros coined the term ‘Deep Listening’ in 1988, whilst recording a CD exploring the natural acoustics of the Fort Worden Cistern; she would later explore cathedrals, caves and other sonic environments. The title referenced the deep acoustics of the site and the philosophical process by which the music was performed.

The Deep listening process later became a philosophy of listening to sound, which referenced new age, Zen and meditation techniques. The program is conceived as a communal activity for all musical abilities (often taking the form of sonic retreats in rural sonic hotspots).

Her concern for Deep Listening came from the observation that many musicians were not listening to what they were performing! There was good hand-eye co-ordination in reading music, but listening was not necessarily part of the performance18.

My activity involved re-enacting a 1992 ‘Deep Listening’ piece entitled Soundfishes. The piece takes the form of a chance music aleotoric score. I projected the instructions on the wall via PowerPoint and explained the ethos of the piece. See the enclosed PowerPoint presentation in Assignment 4 folder for reference. The instructions are as follows:

“For an orchestra of any instruments.

Considerations

Listening is the basis of sound fishing

Listening for what has not yet sounded- like a fisherman waiting for a bite.

Pull the sound out of the air like a fisherman catching a fish, sensing it’s size and energy- when you hear the sound, - play it.

Move to another location if there are no nibbles or bites.

There are sounds in the air like sounds in the water.

When the water is clear you might see the fish.

When the air is clear you might see the fish. When the air is clear, you might hear the sounds.” 19

For my PTLLS practical I conducted a Cage inspired experimental scratch piece by Christian Wolff called ‘Stones’. The piece references Cornelius Cardew’s conception of the Scratch Orchestra (the idea that musicians and non-musicians can make experimental music without formal hierarchies). I asked my class to consider:

• Using limitations to advantage. • How to open develop and close the piece. • How will you evaluate your actions? • Picking a strategy from the text and act it out. • Consider their role in the group texture. • Remove their ego from the process and consider Cage’s maxim of

‘letting the sounds be themselves’. In re-enacting Soundfishes I decided to incorporate the sound above ego approach of ‘Stones’, as well as the limitations of the sound source. Both pieces utilized a democratic Scratch music aesthetic and hence fusing the two pieces did not seem problematic. Using stones to make sounds allowed

everyone in the audience to join in regardless of musical ability. All members of the group were able to focus purely on sounds rather than musical concerns. My aim was for participants to find inspiration through limitation and to tap into a primitive form of music making. In my first practical activity I used gaming elements to encourage competitive ways of making music. In this activity I was interested in encouraging co-operative music making skills. Brian Curey uses brain research to justify an equal amount of co-operative and competitive learning in the classroom:

“Humankind would certainly never have attained its place on the evolutionary ladder if it had not evolved through cooperative as well as competitive learning. Brain-based research indicates that the ultimate classroom be based in both.” 20

Pauline Oliveros conceived of ‘Deep Listening’ as communal music, she encourages music makers to make music in groups without egotistical hierarchies (or individuals striving for dominance over the other). Her concept of deep listening seemed appropriate to the feminist aesthetic of the WI (As many hardline feminists are opposed to hierarchies and advocate co- operative collective structures).

Practical Activity 3- Using Christina Kubisch as an influence to find hidden everyday sounds

Using female electronic pioneer Christina Kubisch as inspiration, I encouraged my learners to find hidden everyday sounds using an electro- magnetic pick up (hooked up to an amplifier).

Christina’s work explores electromagnetic sounds. She often uses wireless headphones to explore the hidden sounds around us. Her pieces take place in galleries and sometimes take the form of site-specific sound walks.

A concern with the environment plays a significant role in her work. Her work could be seen to be a comment on the effects of exposure to harmful microwaves and sonic radiation. 21

For this practical activity I encouraged women from the audience to find hidden sounds in everyday items such as laptops and mobile phones. See the enclosed PowerPoint presentation in Assignment 4 folder for reference.

This activity fused Kubisch’s electromagnetic aesthetic whilst taking simultaneous inspiration from a piece by Nathan Davis called “Crawlspace” (in which he places a telephone coil pick up over strategic parts of the laptop, capturing an array of unexpected and hidden sounds). I accepted a request from the audience to capture the hidden sounds of a mobile phone (which also produced an array of unexpected and bizarre sounds, when amplified in close detail).

Practical Activity 4- Voice manipulation workshop inspired by the works of Laurie Anderson

I started this activity by playing the class an extract from Laurie Anderson’s ‘Home of the brave’ where she slows down her voice to evoke the male voice of authority. I subsequently showed my learners how to re-create such effects through using a low cost pitch shifter and microphone/amp combination. See the enclosed PowerPoint presentation in Assignment 4 folder for reference.

My PEL primary Research revealed that many female learners preferred singing to playing louder more aggressive instruments such as the electric guitar or drums.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Extract from Primary Research conducted at Popular Music College (alias), Norfolk.

Do certain gender groups favor certain instruments?

“I have noticed a trend toward guitars and drums for the boys and vocals on the girls side.” (Anon male student)

“Yes girls seem to wanna sing more” (Anon male student)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The researcher Lucy Green claims that singing at an early age can be a direct emotional outlet for women to express feelings and aspects of femininity.

The workshop showed female learners how to create subversive gendered identities through electronics and how gender norms can be re-invented through sound.

Lucy Green argues that “when we see a woman performing or listen to the work of a female composer her femininity becomes part of the musical delineations” 22. Through giving my female learners a platform to evoke a male identity I was able to provide my learners with alternatives to traditional forms of representation (so they could explore their own themes of power and control).

I was careful to handle this workshop sensitively; so all participants were willing and comfortable. The emphasis was on lighthearted sound making rather than making people look silly!

Conclusion

“Our brain has always defined the education profession, yet educators haven’t really understood it or paid much attention to it…Our Brain is at the edge of understanding itself!” 23 Robert Sylwester, A celebration of Neurons

To conclude, the varied breadth of activities and techniques were an attempt to directly reference feminist theory, gendered difference and brain theory. Although current teacher training manuals stress universal learning styles above gendered difference, there is still a viable need for mainstream educational acceptance and research in this area. I hope my project has played a small part in highlighting the potential value and need for a gendered approach to teaching (especially in gender dominant subjects).

Bibliography

Armstrong, Victoria (2011) Technology and the gendering of music education. Ashgate. Dzuvweovix, Lina et. Al (2005) Her Noise. Forma Arts and Media Farrugia, Rebekah (2012) Beyond the Dance Floor: Female DJS, Technology and Electronic Dance Music Culture. Intellect. Green, Lucy (1997) Music, gender, education. Oxford University Press Gurian, Micheal et. al (2011). Boys and girls learn differently. Jossey Bass. Oliveros, Pauline (1995) Deep Listening: A composers sound practice. iUniverse Robinson, Jane (2011) A force to be reckoned with: A history of the women’s institute. Virago. Rodgers, Tara (2010) Pink Noises: Women on electronic music and sound. Continuum Whyte, Judith et. al (1985) Girl friendly Schooling. Routledge. Collins, Nicolas (2006) Handmade Electronic Music: The Art of Hardware Hacking Routledge Hegarty, Paul (2007) Noise/Music: A History Continuum Anon (2007) Battlenoise! War Office Propaganda/Mozgalom Blanco, Maria et. Al (2010) Popular Ghosts: The Haunted Spaces of Everyday Culture Continuum Reynolds, Simon (2011) Retromania: Pop cultures addiction to its own past Faber and Faber Ltd Roman, Annette Et. Al (1999) Japan Edge: The Insiders Guide to Japanese Pop Subculture Cadance Books Carnell, Eileen Et. Al (2009) Retiring Lives Institute of Education Anon (2001) Japanese Independent Music Sonore Gualdoni, Flaminio (2009) Futurism Skira Mini Art Books

Internet Resources

Bjorck, Cecillia (2011) Claiming Space: Discourses on Gender, Popular Music, and Social Change [Internet], Sweden, University of Gothenburg. Available from: <https://gupea.ub.gu.se/bitstream/2077/24290/1/gupea_2077_24290_1.pdf> [Accessed 1/7/2013] References

1 Gurian, Micheal et. al (2011). Boys and girls learn differently. Jossey Bass. pp. 11

2 Gurian, Micheal et. al (2011). Boys and girls learn differently. Jossey Bass. pp. 248 3 Gurian, Micheal et. al (2011). Boys and girls learn differently. Jossey Bass. pp. 68 4 Gurian, Micheal et. al (2011). Boys and girls learn differently. Jossey Bass. pp. 68 5 Gurian, Micheal et. al (2011). Boys and girls learn differently. Jossey Bass. pp. 68 6 Gurian, Micheal et. al (2011). Boys and girls learn differently. Jossey Bass. pp. 186/187 7 Armstrong, Victoria (2011) Technology and the gendering of music education. Ashgate. pp. 48 8 Green, Lucy (1997) Music, gender, education. Oxford University Press pp.197 9 Green, Lucy (1997) Music, gender, education. Oxford University Press pp.198 10 Farrugia, Rebekah (2012) Beyond the Dance Floor: Female DJS, Technology and Electronic Dance Music Culture. Intellect. pp. 135 11 Farrugia, Rebekah (2012) Beyond the Dance Floor: Female DJS, Technology and Electronic Dance Music Culture. Intellect. pp. 135/136 12 Gurian, Micheal et. al (2011). Boys and girls learn differently. Jossey Bass. pp. 202 13 Gurian, Micheal et. al (2011). Boys and girls learn differently. Jossey Bass. pp. 249 14 Gurian, Micheal et. al (2011). Boys and girls learn differently. Jossey Bass. pp. 249 15 Gurian, Micheal et. al (2011). Boys and girls learn differently. Jossey Bass. pp. 202 16 Gurian, Micheal et. al (2011). Boys and girls learn differently. Jossey Bass. pp. 95 17 Gurian, Micheal et. al (2011). Boys and girls learn differently. Jossey Bass. pp. 302 18 Oliveros, Pauline (1995) Deep Listening: A composers sound practice. iUniverse. pp xvii 19 Oliveros, Pauline (1995) Deep Listening: A composers sound practice. iUniverse. pp. 50 20 Gurian, Micheal et. al (2011). Boys and girls learn differently. Jossey Bass. pp. 196 21 Dzuvweovix, Lina et. Al (2005) Her Noise. Forma Arts and Media pp.36 22 Armstrong, Victoria (2011) Technology and the gendering of music education. Ashgate. pp. 6 23 Gurian, Micheal et. al (2011). Boys and girls learn differently. Jossey Bass. pp. 11

Chapter 3: Identification and discussion of diversity considerations in the development of single sex music technology classes at Golden Triangle Girls Women's Institute The specialist delivery techniques I used at Golden Girls WI encouraged

exclusively female learners to engage with music technology and electronic

music through using:

Feminist theory to explore musicological concerns and gender biases

in the field. Positive discrimination to present female pioneers of electronic

musicians as motivational female role models. I define advanced learning activities as female only kinesthetic activities, which encourage female learners to take leadership positions which develop assertive and experimental and risk taking approaches to working with electronic music. Michael Gurian defines risk taking as an area that is deficient in female educational participation, but tends to be dominant with male learners. My activities are defined as advanced as they are pitched at adult learners in the 20-50 age group. I am assuming many women in the group have obtained university level qualifications and re-inforce the activities through a higher education lecture style format (which draws from cultural theory). I encouraged hands on electronic music making through workshop

activities that referenced the work of pioneering female electronic

musicians.

I presented to an all-female audience through the support of Golden Triangle Girls Women’s Institute in Norwich. The Golden Triangle Girls WI dubs itself an urban and young WI (as opposed to a rural mature WI), with ages ranging from early teens to mid 50’s. Feminist musicology and diversity To fit in with the empowered ethos of the WI I gave my talk a feminist slant.

Feminist musicologists often explore issues of diversity through drawing

attention to the inequality of the sexes. In my presentation I used feminist

ideas to discuss the historical narratives of women and music and how

historical sexism was woven into the very fabric of western music making (since the dawn of the renaissance era). This had led to a culture of exclusion

which has undermined women’s participation in making music. Diversity and musical composition Musical composition (and especially composition that involves music

technology) is an area that has traditionally been underrepresented by

women due to historical sexism (which has done little to increase gendered

diversity).

In less enlightened and liberated eras, the structural language of orchestral

composition was aligned with masculine notions of “logical” harmony and

counterpoint. A male canon (or pecking order of male minds) was

established, with many composers in the Romantic era producing heroic and

bombastic music which glorified the myth of the male composer (names such

as Beethoven, Wagner were common currency, although visionary figures

such as Hilegard von Bingem were historically ignored and maligned by the

normative gaze of the male elite). Lack of opportunities in terms of education,

public performance, patronage and Institutional support has led to a culture of

male musical dominance. To appeal to the feminist demographic of the WI I avoided favoring the male canon which is notable for its historical admission of gender diversity. I

implemented positive discrimination towards solely female composers (many of which have been historically overlooked or written out of history entirely). I have presented a chronology of female electronic composers from different eras. I started with early BBC Radiophonic composers such as Daphne Oram and Delia Derbyshire. I concluded with current composers such as Kaffe Matthews and Marina Rosenfeld. See enclosed PowerPoint presentation in

Assignment 4 folder. The talk concludes by championing the diversity of female electronic music

making which is characterized by:

• An sensitivity to the environment (Pauline Oliveros, Christina Kubish). • An artistic approach based on affective communication and listening

(Pauline Oliveros, Marina Rosenfeld, Kaffe Matthews). • A sensitivity to the role of the audience (Kaffe Matthews). • A communal anti-competitive empathetic approach (Marina Rosenfeld,

Pauline Oliveros, Chicks on Speed). • Taking up discourse with the body, and the potential for subversion

through technology (Laurie Anderson, Kaffe Matthews). • A feminized reframing of dominant masculine musical symbolism

(Marina Rosenfeld, Chicks on speed). • A resistance to male violence (incorporating anti war sentiments),

domination and control (Laurie Anderson). A survey by LeFanu conducted in 1987 estimated that merely 15% of composers in Britain were female1. Performance of female composition was estimated to be less than 5% of total gendered performance nationally2. In May 1995, Radio 3 listed 11 women composers and 840 men composers on there playlists3. In 1990 The UK National Proms featured the works of 90 men, and merely 1 women composer4. In 1995 a Prom brochure listed 5 women composers to 106 men5. To counteract this gender imbalance in musical composition I have implemented positive discrimination in my presentation soley towards the work of female composers. The secondary school teacher Denise Young speaks of the importance of female role models:

“I always try to add role models to the mix of learning experiences. To be a role model for girls is so essential. I take a Tae-Bo kickboxing class, and I often talk about it with my children. I pick girls often for activities or jobs that boys usually do, such as carrying boxes.”6

The paradox that undermines my presentational agenda is that I imagine most female electronic musicians would want to be accepted as artists in there own right rather than a marginalized women artist7. Sonic Artist Kaffe Matthews questions the value and necessity of all-woman positive discrimination. Such contexts, she insists, only “flag up the fact that there are so few women out there making sound work”8 and she doubts postive action will “inspire other women to get on with it”9. “A few women showing within a group of men” Matthews concludes “could be more powerful in that matter”10. Grass roots diversity activism as a challenge to the male dominated

music industry Through presenting female pioneers of electronic audience to

impressionable young women, I aimed inspire women to take up a new

hobby. More women participating in an informal basis could lead to

increased female entry into the professional industry (thus increasing gender

diversity within the traditionally male dominated music industry). The research of Leonard published in 2007 concludes that women

comprise only 5-15% of working DJs in the UK, whilst the ratio of female

sound engineers was merely 2-5% of their profession (mostly concentrated

in live sound engineering)11. Simon Reynolds in 1999, explored the gendered reasons for this: “The presence of women on the dance floor is not reflected by the proportion of women in the ranks of professional DJs…This has a lot to do with the homo-social nature of techno: tricks of the trade are passed down from mentors to male acolytes. DJ-ing and sampled based music also go hand in hand with an obsessive ‘trainspotter’ mentality: the amassing of huge collections of records, the accumulation of exhaustive and arcane information about labels, producers and auteurs.“12 Diversity of gendered participation in academic disciplines My talk drew heavily on educational theory which I used as a basis for my

specialist delivery techniques and advanced learning activities. I researched

mixed sex schools and looked at the disciplines that had low gender

diversity ratios. This gave an overall impression of what disciplines appealed

to women’s academic strengths. In 1985, over 90% of UK entries in all technical subjects were from

boys13. Gurian discusses this phenomena below from an American

perspective:

“According to a study by the AAUW, only 17% of high school students who take the advance placement tests in computer science are girls. Women earn only 28% of the bachelor’s degrees in computer science (the percentage peaked in 1984 at 37% but has been steadily dropping since) and constitute just 20% of information technology professionals. Some of this disparity may connect with many girls just not wanting to stare, in an isolated room, into a screen as much as boys. Even so, the disparity is frightening, especially in an era such as ours when fluency in the language and use of computers is crucial.”14 By encouraging women to use music technology I am aiming to increase

gendered participation in a male dominated subject area. As Researcher Judith Whyte notes: “Female exclusion from Science and Technology, even if it is apparently by girl’s own choice, also means that as citizens their ability to understand and control their environment is limited. Nevertheless, most schools consider they are already providing equal opportunities by neutral treatment of the two sexes. In effect, ignoring the effects of gender in this way merely reinforces stereotyping because it does nothing to challenge the definition of certain aspects of the curriculum as masculine or feminine”15 Diversity of gender participation in music technology I examined diversity issues in the teaching of music technology to gauge how

to make my subject more girl friendly. My PEL Theory primary research at Popular Music College (alias), Norfolk revealed that many female learners felt uncomfortable learning in male dominated environments. In one instance female learners were a minority of 2 to 22 males, both female learners subsequently dropped out due to the isolation of the alien environment. The researcher Culley in 1998 claimed that when computers are situated in a

very male dominated environment, girls may feel less comfortable inhabiting

such spaces as there is a perception that computer rooms are ‘male territory’.

An alien space in which boys attitudes and behaviors tend to dominate16. Being only one of four women in a composition class of thirty, a respondent in McCartney’s (1995) study noted that the women who did remain on the course did not identify themselves ‘as women’ and were often very isolated, not even taking to other women very much because as one participant observed, they had to ‘prove themselves all the time they were there. So they didn’t identify themselves as women, so I didn’t have the feeling that they were there, (even though) they were’17 Composition student Wendy Bartley talks to the researcher McCartney in 1995 about the male bias of music technology: “I didn’t know anything about computers when I started…I was in a class with eleven men, and they all seemed to be really hip to what was going on. There was a strong air of aggression in the class—probably all blustering, since I

doubt that many of them knew much about computers either…Somehow I survived that environment and learn by spending hours in the studio. “18 Wendy elaborates to researcher McCartney in 1995 about her

gendered survival strategy: “Being one of the boys was my way of dealing with it- I dressed…I like one

too wore heavy workbooks and huge T-shirts…Female students who can’t

easily fit in would do something else, just back out”19 Victoria Armstrong believes that “male engagement with technology affirms

masculinity whereas women’s engagement with it marks an interruption to

their femininity because technological expertise is not part of feminine

identity”20. Feeling they have to adapt and conform to male forms and expectations is problematic for female pupils in music technology21. Caputo (1994) argues that cultural assumptions about technology can result in females valuing more rational, linear processes (forms of thought that produce a mechanistic way of thinking)22. This means that girls either have to conform to male ways of thinking or remain silenced23. The isolated nature of digital musical production (sitting on a computer on your own cut off from the world with headphones) does not encourage relational ways of learning that some female learners prefer24. I decided from my research that I could use single sex classrooms to liberate

my learners from the male gaze and allow girls to learn without fear of being ridiculed by boys or competing with them for time and attention. Through encouraging a communal form of music making which involves relational

interaction I hope to make electronic music making more appealing to women. Through using Pauline Oliveros’s ‘Deep Listening’ exercises I was

able to encourage communal music making that stresses co-operation and a group dynamic over an excessive and competitive male ego approach. Diversity and the case for single sex classes The WI’s all female membership seemed a perfect way to re-adress the

gender balance of music technology and encourage grassroots

electronic music making in an female single sex environment. There is evidence to suggest that single sex classes in mainstream education

could be advantageous too. Research suggests that even within prescriptively

co-educational environments genders often naturally segregate (in co-

operative activities and seating arrangements). As Brain researcher Gurian

notes: “We see this from the very young, noticing the preschool boys proclivity to

do work and activity with other preschool boys and, at times, not with girls.

Similarly, we see preschool girls desire to find one another and avoid boys in

their games and work. This continues throughout education and indeed

throughout adulthood. Men and women enjoy each other’s company, but

they often find it much easier to do things only with their own sex.”25 He explains: “For educators, this common-sense observation is, ideally, a liberating one, allowing all of us to look at single sex education as one of a number of possibilities for educational improvement. In employing this innovation, we are not in any way harming children, as they are already naturally inclined toward this way of being, and we are potentially helping millions of children who aren’t learning as well as we’d like in the naturally gender-competitive environment of co-education.”26 Gurian argues that mixed sex classes are failing both genders: “Girls who are not naturally as interested in or proficient at math, science,

or technology do not need to fail in the face of proficient males. Boys whose

brain systems are not as verbal do not need to fail in the face of girls whose

brains are more verbal.”27 Through focusing my attention on female learners, I was able to use

specialist delivery techniques/advanced learning activities to directly

address my learners needs. Diversity and the WI plus inter-generational contexts Golden Triangle Girls WI is one of the youngest in the country (with an age

group varying from 20-50). I used Specialist Delivery Techniques to make

cultural assumptions about my learners (based on research into the

changing nature of the WI and its historical foundations). I hoped for participants to be sensitive to my feminist agenda due to

their cultural allegiance with the WI (who have historically shown

sympathy to feminist concerns, it is a little known fact that the original

logo of the WI echoed the color scheme of the suffragettes!28). Researcher Tara Rodgers explains the diversity of feminist identification: “Typical wave models of feminism, which describe feminist movements as

succeeding each other temporally in a linear historical progression, and tend

to posit strictly defined generations of women as irrevocably at odds with

each other’s interests, are inadequate representations of women’s complex

identifications”29 As my talk would be engaging with different generations of women with

distinctly different definitions of feminism, I was careful not to subscribe to

a unified movement or sub-section of feminism. I decided to focus on

universalisms that unite all women (rather than divide them).

The WI since its inception was conceived to give women an practical,

domestic education before the days of widespread female education. The WI

was conceived as a support network for women to socialize, broaden their

horizons and alleviate rural isolation. As author Jane Robinson explains: “The official record of the first WI meeting in the world described a simple,

explicit structure with space for business, education, creativity and debate.

It had a sturdy, capacious agenda, which encouraged members to express

themselves without inhibition, within that structure without worrying about

what their husbands might think of them (men weren’t allowed).”30 A WI member talks to The Times in 1911 about the benefits of WI

membership: “We women can talk, nobody denies that’, said the lady with a smile, ‘but too

often, even if we’ve got something worth talking about, we haven’t got enough

knowledge to make what we say worth saying. And we are apt to take rather

narrow views of things. The institute is really broadening our minds”31 Through involving women in making electronic music and engaging with

music technology I wanted to encourage creative, practical skills which the WI

has always endorsed. Taking in to consideration the age group (and

aspirations of my learners) I have pitched my talk at a Higher Education level. Madge Watt was an initial agitator of the WI movement. She believed: “A WI should cater to all tastes, be grave and gay. Explore the world

together, and learn as much about growing roses in your garden, or trimming

hats, as about ‘Darkest Africa’ or ‘Bolshevism’. If you become dull the young

will not join, and your numbers will decrease. Make sure you always include a

‘social half-hour’ in the programme: the chance for a chat reduces the

amount of whispering during lectures. Have fun, but be fruitful not frivolous.”32 The media cliché of the WI is still the image that pervades public

consciousness, as Jane Robinson explains: “The image of a violet scented matron of decided maturity, a bit like a dim Miss Marple, sensibly rather than smartly dressed, favoring harmless (useless?) pursuits like beetles drives and decoupage lives on. She’s right wing, and naturally Anglican. The kitchen is her natural domain, in a neat little home in the country. Apart from venturing on mystery coach trips or to national meetings (where she tends towards hot flushes), her compass is comfortably small, and her life serene. Nothing more is expected of her than to busy herself inoffensively in the background of rural life.”33 I wanted to move beyond such conventional representations of the WI and

pitch my project at the more modern younger radical image (being re-invented

in metropolitan areas)

The WI has historically been conflicted between the instinct towards small

minded broad appeal, and weightier political activism. As Jane Robinson

explains: “In the 1940’s to 50’s letters to home and Country (WI magazine) began to smack of resentment and disaffection. Why were members given such stupendously inane competitions to enter- like the best-boiled potato, eating jelly with knitting needles, or- cop-out of cop outs- the cleverest idea for next month’s competition? New members like Peggy Downs of South Ruislip, complained bitterly that there was nothing meaningful for them to contribute to society through the WI. She felt compelled to resign, ‘sadly disappointed in the range of appeal’. She found that the official ban of controversial discussions involving party politics or matters or religious belief denied intelligent young women like her a voice.”34 She continues: “There was a disconnection between the Movement’s visionaries and those

ordinary members whose intentions were good but whose scope was

tradition…What lays at the root of the Movement’s difficulties during the last three or four decades of the twentieth century was it’s image. Every massed-membership organization suffers from stereotyping; when it’s an organization go-massed woman, as we have seen, stereotype tends towards caricature. This encourages solidarity when outsiders are the culprits, but the trouble with the WI was that its own members caricatured each other.”35 Jane Robinson explains the generational divide within the WI: “Ordinary, conventional members felt neglected and redundant. And none of the high-powered activity at national level seems to have affected places like Wraysbury or my mother’s Institute in Yorkshire. If members were aware of it, they don’t appear to have realized its relevance. The WI has always inspired loyalty. Its members feel proprietorial about the organization. In the early decades this feeling was essential to its survival. Now, it was becoming increasingly obvious to many members that ‘my’ WI was not necessarily the same as ‘hers’. People were pulling in different directions, and it mattered. Traditionalists were perceived to be compromising the activists.”36 In 2005 a new WI formed at Leeming in North Yorkshire. Its founders

(average age 33) called it the Wythit WI, and it hit the headlines when it

organized an institute outing to a lap-dancing club, to inspire a course of ‘pole

dancing Pilates’ session37. The forming of the Whey Aye W1 in Newcastle and the Jam Free Institute in Surrey both attracted attention in 2006, principally because their members looked unusually young and glamorous38. Bramley Lite WI in 2008 stands alongside a Hampshire village WI which has been toddling along since 1919; it had twenty members, a seventy year old president and a very traditional programme39. Bramley Lite has 60 members its president Emma Cunningham

was only 35. Its first institute trip was to the play The Puppetry of the Penis. Its

members enjoyed a bracing variety of demonstration sessions, from

burlesque dancing to life drawing with a nude male model.40 The concept of the WI to young women has become hauntological. Derrida defines hauntology in reference to the artistic concept of sign and signifier41. Hauntological interpretation draws attention to how meaning is informed, overshadowed, and haunted by the ghosts of other meanings42. In her article ‘Packing History, Countering Generations’, Elizabeth Freeman argues that not every contemporary adoption of past style can be subsumed into the postmodern market place, that there may be ‘crossing of time’ that are not ‘postmodern pastiche’ but rather ‘stubborn identifications with a set of social coordinates’ that exceed the historical moment of the identifier43. She calls these stubborn identifications ‘temporal drag’ ‘with all the associations that the word ‘drag’ has with retrogression, delay and the pull of the past upon the present’44. Temporal drag is always anchored in past ideas, styles, and politics, which may come to be seen as embarrassing, essentialist, backwards looking, but which highlight ‘the interesting threat the genuine pastness of the past sometimes makes to the political present’45. The appeal of post modern WI’s like Leeming is that they ironically subvert the

agenda of the WI. Through ‘temporal drag’ they playfully exploit the institute’s

retrogressive nature and proudly propose a re-invention. Drawing attention to

how feminity has changed through the years, and the potential for its re-

definition. Like Leeming WI, Golden Triangle Girls WI can be said to be a modern re-

invention of the WI its programs are inventive and challenging ranging from

film editing, radio production to baking. I decided to match there adventurous

program by presenting a talk/workshop on challenging electronic music. I

aimed to match the WI’s new focus on activism by incorporating feminist

themes into my talk. I decided that a talk addressing the notably un-diverse gender imbalance in

music technology might be of interest to the WI (who have historically shown

sympathy to feminist concerns). My talk used specialist female centered

delivery techniques to counteract the un-diverse gender bias of the subject. I aimed to make the subject inclusive and welcoming to female learners

through exploring music technology through the prism of feminist theory. I

hoped the use of feminist theory would galvanize and radicalize participants

who had traditionally excluded from the subject by male competition/over-

subscription. Diversity and Confidence The researchers Colley and Comber (in 2003) noted that boys are more likely

to be confident music technology users, and girls are more likely to

underestimate46. They observed that girls are more likely to report greater feelings of incompetence47. My research revealed that single sex learning environments like the WI

can increase learner confidence. Recent gender research by David/Myra Sadker and Carol Gilligan shows that girls self-esteem is lowered by teachers giving more attention to pushy boys in a mixed sex classroom48. Teachers who favor bonds with boys, according to this research, call girls on less than boys49. Because of the bonds favoring boys, girl’s self-esteem drops50. Girls feel outside the loop and less connected to the teacher, classroom and learning process51. Secondary school teacher Ruth makes sure she calls on “every girl

every day”52. Gurian explains: “Teachers like Ruth notice that girls often need more verbal feedback than

we give. Perhaps all of us have seen the girl in the class who just did not

believe in herself until we kept encouraging and encouraging her. It is crucial for teachers to realize how personally girls can take perceived failure-

whether in a relationship or in academic performance.“53 Disadvantages of Single Sex learning Although the single sex approach appears to offer many advantages to

female learners, its benefits need to be evaluated in light of some of the

disadvantages it offers to both genders.

• Single sex groups denies natural social development of both sexes. • Single sex groups can be an unnatural environment that doesn’t

enforce the realities of modern working life. • Single sex groups do little to promote inclusion of excluded gender. • Single sex groups promote the old fashioned victim mentality of

feminism where women are perceived to be lacking in ability, confidence etc. Promotes old fashioned and unrealistic views of men as being obsessed with power and domination.

Conclusion I have looked at how male dominance in fields such as Technology and Science (and most importantly Music Technology) can exclude female learners from participating in the field. I then examined how music composition and the music industry have been traditionally male dominated and how this creates expectations that can exclude women from participation. Through presenting at Golden Girls WI I have explored teaching which sympathizes and responds to these injustices in a girl friendly single sex environment. I discussed how gendered diversity can be increased through specialist delivery techniques/ advanced learning activities and have noted that the positives (such as increased confidence) out way the negatives of the approach.

Bibliography Armstrong, Victoria (2011) Technology and the gendering of music

education. Ashgate. Dzuvweovix, Lina et. Al (2005) Her Noise. Forma Arts and Media Farrugia, Rebekah (2012) Beyond the Dance Floor: Female DJS, Technology and Electronic Dance Music Culture. Intellect. Green, Lucy (1997) Music, gender, education. Oxford University Press Gurian, Micheal et. al (2011). Boys and girls learn differently. Jossey Bass. Oliveros, Pauline (1995) Deep Listening: A composers sound practice. iUniverse Robinson, Jane (2011) A force to be reckoned with: A history of the women’s institute. Virago. Rodgers, Tara (2010) Pink Noises: Women on electronic music and sound. Continuum Whyte, Judith et. al (1985) Girl friendly Schooling. Routledge. Collins, Nicolas (2006) Handmade Electronic Music: The Art of Hardware Hacking Routledge Hegarty, Paul (2007) Noise/Music: A History Continuum Anon

(2007) Battlenoise! War Office Propaganda/Mozgalom Blanco, Maria et. Al (2010) Popular Ghosts: The Haunted Spaces of Everyday Culture Continuum Reynolds, Simon (2011) Retromania: Pop cultures addiction to its own past Faber and Faber Ltd Roman, Annette Et. Al (1999) Japan Edge: The Insiders Guide to Japanese Pop Subculture Cadance Books Carnell, Eileen Et. Al (2009) Retiring Lives Institute of Education Anon (2001) Japanese Independent Music Sonore

Gualdoni, Flaminio (2009) Futurism Skira Mini Art Books Internet Resources Bjorck, Cecillia (2011) Claiming Space: Discourses on Gender, Popular

Music, and Social Change [Internet], Sweden, University of Gothenburg. Available from:

<https://gupea.ub.gu.se/bitstream/2077/24290/1/gupea_2077_24290_1.pdf> [Accessed 1/7/2013] References 1 Green, Lucy (1997) Music, gender, education. Oxford University Press pp. 105 2 Green, Lucy (1997) Music, gender, education. Oxford University Press pp. 105 3 Green, Lucy (1997) Music, gender, education. Oxford University Press pp. 105 4 Green, Lucy (1997) Music, gender, education. Oxford University Press pp. 105 5 Green, Lucy (1997) Music, gender, education. Oxford University Press pp. 105 6 Gurian, Micheal et. al (2011). Boys and girls learn differently. Jossey Bass. pp. 186 7 Rodgers, Tara (2010) Pink Noises: Women on electronic music and sound. Continuum pp.17

8 Dzuvweovix, Lina et. Al (2005) Her Noise. Forma Arts and Media pp.10 9 Dzuvweovix, Lina et. Al (2005) Her Noise. Forma Arts and Media pp.10 10 Dzuvweovix, Lina et. Al (2005) Her Noise. Forma Arts and Media pp.10 11 Farrugia, Rebekah (2012) Beyond the Dance Floor: Female DJS, Technology and Electronic Dance Music Culture. Intellect. pp. 122 12 Farrugia, Rebekah (2012) Beyond the Dance Floor: Female DJS, Technology and Electronic Dance Music Culture. Intellect. pp. 30 13 Whyte, Judith et. al (1985) Girl friendly Schooling. Routledge. pp. 77 14 Gurian, Micheal et. al (2011). Boys and girls learn differently. Jossey Bass. pp. 250 15 Whyte, Judith et. al (1985) Girl friendly Schooling. Routledge. pp. 77 16 Armstrong, Victoria (2011) Technology and the gendering of music education. Ashgate. pp.51 17 Armstrong, Victoria (2011) Technology and the gendering of music education. Ashgate. pp.31 18 Armstrong, Victoria (2011) Technology and the gendering of music education. Ashgate. pp.31 19 Armstrong, Victoria (2011) Technology and the gendering of music education. Ashgate. pp.31 20 Armstrong, Victoria (2011) Technology and the gendering of music education. Ashgate. pp.31 21 Armstrong, Victoria (2011) Technology and the gendering of music education. Ashgate. pp.31 22 Armstrong, Victoria (2011) Technology and the gendering of music education. Ashgate. pp.31 23 Armstrong, Victoria (2011) Technology and the gendering of music education. Ashgate. pp.31 24 Armstrong, Victoria (2011) Technology and the gendering of music education. Ashgate. pp.31 25 Gurian, Micheal et. al (2011). Boys and girls learn differently. Jossey Bass. pp. 206 26 Gurian, Micheal et. al (2011). Boys and girls learn differently. Jossey Bass. pp. 206 27 Robinson, Jane (2011) A force to be reckoned with: A history of the women’s institute. Virago. pp. 210 28 Robinson, Jane (2011) A force to be reckoned with: A history of the women’s institute. Virago. pp. 48 29 Rodgers, Tara (2010) Pink Noises: Women on electronic music and sound. Continuum pp.18 30 Robinson, Jane (2011) A force to be reckoned with: A history of the women’s institute. Virago. pp. 10 31 Robinson, Jane (2011) A force to be reckoned with: A history of the women’s institute. Virago. pp. 26 32 Robinson, Jane (2011) A force to be reckoned with: A history of the women’s institute. Virago. pp. 39 33 Robinson, Jane (2011) A force to be reckoned with: A history of the women’s institute. Virago. pp. 1 34 Robinson, Jane (2011) A force to be reckoned with: A history of the women’s institute. pp. 184 35 Robinson, Jane (2011) A force to be reckoned with: A history of the women’s institute. pp. 221 36 Robinson, Jane (2011) A force to be reckoned with: A history of the women’s institute. pp. 237 37 Robinson, Jane (2011) A force to be reckoned with: A history of the women’s institute. pp. 249

38 Robinson, Jane (2011) A force to be reckoned with: A history of the women’s institute. pp. 249 39 Robinson, Jane (2011) A force to be reckoned with: A history of the women’s institute. pp. 249 40 Robinson, Jane (2011) A force to be reckoned with: A history of the women’s institute. pp. 250 41 Blanco, Maria et. Al (2010) Popular Ghosts: The Haunted Spaces of Everyday Culture Continuum pp. 287 42 Blanco, Maria et. Al (2010) Popular Ghosts: The Haunted Spaces of Everyday Culture Continuum pp. 287 43 Blanco, Maria et. Al (2010) Popular Ghosts: The Haunted Spaces of Everyday Culture Continuum pp. 246 44 Blanco, Maria et. Al (2010) Popular Ghosts: The Haunted Spaces of Everyday Culture Continuum pp. 246 45 Blanco, Maria et. Al (2010) Popular Ghosts: The Haunted Spaces of Everyday Culture Continuum pp. 246 46 Armstrong, Victoria (2011) Technology and the gendering of music education. Ashgate. pp. 53/54 47 Armstrong, Victoria (2011) Technology and the gendering of music education. Ashgate. pp. 54 48 Gurian, Micheal et. al (2011). Boys and girls learn differently. Jossey Bass. pp. 143 49 Gurian, Micheal et. al (2011). Boys and girls learn differently. Jossey Bass. pp. 143 50 Gurian, Micheal et. al (2011). Boys and girls learn differently. Jossey Bass. pp. 143 51 Gurian, Micheal et. al (2011). Boys and girls learn differently. Jossey Bass. pp. 143 52 Gurian, Micheal et. al (2011). Boys and girls learn differently. Jossey Bass. pp. 183 53 Gurian, Micheal et. al (2011). Boys and girls learn differently. Jossey Bass. pp. 183

The selection, adaption and justification of inclusive resources utilized at single sex music technology classes at Golden Triangle Girls Women's Institute. The specialist delivery techniques I used at Golden Girls WI encouraged exclusively female learners to engage with music technology and electronic music through using:

• Feminist theory to explore musicological concerns and gender biases in the field.

• Positive discrimination to present female pioneers of electronic musicians as motivational female role models.

I define advanced learning activities as female only kinesthetic activities, which encourage female learners to take leadership positions, which develop assertive and experimental, and risk taking approaches to working with electronic music. Michael Gurian defines risk taking as an area that is deficient in female educational participation, but tends to be dominant with male learners. My activities are defined as advanced as they are pitched at adult learners in the 20-50 age group, I am assuming many women in the group have obtained university level qualifications and re-enforce the activities through a higher education lecture style format (drawing from cultural theory). I encouraged hands on electronic music making through workshop activities that referenced the work of pioneering female electronic musicians.I presented to an all-female audience through the support of Golden Triangle Girls Women’s Institute in Norwich. The Golden Triangle girls WI, dubs itself an urban and young WI (as opposed to rural and mature WI), with ages ranging from early teens to mid 50’s. The resources I used to support the specialist delivery techniques and advanced learning activities included:

• Books about female pioneers of electronic music, feminist musicology, education and electronic music activities.

• Youtube Videos. • CD’s. • Pictures. • Props (Violin Bow, Cassette Tape). • Musical Equipment (100 stones of varying sizes, A Nintendo DS

Gameboy, Elektroplankton Nintendo DS Software, Telephone Coil Pick up, Laptop, 10 Watt Portable Amplifier, Home Hi-fi, Behringer Pitch shifter Guitar FX Pedal, SM58 Microphone, Cables)

• Hand Out’s. • Digital Projector and screen. • Laptop, editing software (Audacity and IMovie) and PowerPoint.

Books about female pioneers of electronic music

In order to deliver an inclusive, informed and historically accurate presentation I used feminist musicological publications, which celebrated female electronic music making (see below):

• Rodgers, Tara (2010) Pink Noises: Women on electronic music and

sound. Continuum • Dzuvweovix, Lina et. Al (2005) Her Noise. Forma Arts and Media

These publications introduced me to innovative female composers and musicians. I was able to use theories and extracts from interviews to showcase pioneering female talent. Her Noise had an excellent female alternative rock family tree, which I included as part of my handouts to members of the WI.

Books about male electronic music

I used pictures and ideas from the publications below to explain the dominant male electronic aesthetic and how female electronic music has grown in resistance to these ideologies.

• Anon (2007) Battlenoise! War Office Propaganda/Mozgalom • Hegarty, Paul (2007) Noise/Music: A History Continuum • Gualdoni, Flaminio (2009) Futurism Skira Mini Art Books

See enclosed PowerPoint presentation in Assignment 4 folder.

Books about Advanced Learning Activities

I define advanced learning activities as female only kinesthetic activities, which encourage female learners to develop experimental and risk taking approaches to working with electronic music. Michael Gurian defines risk taking as an area that is deficient in female educational participation, but tends to be dominant with male learners.

I presented an inclusive practical activity, which uses electromagnetic sounds from this publication:

• Collins, Nicolas (2006) Handmade Electronic Music: The Art of

Hardware Hacking Routledge I explained the techniques in relation to the female electronic pioneer Christina Kubisch who works with electromagnetic sounds in a different (but equally inventive) way. This activity was conceived as a confidence building exercise, and provides some alluring results with little financial outlay or musical skill/ability.

I used Pauline Oliveros’s Deep Listening text to help communicate her musical philosophy, and to perform a communal music making exercise (see below):

• Oliveros, Pauline (1995) Deep Listening: A composer’s sound practice. iUniverse

I adapted the piece through using stones instead of instruments. This allowed me to include participants of all music abilities who could use sounds to communicate instead of musical notes. This approach was inspired by my PTTLS re-enactment of a democratic scratch piece called ‘stones’ by Christian Wolff.

Books about feminist musicology

I found the text below helpful in communicating the sexism and pressures females experience entering the music industry.

• Farrugia, Rebekah (2012) Beyond the Dance Floor: Female DJS,

Technology and Electronic Dance Music Culture. Intellect. Being able to empathize with the plight of my learners had made me more of an inclusive teacher.

Books about education

I used the following educational publications to highlight how masculine determinist ICT discourses exclude female learners in the teaching of music technology:

• Armstrong, Victoria (2011) Technology and the gendering of music

education. Ashgate. • Green, Lucy (1997) Music, gender, education. Oxford University

Press I used the brain research text below as a basis for getting the best from my female learners:

• Gurian, Michael et. al (2011). Boys and girls learn differently. Jossey

Bass. The text (below) helped me understand the female educational experience within wider discipline areas (technologies and science).

• Whyte, Judith et. al (1985) Girl friendly Schooling. Routledge.

The text was treated with caution due to its historical age. The publication did give me a greater historical understanding of why women failed and succeeded statistically in certain areas. From this data I was able to develop and exploit the strengths of my learners.

I learnt about the history of the WI via the publication below. Gaining an insight into the WI’s history helped me pitch Specialist Delivery Techniques and Advance Learning Activities to my learners:

• Robinson, Jane (2011) A force to be reckoned with: A history of the

women’s institute. Virago. The book revealed the changes that the WI has gone through historically, it also discussed the new wave of younger metropolitan WI’s (which the golden triangle girls belong to) and explained why young women still gravitate and support this social network.

See Assignment 4 for enclosed bibliography.

YouTube Videos

I sourced a diverse array of sound clips and videos from YouTube (using the Her Noise alternative family tree for guidance, Pink Noises also introduced me to new artists). I supplemented the presentation with CDs from my own personal collection. I edited the duration of many clips in IMovie to focus on the aspects of the video I thought would be of interest. I used Audacity to edit radio extracts and audio.

Methodology

The Golden Triangle Girls WI presentation took place in the back room of a pub in Norwich (with conferencing facilities). Through emailing the WI it was agreed that the Women’s Institute could provide me with a digital projector and screen, which I could hook up my laptop too. Unfortunately the pub had no sound facilities so I hooked up my laptop to my home hi-fi to play sound clips (and the audio from video clips). I provided a portable 10-watt guitar amplifier for the girls to demonstrate their electronic music making skills. I provided the following resources for the practical activities:

• A Nintendo DS Gameboy • A telephone coil pick up • Sound making stones for every participant • A microphone • Pitch shifter

I was amazingly able to fit all of this into a suitcase!

I used a mixture of PowerPoint and live volunteer lead demonstrations to present the work of female electronic pioneers in a favorable and easily digestible way. My PowerPoint presentation catered to a variety of learning styles through incorporating multi-media elements such as video, audio and pictures. I have included the PowerPoint file I used for the presentation in the folder of Assignment 4. I have had to remove the audio and video content for practical reasons (because ATM online only allows a maximum upload size of 50MB). Below I discuss how I cater to different learning styles (kinesthetic advanced learning activities are discussed in Assignment 2).

Visual Learners

For my talk I incorporated video extracts from interviews and performances to stimulate visual learners. I created colorful PowerPoint slides with symbolic pictures and visual diagrams to stimulate my learners.

The researcher Gurian recommends training:

“Girls on the effects of media imagery on their self-concept and character development…many teachers find the visual media especially useful in this regard. They show video clips of movies, television shows, and commercials, leading students to understand how the culture is trying to create uniformity to individuality. This kind of … mentoring relieves a great deal of stress, especially for the bridge-brain boys who think Jean Claude Van Damme is silly or the bridge brain girls who don’t get much out of being feminine.”1

For my talk I used video clips to illustrate how female musicians are stereotyped via the music industry. I used a clip which ironically documents the plight of ‘men in music’ being sexualized by the music industry. Male experimental electronic musicians such as Jim’O Rourke and Thurston Moore are interviewed by female electronic musician Kim Gordon. She asks them all the annoying gender questions she gets asked in interviews, such as ‘Is boy power a growing force for the future’.

Manipulatives

Michael Gurian uses brain research to justify gendered difference and claims:

“Boys tend to be better than girls at not seeing or touching the thing and yet still being able to calculate it. For example, when mathematics is taught on a blackboard, boys often do better at it than girls. When it is taught using manipulatives and objects- that is, taken of the blackboard, out of the abstract world of signs and signifiers, and put into the concrete world of, say, physical

number chains- the female brain often finds it easier.”2 For my presentation I used props for explanations rather than abstract explanations. For example when explaining the concept of Laurie Anderson ‘Tape Bow Violin’ I used a real violin bow, and real tape to explain the concept.

Auditory Learners

• To cater to my auditory learners I used musical CD extracts to

showcase the talents of female musicians. I also used extracts from radio shows to explain the talents and methods of Daphne Oram and Delia Derbyshire.

• To explain historical musical sexism I played the audience masculine

and feminine cadences. I explained how this was used to imply historical gender superiority (and notions of weakness and strength)

through audio clips. See enclosed PowerPoint presentation in Assignment 4 folder.

Read/Write Learners

• I produced a series of handout’s to accompany my talk (See

Assignment 4 folder for these!). The handout’s provided links to female only music technology support groups as well as further reading suggestions (for those who may like to take up the hobby seriously). My handout incorporated an alternative rock family tree of female visionary artists for creative inspiration!

• Pauline Oliveros’s ‘Soundfishes’ aleotoric score stimulated learners

who enjoy learning from written instruction. See enclosed PowerPoint presentation in Assignment 4 folder.

• My investigations into female brain research revealed that women are

stronger verbal communicators than men. Playing to the strengths in the room, I got women from the audience to interpret the lyrics of Laurie Anderson and bring out the feminist themes. I also got women to verbalize the structure of a Delia Derbyshire piece (to bring out its meaning). See enclosed PowerPoint presentation in Assignment 4 folder.

To conclude, through using a diverse range of media I was able to cater to all learning styles. Through referencing feminist theory I was able to present a masculine subject in an appealing way to female learners. Through encouraging female participation I aimed to make my subject more inclusive to a minority who had been traditionally excluded.

Bibliography

Armstrong, Victoria (2011) Technology and the gendering of music education. Ashgate. Dzuvweovix, Lina et. Al (2005) Her Noise. Forma Arts and Media Farrugia, Rebekah (2012) Beyond the Dance Floor: Female DJS, Technology and Electronic Dance Music Culture. Intellect. Green, Lucy (1997) Music, gender, education. Oxford University Press Gurian, Micheal et. al (2011). Boys and girls learn differently. Jossey Bass. Oliveros, Pauline (1995) Deep Listening: A composers sound practice. iUniverse Robinson, Jane (2011) A force to be reckoned with: A history of the women’s institute. Virago. Rodgers, Tara (2010) Pink Noises: Women on electronic music and sound. Continuum Whyte, Judith et. al (1985) Girl friendly Schooling. Routledge. Collins, Nicolas (2006) Handmade Electronic Music: The Art of Hardware Hacking Routledge Hegarty, Paul (2007) Noise/Music: A History Continuum Anon (2007) Battlenoise! War Office Propaganda/Mozgalom

Blanco, Maria et. Al (2010) Popular Ghosts: The Haunted Spaces of Everyday Culture Continuum Reynolds, Simon (2011) Retromania: Pop cultures addiction to its own past Faber and Faber Ltd Roman, Annette Et. Al (1999) Japan Edge: The Insiders Guide to Japanese Pop Subculture Cadance Books Carnell, Eileen Et. Al (2009) Retiring Lives Institute of Education Anon (2001) Japanese Independent Music Sonore Gualdoni, Flaminio (2009) Futurism Skira Mini Art Books

Internet Resources

Bjorck, Cecillia (2011) Claiming Space: Discourses on Gender, Popular Music, and Social Change [Internet], Sweden, University of Gothenburg. Available from: <https://gupea.ub.gu.se/bitstream/2077/24290/1/gupea_2077_24290_1.pdf> [Accessed 1/7/2013]

References

1 Gurian, Micheal et. al (2011). Boys and girls learn differently. Jossey Bass. pp. 227

2 Gurian, Micheal et. al (2011). Boys and girls learn differently. Jossey Bass. pp. 45

Chapter 5: Evaluation of the effectiveness of single sex music technology classes at Golden Triangle Girls Women's Institute Advanced Learning Activities

I define advanced learning activities as female only kinesthetic activities, which encourage female learners to take leadership positions, which develop assertive and experimental, and risk taking approaches to working with electronic music. Michael Gurian defines risk taking as an area that is deficient in female educational participation, but tends to be dominant with male learners. My activities were defined as advanced as they are pitched at adult learners in the 20-50 age group, I assumed many women in the group had obtained university level qualifications and re-enforced the advanced learning activities through a higher education lecture style format (drawing from cultural theory). Many learners took notes during the presentation that demonstrated an appropriate (and sensitive) conditioned response.

The Golden Triangle Girls WI took place in the back room of The Unthank Arms pub in Norwich. The informal setting helped relax my learners (especially when excessive wine was consumed!), which made some of the controversial subject matter more digestible. It also made it easier for my learners to take risks and experiment when taking part in electronic music making/advanced learning activities. The informal atmosphere encouraged comradery and female learners were able to turn to their friends (and other WI members) for support. The downside of the pub environment was the extraneous background noise I had to compete with to get heard. There was a fair amount of movement back and forth to the bar (this made it harder for me to engage my learners).

All of my advanced learning activities involved an element of discovery learning. I wanted my learners to take ownership of the idea themselves (rather than be dictated to by a controlling male tutor).

My re-enactment of Pauline Oliveros’s Sound fishes was problematic. The ‘Deep Listening’ piece takes the form of a ‘chance music aleotoric’ score. I projected the instructions on the wall via PowerPoint and explained the ethos of the piece. See enclosed PowerPoint presentation in Assignment 4 folder.

The instructions are as follows:

“For an orchestra of any instruments.

Considerations

Listening is the basis of sound fishing

Listening for what has not yet sounded- like a fisherman waiting for a bite.

Pull the sound out of the air like a fisherman catching a fish, sensing it’s size and energy- when you hear the sound, - play it.

Move to another location if there are no nibbles or bites.

There are sounds in the air like sounds in the water.

When the water is clear you might see the fish.

When the air is clear you might see the fish. When the air is clear, you might hear the sounds.” 1

I distributed two rocks to everyone’s tables before members arrived (to save time distributing rocks to learners during the presentation). The piece was supposed to be about waiting for a suitable point to enter the sound texture and listening. Because I focused purely on sound rather than rhythm, the result was a cluttered and unordered mess. The piece in no way resembled Oliveros’s call for non-ego based co-operative music making. If I had taken a more rhythmic call and response approach, patterns and music may have emerged in a more structured and harmonious fashion. The sheer amount of participants meant that a more structured leadership approach was needed, rather than the anarchistic free for all, which the activity became!

After the piece I got various learners to explain how they made their sounds. I asked for a show of hands to gauge the usefulness of the piece and was satisfied by the positive response.

For the voice manipulation workshop I slowed down the voice of a female participant using a pitch shifter and microphone attached to an amp (in reference to Laurie Anderson’s signature “male voice of authority” persona). See enclosed PowerPoint presentation in Assignment 4 folder.

This workshop also suffered from a lack of structure. In future sessions I shall aim to explore voice manipulation in a more coherent fashion through recreating Laurie Anderson’s ‘O superman’ note-for-note (through live looping).

The workshops could be improved by getting women after performing advanced learning activities to verbalize what they have learnt to other women. This would make the activities more inclusive and give participants an opportunity to share a greater sense of achievement.

Specialist Delivery Techniques

The specialist delivery techniques I used at Golden Girls WI encouraged exclusively female learners to engage with music technology and electronic music through using:

• Feminist theory to explore musicological concerns and gender biases

in the field.

• Positive discrimination to present female pioneers of electronic musicians as motivational female role models.

My talk effectively engaged my learners due to the diverse array of multi- media elements such as video, picture diagrams and audio. These elements helped showcase the talents of important female electronic pioneers as well as illustrate cultural theories. The incorporation of advanced learning activities (involving live female electronic music making) gave the presentation a good balance of theory and live demonstration. I referred to the handouts during the conclusion to provide:

• Further links to support groups. • Creative inspiration for learners who wanted to take things a step

further. I felt the Specialist Delivery Techniques/Advanced Learning Activities to be effective under the circumstances it was created, which was far from ideal. The conception was undoubtedly well intentioned, but was hard to pitch as I had never attended an WI before (due to being excluded on grounds of my gender) and had only a theoretical grasp of what to expect provided by the (very helpful) WI president

Due to only having a short set up time (and limitations of the seating arrangement) the projection was slightly lop-sided and at smaller dimensions than I had hoped. Under more favorable circumstances a bigger projection area would have made it easier for learners (at the back) to the read the text. The text in the presentation could be improved in future sessions by more bullet points and further condensing of information. Projecting my voice will help me reach learners towards the back of the room (the space were most learners gathered, perhaps because of timidity).

Plugs in the venue were placed unfavorably, there were a few trailing wires which could have been potential trip hazards. Close attention was paid to informing my learners of the hazards, but more vigilant attention to health and safety is needed in future sessions.

The volume of the audio and video clips carried well considering the limitation of the home hi-fi system I provided. The abilities of the female pioneers could have been showcased more favorably on a PA (but sadly resources and transport rendered this option unfeasible). The sound of the advanced learning activities showcased the efforts of the female electronic musicians effectively, but could have been improved through using a higher quality amplifier. A smaller amp did allow portability (as I was travelling on public transport), but a more powerful amp with a larger speaker cone would have been more flattering.

Although my presentation held the attention of the room and (was not marred by any chatting etc.) the one and half hour presentation could have been edited further. The usual slot for a WI speaker is 45 minutes to an hour. The scope of my project was admirable, but perhaps a little too wide. I could have

focused on a couple of core pioneering electronic women in more detail (rather than covering the 1950’s to the present day). Focusing on fewer key artists would of allowed me to cover the work of individual artists in more detail. I felt a pressure to only play small extracts from sound clips and video due to time constraints. A more relaxed and fluid presentational style could have been explored with a tighter focus. Because the WI is as much about socializing as it is about learning, the higher educational format could have been relaxed further in this speaking context.

I felt it necessary to read straight from the projector due to confidence issues. This sadly became a barrier to communicating to my learners. It was only during Q&A that I really felt a true connection with my audience. In the future I would like to encourage more debate.

My presentation incorporated directed questioning to draw out artistic meaning. One advanced learning activity involved the audience identifying how Delia Derbyshire communicates the experience of aging in the piece ‘Time on our hands’. See enclosed PowerPoint presentation in Assignment 4 folder.

Audience members correctly noticed how the piece references the human body through the heartbeat. Learners also noticed that the piece referenced the sentiment of the text that ‘time seems to pass quicker as you get older’. This piece was designed to appeal to the more mature members of the WI who may have experienced similar phenomena. The questioning was successful because its aims were simple and achievable.

The more abstract interpretative questioning in the analysis of the Laurie Anderson ‘O Superman’ piece was less successful. See enclosed PowerPoint presentation in Assignment 4 folder.

Despite giving the audience the background information about the piece

referencing the Iran/Contra war. No audience members were able to make the symbolic link of Superman symbolizing America in the piece. This activity largely fell flat because the delivery was rushed, some members might not have been able to read the text from were they were sitting (text was quite small) and the piece was pitched at too advanced a level for the group (many may have not analyzed a poem, or lyrics since English GCSE’s). In future I shall provide more background information, make text bigger and provide handout’s that learners can read at their own level. By getting learners to read the lyrics together (in pairs), more active discussion could be encouraged. More time allotted to activity would ensure greater success!

The use of questioning encouraged critical non-passive learning and helped women take ownership of feminist ideas (rather than have a male dictate what he defines as feminism). Many studies have suggested that women excel in communicative verbalizing skills. Incorporating such devices into my presentation was a way of boosting learner confidence and playing to gendered strengths. Questioning helped cement the inclusive agenda and ethos of the WI (because the WI was originally conceived as an arena for

women to debate and discuss the issues of the day). The use of questioning did give the talk a sense of classroom formality, which perhaps was slightly inappropriate in this less formal environment.

Effectiveness of feminist agenda of Specialist Delivery Techniques

My project was effective as it addressed the feminist ethos of the WI, but also raised wider questions about:

• What constitutes male and female expression. • The way gender is expressed in institutions. • The potential of the speaker to short circuit gender.

As a male, I found the prospect of talking to 50-60 potentially hostile feminist women quite a daunting and nerve-wracking experience. I felt conscious of invading a secret territory in which my needs were secondary and silenced in favor of the entitled opposite sex. This had negative effects on my delivery and ability to command the room.

As my talk touched on some potentially controversial topics (misogyny in Japanese noise music, male approaches to electronic music that have embraced a military aesthetic) I felt internal pressure to keep my talk more politically correct than I would to a male or mixed sex audience. I felt a pressure to conform to the ethos of the organization that could potentially limit my freedom of speech. I felt that toning down problematic issues would ultimately make the audience more comfortable. This would make my learners open to what I had to say, and the empowering agenda of the talk.

The presentation suffered from conflicting agendas. The focus on contentious feminist issues and injustices was likely to rile my learners; whilst I ironically maintained that the purpose of the advanced learning activities was to help female learners make electronic music in a relaxed environment.

Ironically throughout the delivery of this project, I have felt a contradiction between desired effect and outcome. Through revealing the motivations of why I was doing the presentation I simultaneously re-enforced the negative stereotypes that make women avoid music technology in the first place. In this sense my learners became one step removed. An immersive film score can be naturally powerful and affecting without conscious identification. Effective learning can take place through the deconstruction method (I have trialed in the project), but truly effective learning is often subliminal in spite of conscious manipulation tactics used by teachers.

Whilst championing the accomplishments of the other sex, I felt the ironic feeling of reliving the experiences of marginalization from an alternative male perspective.

Rosemary Bruce (Bruce and Kemp 1993) did some experimental research to find out whether such choices could be affected by the sex of a live role model playing the instrument2. She organized concert-demonstrations of woodwind,

brass and stringed orchestral instruments, played by men and women to mixed groups of primary school children3. Each concert was given twice, to a different audience, switching round the sex of the players4. At the end of each demonstration the children were asked to choose one instrument to look at5. The researcher counted how many pupils of each sex moved towards which instrument. She found that the sex of the player appeared to have a striking effect on the sex of the children who went towards the instrument6. For examples 23.5% of girls looked at the trombone when a women demonstrated it, but only 1.5% did so when the player was male7.

Sexes often feel more comfortable interacting with there own kind. I felt that if a woman were to have delivered this feminist polemic, the audience would have been more forgiving. She would have had cultural permission to do so; her argument would have been given gravitas by her gender. When a man makes a feminist statement, the audience can’t help being suspicious.

The researcher Carol Adams discusses political correctness in schools and the danger of “lip service responses from men” 8. She says:

“There is the danger that equal opportunities could simply be used by some men to their own advantage- for example, by their insisting that they share control of what happens in education “9

My presentation felt disingenuous because it demonstrates that feminism can be just an empty tool like any other. Feminism has the potential to be exploited by people with vain educational ambitions as well as genuine Philanthropists. Ironically, the talk demonstrated to me personally, that there is a thin line between feminism and reverse sexism. It is hard be an ambassador for inclusivity of the opposite sex. Especially when your audience does little to critically foster inclusivity of the opposite sex themselves! We reach a double bind, and hit our heads against a brick wall whilst doing so.

Bibliography

Armstrong, Victoria (2011) Technology and the gendering of music education. Ashgate. Dzuvweovix, Lina et. Al (2005) Her Noise. Forma Arts and Media Farrugia, Rebekah (2012) Beyond the Dance Floor: Female DJS, Technology and Electronic Dance Music Culture. Intellect. Green, Lucy (1997) Music, gender, education. Oxford University Press Gurian, Micheal et. al (2011). Boys and girls learn differently. Jossey Bass. Oliveros, Pauline (1995) Deep Listening: A composers sound practice. iUniverse Robinson, Jane (2011) A force to be reckoned with: A history of the women’s institute. Virago. Rodgers, Tara (2010) Pink Noises: Women on electronic music and sound. Continuum Whyte, Judith et. al (1985) Girl friendly Schooling. Routledge. Collins, Nicolas (2006) Handmade Electronic Music: The Art of Hardware Hacking Routledge

Hegarty, Paul (2007) Noise/Music: A History Continuum Anon (2007) Battlenoise! War Office Propaganda/Mozgalom Blanco, Maria et. Al (2010) Popular Ghosts: The Haunted Spaces of Everyday Culture Continuum Reynolds, Simon (2011) Retromania: Pop cultures addiction to its own past Faber and Faber Ltd Roman, Annette Et. Al (1999) Japan Edge: The Insiders Guide to Japanese Pop Subculture Cadance Books Carnell, Eileen Et. Al (2009) Retiring Lives Institute of Education Anon (2001) Japanese Independent Music Sonore Gualdoni, Flaminio (2009) Futurism Skira Mini Art Books

References

1 Oliveros, Pauline (1995) Deep Listening: A composers sound practice. iUniverse pp. 50 2 Green, Lucy (1997) Music, gender, education. Oxford University Press pp. 243 3 Green, Lucy (1997) Music, gender, education. Oxford University Press pp.243/244 4 Green, Lucy (1997) Music, gender, education. Oxford University Press pp. 244 5 Green, Lucy (1997) Music, gender, education. Oxford University Press pp. 244 6 Green, Lucy (1997) Music, gender, education. Oxford University Press pp. 244 7Green, Lucy (1997) Music, gender, education. Oxford University Press pp. 244 8 Whyte, Judith et. al (1985) Girl friendly Schooling. Routledge. pp. 127 9 Whyte, Judith et. al (1985) Girl friendly Schooling. Routledge. pp. 127

Chapter 6: Single sex music technology classes at Golden Triangle Girls Women's Institute: Reflection and Feedback. The specialist delivery techniques I used at Golden Girls WI encouraged exclusively female learners to engage with music technology and electronic music through using:

• Feminist theory to explore musicological concerns and gender biases in the field.

• Positive discrimination to present female pioneers of electronic music as motivational female role models.

I define advanced learning activities as female only kinesthetic activities, which encourage female learners to take leadership positions, which develop assertive, experimental, and risk taking approaches to working with electronic music. Michael Gurian defines risk taking as an area that is deficient in female educational participation, but tends to be dominant with male learners. My activities are defined as advanced as they are pitched at adult learners in the 20-50 age group, I am assuming many women in the group have obtained university level qualifications and re-enforce the activities through a higher education lecture style format (drawing from cultural theory).

I am currently in the process of training to become a fully qualified teacher. In the future I hope to teach music technology in a further education context. In both of my music technology teaching placements all of my learners have been male. The speaking engagement at the WI has helped me:

• Gain experience in teaching female learners, so far my experience has

been overwhelmingly male! • Devise specialist delivery techniques and grassroots strategies to

increase female involvement in a male dominated field. In future teaching roles I could promote female only music technology classes after school or in lunch breaks to increase participation.

• Devise inclusive advance learning activities that can capture my learner’s interest, leading to prolonged educational engagement (and hopefully less female learners dropping the subject)

• Use specialist delivery techniques to identify female role models and appropriate feminist theory as a way to engage my learners.

• Learn how to relate and encourage achievement in female learners. • Devise specialist delivery techniques that inclusively engage non-

musicians and musicians alike through working with sound rather than music.

• Liase, plan, structure, deliver and promote my own independent artistic workshops outside of mainstream educational provision to complement my core paid teaching.

My research has inspired me to devise girl friendly teaching methods for co- educational classes, through:

• Calling on young men and women equally in class. • Making the classroom a more pleasant environment for women by

doing anti-sexist work with boys. • Find out through primary research what and how female learners want

to learn. Subsequently redesign materials in a more girl friendly way.

Advance Learning Activities and Feedback Pauline Oliveros: Sound fishes

One of my advanced learning activities involved re-enacting Pauline Oliveros’s Deep listening aleotoric music piece Soundfishes. See enclosed PowerPoint presentation in Assignment 4 folder. The piece takes the form of a chance music aleotoric score. I projected the instructions on the wall via PowerPoint and explained the ethos of the piece. The instructions are as follows:

“For an orchestra of any instruments.

Considerations

Listening is the basis of sound fishing

Listening for what has not yet sounded- like a fisherman waiting for a bite.

Pull the sound out of the air like a fisherman catching a fish, sensing it’s size and energy- when you hear the sound, - play it.

Move to another location if there are no nibbles or bites.

There are sounds in the air like sounds in the water.

When the water is clear you might see the fish.

When the air is clear you might see the fish. When the air is clear, you might hear the sounds.” 1

I distributed two rocks to everyone’s tables before members arrived (to save time distributing rocks to learners during the presentation).

After the piece I got various learners to explain how they made their sounds. I asked for a show of hands to gauge the usefulness of the piece and was satisfied by the positive response.

The Advanced learning activities could be improved by getting women after performing the activity to verbalize what they have learnt to other women. This would make the activities more inclusive and give participants a greater sense of shared achievement. Questioning

My talk incorporated directed questioning to draw out artistic meaning. One advanced learning activity involved the audience identifying how Delia Derbyshire communicates the experience of aging in the piece ‘Time on our hands’. See enclosed PowerPoint presentation in Assignment 4 folder.

Audience members correctly noticed how the piece references the human body through the heartbeat. Learners also noticed that the piece referenced the sentiment of the text that ‘time seems to pass quicker as you get older’. This piece was designed to appeal to the more mature members of the WI who may have experienced similar phenomena. The questioning was

successful because its aims were simple and achievable. I found the more abstract interpretative questioning in the analysis of the ‘O Superman’ piece less successful. See enclosed PowerPoint presentation in Assignment 4 folder.

Despite giving the audience the background information about the piece referencing the Iran/Contra war. No audience members were able to make the symbolic link of Superman symbolizing America in the piece. This activity largely fell flat because the delivery was rushed, some members might not have been able to read the text from where they were sitting (text was quite small) and the piece was pitched at too advanced a level for the group (many may have not analyzed a poem or lyrics since English GCSE’s). In future I shall provide more background information, make text bigger and provide handout’s that learners can read at their own level. By getting learners to read the lyrics together in pairs more active discussion could be encouraged. More time allotted to activity would ensure greater success!

The use of questioning encouraged critical non-passive learning and helped women take ownership of feminist ideas (rather than have a male dictate what he defines as feminism). Many studies have suggested that women excel in communicative verbalizing skills and incorporating this into my presentation was a way of boosting learner confidence and playing to gendered strengths.

Questioning helped cement the inclusive agenda and ethos of the WI (because the WI was originally conceived as an arena for women to debate and discuss the issues of the day). The use of questioning did give the talk a sense of classroom formality, which perhaps was slightly inappropriate in this less formal environment.

Reflecting on oral feedback

The presentation helped raise my profile locally as well as introduce me to some unexpected contacts in a diverse array of fields. There was much heated discussion after the presentation. My audience seemed engaged by the topic. They were keen to discuss it amongst their friends. It is customary for speakers at WI engagements to accept questions from the audience after a presentation. This gave me an excellent opportunity to take up a dialogue with my learners and gauge the effectiveness of my presentation. The feedback I received from learners both after and during the Q & A reflected the complex and unpredictable way learners can identify with a speaker (in an interdisciplinary context):

• A learner from a music therapy background asked me about the

healing potential of Kaffe Matthews sonic bed project. A healthy dialogue was opened up and a discussion about the holistic nature of sound.

• Another learner from the Sonic Arts Department at the UEA asked me

about laptop music and the local scene.

• A music teacher expressed an interest in introducing elements of the electromagnetic advanced learning activity into her future lessons. I

recommended her an appropriate book to support the learning from the handouts I provided.

Generational divides

The more mature women in the audience seemed to prefer the work of early BBC Pioneers such as Delia Derbyshire and Daphne Oram rather than the more contemporary artists (due to the inherent musicality of the era).

Conflict resolution

The researcher Lyn Yates discusses the problems of introducing role models into girl friendly schooling below:

“The problem is that these strategies can take the form of fairly crude propaganda, propaganda that does not take account of or connect with the current realities of the students. It is schooling trying to preach to its students about what is best for them. Such approaches often fail to take account of why boyfriends and their views, and the prospect of marriage and babies, are so much more powerful an immediate reality; nor do they always see the class division between students and the glossy figures portrayed.” 2

The reason proposed for this disconnect is that:

“Sociological studies which produce further understandings of what life is like for girls at school often circulate in a different world to those concerned with doing something to produce change through education.” 3

I echoed this disconnect in my presentation. Although I had conceived all of my female electronic music pioneers to be healthy role models, my own personal taste did not always reflect the sensitive lived realities of female experience. One learner claimed that the so-called pioneers Chicks on speed and Marina Rosenfeld were not appropriate feminist role models because their work enforces traditional femininity (rather than challenges it).

The learner disliked the piece by Marina Rosenfeld in which 17 untrained women play guitars with nail polish bottles (which she dubbed “retarded”).

Marina realized the sonic potential of Nail Polish bottles whilst experimenting with prepared guitar techniques in her music space (using earrings, pencils, etc.)4Different brands of nail polish provided different sonorities5. Each had different shapes and textures, providing an almost built in timbral variation6.

Marina Rosenfield explains:

“Of course, with the all-female orchestra there is also a feminist reading, a kind of recasting of that most phallic instrument. I was originally attracted to the over determined, almost comical masculinity of the guitar; perhaps that’s why I felt compelled to match it with so many ‘anti-masculine’ accouterments, from ruffly shirts to nail polish in a rainbow of pinks and oranges and reds.” 7

We had a heated public debate in which I defended Marina’s work as socially useful grassroots music making. Marina’s work increases female confidence in making music regardless of previous ability or skill. I explained that Marina enjoys working with women, as she believes them to be good communicators

and more sensitive ensemble players than men. I explained that the challenge for women is to reach beyond this, to become as technical and skillful as any man.

DJ Giulia Loli discusses the tension between punky grassroots action and technological competence below:

“I’ve been disappointed time and time again with the type of feminist, affirmative action that allows opportunistic assholes or undedicated slackers to get over with minimal technical requirements. I know there are fiercely skilled women out there and I am excited and positive about that. What I’ve seen more of lately though is coquettes with drum machines and turntables or even guitars, which they barely know how to use (with no visible attempts at pushing past necessary learning curves). My three year old can tap out a hot beat on my SP (and sequence it!) better than some get overs out here. No, I want to see woman with the life or death fire holy spirit for this!” 8

The learner also took objection to the work of Chicks on Speed. Dismissing the shoe guitar as “patronizing s***”. These objections obviously come down to issues of personal taste and subjectivity; it is questionable how accountable I can be as a curator for the views and opinions of the musicians I am representing. It is farcical to suggest that this individual learner represents the complex identifications of all women, and all feminists. The scope of my presentation was clearly to celebrate women, not too be-little or mis-represent female electronic music making in any way. The learner clearly enjoyed a debate, and it is hard to tell how much of the aggression was “testing” and showing off in front of her peer group. Aggression nurturance is something that needs to be fostered in women as much as it is in men. It is healthy that the learner used the talk as a forum for her experience, and I respected her right to freedom of speech. If anything this strong reaction to my work proved the power of the presentation to open up debate (which is no bad thing at all!). Many members of the audience were publically embarrassed by her outburst (including the WI president who apologized to me after the session), so I did what I could to protect her dignity.

The conflict between the pupil and myself taught me about the importance of conflict resolution in the student teacher relationship. My pupil felt slighted by representations of women she did not see as favorable. The role of the teacher in this situation is to defuse possible misinterpretations through rebuilding trust and understanding. Gurian explains that students can react strongly due to a need to look good in front of their peers9. Gail, a Hickman Mills teacher says that if you call a student down “in front of his peers, his posse, his homies, you need to be prepared for war” 10. Gurian explains that:

“Studies show us that when a teach and student enter a conflict, the boy tends to use a louder voice and fewer words, while the girl favors more words. The intention of the hurt student, whether male or female, is the same: to return the self to a position of respect in the face of lowered peer respect, and to do so by attempting to dominate or defy the instructor, who is perceived as the betrayer of the respect and the bond” 11

Gurian recommends in tense moments of ego conflicts to apologize to the student, which will sometimes elicit a student apology (which can be effective if the instructor has the respect of the other students) 12. If the teacher does not have the respect of other students, find bonding activities which can re- build trust in the class13.

Reflecting on questionnaire feedback

To effectively evaluate my specialist delivery techniques and advanced learning activities I designed a feedback questionnaire, which participants filled in after the presentation (see template in Assignment 6 folder). Out of an estimated 50-60 learners I received 20 feedback forms returned and completed (see Completed Feedback Forms in Assignment 6 folder for evidence). Although the results do not give a complete picture of learner satisfaction, they do give a useful insight when considered within the wider context of the WI group as a whole. The questionnaire format had the advantage of being cheap and easy to distribute on learners tables. The medium was anonymous enough for my learners to express themselves without worrying about hurting my feelings, or any sense of social awkwardness.

The questionnaire aimed to establish:

• Whether participants had benefited from the lecture and how • Whether the delivery methods and resources helped participants learn

and how. • Whether working in a single sex environment was helpful and

participants found the experience welcoming and inclusive. • Whether the presentation inspired learners to take up a new hobby. • Whether the presentation introduced learners to any music they have

not encountered previously, or encouraged them to seek out any new music.

• Whether the presentation challenged positively or negatively any preconceptions about gender.

• What things learners like best about the presentation? • What areas needed developing or improving and what changes could

be made. The questions were structured to encourage open answers so I could receive detailed helpful feedback. Some of the questions are slightly biased and leading like ‘what things did you like best about the presentation?’. The bias of such questions is often neutralized through balanced overall questioning. For example, the questionnaire later asks about ‘things that needed improvement’.

How did participants benefit from the lecture?

The feedback revealed that I should have done more initial feedback to gauge what my learners could bring to the session. The women of the WI were a credit to the institute and the answers reveal a literate educated and progressive demographic, which counter the negative dominant stereotypes perpetrated by the mainstream media. Pitching my talk at university level was a brave move, which was rewarded by the thoughtful and considered feedback, which I received from the institute. It is important to never underestimate your learners whatever context you are teaching in!

It was clear from the majority of feedback forms that many participants had not encountered electronic music before, and many expressed that there views had been broadened as a result. The forms demonstrated a keen

willingness to engage with the work, many learners communicating further insights into the artists and work covered.

Half of the completed feedback forms mentioned that they found the talk interesting. As a teacher it is hard to know what seemingly random things resonate with your learners. At least three learners highlighted Delia Derbyshire’s concept of Music as Math’s, this demonstrates to me that you can engage with learners on levels that you yourself can’t anticipate. Although many learners did not buy into the feminist agenda of the presentation, there will be some who will latch onto details, which you yourself thought largely to be inconsequential. The reason for this is due to the widespread appeal of the WI, it appeals to women from wildly different sectors of industry, social class and background. Future feedback questionnaires will explore profession and social class to a greater extent; luckily many learners were keen to tell me about this without even asking! Sadly the participants that did not benefit from the presentation often did little to verbalize their dissatisfaction. So I am left to speculate.

Two forms were handed back with bare monosyllabic responses. One anon learner was particularly blunt and caustic. When asked ‘what things did you like best about the presentation?’ she replied: ‘Nothing’. In response to ‘where they’re any areas that needed developing or improving?’ she replied: ‘all of it’.

Another anon learner in response to ‘Did this presentation inspire you to take up a new hobby’ replied somewhat defiantly ‘Definitely not’

In reply to ‘Where there any areas that needed developing or improving?’ she wrote ‘I’m sorry, but I didn’t like it at all’

These negative comments from the two anon learners must be acknowledged. Some learners work through the trauma of male oppression by sadly lashing out on the very people that are trying to help them! It would be unwise to focus to heavily upon these deviant comments, as the overwhelming impression of the remaining 18 feedback forms was largely positive, with varying degrees of constructive criticism.

To what extent did the delivery methods and resources helped participants learn and how?

In the future I wish to teach in both a formal lesson scenario and in an informal workshop context. When working in more informal settings I must show more sensitivity to context. When asked ‘Where there any areas that needed developing or improving? If you could make changes to the presentation, what would you do?’, an anon learner (44) suggested using ‘Not so much content- too much to take in- wanted to be entertained as well as informed- felt too much like a lesson’.

Twelve out of twenty learners expressed that the varied use of multimedia elements such as video and sound aided their comprehension and learning experience beneficially. This has become a signature feature of my teaching style, and I hope to continue with this approach in the future.

Because of my focus on gender I was blind to other important factors, which can act as barriers to my learners. Szara (39) mentioned: ‘I found PowerPoint and speaker hard to follow due to a type of dyslexia’. In informal learning

environments these things can easily go unnoticed, and I will make more efforts in future lessons to cater to the learning needs of my group.

Did participants find working in a single sex environment helpful? Was the experience welcoming and inclusive?

10 out of 20 surveyed learners found working in a single sex environment helpful in this learning context, 8 learners were indifferent and 2 learners found the experience negative. So although there is some personal disagreement about the benefit of single sex learning, the experience statistically can be interpreted as mostly positive. Claire commented the experience made it ‘easier to join in and not worry about what people thought’.

Szara believed the experience was beneficial as ‘she did not feel inferior’ if she ‘did not know a technical word’.

Anon learner (44) who was indifferent to the single sex environment claimed, ‘It wouldn’t bother me who was in attendance as I don’t feel men or their music a threat’

Did the presentation inspire learners to take up a new hobby?

Out of 20 surveyed participants, 4 of 20 learners claimed they would like to take up electronic music as a hobby as a result of my presentation.

Many of my learners had hidden musical talents, which I could have brought out more with more pro-active initial assessment. In response to ‘Did this presentation inspire you to take up a new hobby?’ Ella (22) writes:

‘Yes- I make digital music on a computer but after hearing you talk I would really like to make my own instruments and play around with circuit bending’

Rebecca Musk (26) in response to the same question, claimed:

‘I already have an interest in music and percussion ’

My research revealed that many learners are not inherently musical. Music needs encouragement from an early age.

Eleanor (22) comments in response to “Did this presentation inspire you to take up a new hobby?”

‘Not particularly-no reflection on the quality of the presentation, just not musical!’

Whether the presentation helped learners to seek out any music they have not encountered previously, or encouraged them to seek out any new music.

12 learners indicated that the presentation had introduced them and sparked an interest in seeking out new music. 5 learners reacted negatively. 3 learners expressed indifference. A split response that reveals my presentation to be mostly well received by my learners.

The feedback suggests that there were sections of the audience that were polarized by the presentation. This is perhaps due to the challenging nature of the music. One anon learner was clearly dismissive of some of the more

experimental music, in response to ‘Has this talk introduced you to any music you have not encountered previously?’ she writes: ‘No- I went to art school and far too many boys spent time making noise’

Some learners did not like the music covered but were still positive about the presentation. One anon learner comments:

‘I have learnt that I don’t really like electronic music but as I didn’t know what it was before this is useful to know’

One Anon learner in response to “Has this talk introduced you to any music you have not encountered previously? Or encourage you to seek out any new music?

‘Music is not my thing- my family think me odd as I avoid music as much as possible’

The artists that were the best received were the early BBC Radiophonic pioneers such as Delia Derbyshire and Daphne Oram. Women could relate to the career struggle these women faced (in less enlightened times) and could picture them as role models.

Did the presentation challenge positively or negatively any preconceptions about gender?

Most participants were on the whole were extremely positive towards the talk and the feminist outlook engaged many. A viewpoint which mirrored their own personal value system. Sarah Copeman (52) a history graduate who specialized in gender studies at university enthused about the presentation. She draws reference from her own discipline and explains how she related to the subject matter through the feminist angle:

‘Fascinating content- learnt so much. The concept of female inferiority is a demeaning thread that goes way back to medieval era- evidence in the writings on St. Jerome (I think?). Certainly apparent in early modern medical texts that try to explain human conception and in Jakob Kremer’s Mallen Maleticarum (treatise against witches). Basically, the human male fetus = perfection and the female an imperfection…Content varied and interesting. Resources- very good. Because you chose women as your focus, I would always listen.’

Lizzie (33) who works in the music industry in an all-female collective found the presentation affirmed her feminist values:

‘I found it really interesting and inspiring. I work in an all-female environment which is rich in sound (all electronic- you’d love it) and it really inspired me- re, what women are capable of- especially 60+ years ago’

Other users were more dismissive about the feminist agenda. An anon learner writes in response to “Has this presentation challenged positively or negatively any of your preconceptions about gender?”:

‘No- Some men and some women will always choose to push the boundaries of art and music. It is do with their minds, not their genitals’

Out of 20 surveyed participants, 9 learners felt the presentation positively challenged their preconceptions of gender. 5 thought the presentation did not challenge preconceptions. 6 learners were indifferent. A polarized response but one that suggests the presentation was useful rather than detrimental to the feminist cause of my learners.

It is clear from the feedback that different women have related to the presentation in different ways. Ella (22) writes:

‘It’s made me think more about the sounds and how different genders might sound different’

When Lizzie (33) was asked whether the presentation challenged positively or negatively any of her preconceptions about gender she said:

‘Well, I always knew women where amazing’

Szara (39) when asked ‘Has this presentation challenged positively or negatively any of your preconceptions about gender?’ replied:

‘Positively. It is hard enough now with gender roles and masculine environments let alone how Daphne and Delia had to cope and prove themselves’

Anon (44) who was indifferent to the gender aspect of the presentation claimed that my talk ‘didn’t prove anything- If I had listened to it was not gender driven by its sound- I wouldn’t say it was “feministic” at all’.

Other women interpreted the presentation more negatively. Sarah Copeman (52) claimed the presentation ‘Reaffirmed all the negative stereotypes (because I’ve studied History, especially women and gender history). So, not a surprise to me that women artists/musicians have not received due recognition’.

To some extent there were aspects of the presentation that confirmed negative stereotypes. The discourse about men and electronic music focused on electronic music and its association with war and sexual domination. The closing piece from ‘Extreme music from women’ was entitled ‘Stiletto Nights’, which evoked ideas of excess and laddette culture. My point was not to accept all female music making on face value, to point out the dangers of aping flawed male models and to consider whether aggression is a natural form of expression for women. I think it is important to look at feminine expression objectively, problematic pieces can reveal things about ourselves which blind validation often alludes.

What things learners liked best about the presentation?

Anon learner (44) commented that she found ‘sitting still for ages’ challenging, this suggests that more advance learning activity focus is needed. Five out of twenty learners praised the advanced learning activities to be the favorite parts of the presentation. In the future I will try and speak less, and focus on more audience interaction when conducting workshops.

What areas needed developing or improving and what changes could be made?

The general consensus amongst nearly all participants was that the presentation went on for too long. Many learners suggested further editing and others suggested focusing on fewer composers in more detail. These suggestions will be worked into future edits of the presentation.

Conclusion

Through written and oral feedback I was able to gain a very detailed picture of the strengths, and areas of development on my specialist delivery techniques and advanced learning activities. An effective use of multi-media can help promote the cause of worthy female musicians, but a focus on non- commercial material can also polarize learners who are not ready for challenging content. Positive action (in non-mainstream settings) will only attract a small minority of the audience to take up electronic music as a hobby due to an audience’s inherent musicality. My lack of editing is becoming a barrier to learning, and I must address this in future teaching contexts. Focusing on feminism as a basis for specialist delivery techniques has been revealed to be polarizing. Although my specialist delivery techniques aimed to unite feminists rather than divide them, many learners showed natural allegiance to either difference or essentialist philosophies. Essentialist feminists tended to deny differences in the sexes in their feedback, and showed the most resistance to the specialist delivery techniques (which were based on assumptions of gender difference). Subtler re-enforcement with more of an essentialist outlook (focusing on what unites rather than divides the sexes) might broaden the appeal of my teaching to all learners.

I was encouraged by the positive constructive criticism, which has motivated me to apply these ideas in a mainstream educational context (in a toned down form). As researcher John Pratt notes:

“Schools cannot become more girl friendly unless teachers work to make them so. At present the two sexes are channeled into separate life routes with distinct styles of socio-personal development geared towards work and careers rigidly demarcated by gender14”

The negative feministic feedback has made me more sensitive to the crisis of representation in female music making. I shall choose my practitioners more carefully in future sessions.

Although my research and delivery has been ‘girl centered’, there is a definite case for focusing on the plight of male learners who are statistically more

prone to extra special needs support. Whilst working in co-educational settings I must treat all learners equally and fairly to help my learners achieve their full potential.

Bibliography

Armstrong, Victoria (2011) Technology and the gendering of music education. Ashgate. Dzuvweovix, Lina et. Al (2005) Her Noise. Forma Arts and Media Farrugia, Rebekah (2012) Beyond the Dance Floor: Female DJS, Technology and Electronic Dance Music Culture. Intellect. Green, Lucy (1997) Music, gender, education. Oxford University Press Gurian, Micheal et. al (2011). Boys and girls learn differently. Jossey Bass. Oliveros, Pauline (1995) Deep Listening: A composers sound practice. iUniverse Robinson, Jane (2011) A force to be reckoned with: A history of the women’s institute. Virago. Rodgers, Tara (2010) Pink Noises: Women on electronic music and sound. Continuum Whyte, Judith et. al (1985) Girl friendly Schooling. Routledge. Collins, Nicolas (2006) Handmade Electronic Music: The Art of Hardware Hacking Routledge Hegarty, Paul (2007) Noise/Music: A History Continuum Anon (2007) Battlenoise! War Office Propaganda/Mozgalom Blanco, Maria et. Al (2010) Popular Ghosts: The Haunted Spaces of Everyday Culture Continuum Reynolds, Simon (2011) Retromania: Pop cultures addiction to its own past Faber and Faber Ltd Roman, Annette Et. Al (1999) Japan Edge: The Insiders Guide to Japanese Pop Subculture Cadance Books Carnell, Eileen Et. Al (2009) Retiring Lives Institute of Education Anon (2001) Japanese Independent Music Sonore Gualdoni, Flaminio (2009) Futurism Skira Mini Art Books

References

1 Oliveros, Pauline (1995) Deep Listening: A composers sound practice. iUniverse pp. 50 2 Whyte, Judith et. al (1985) Girl friendly Schooling. Routledge. pp. 223 3 Whyte, Judith et. al (1985) Girl friendly Schooling. Routledge. pp. 224 4 Dzuvweovix, Lina et. Al (2005) Her Noise. Forma Arts and Media pp. 27 5 Dzuvweovix, Lina et. Al (2005) Her Noise. Forma Arts and Media pp. 27 6 Dzuvweovix, Lina et. Al (2005) Her Noise. Forma Arts and Media pp. 27 7 Dzuvweovix, Lina et. Al (2005) Her Noise. Forma Arts and Media pp. 27 8 Rodgers, Tara (2010) Pink Noises: Women on electronic music and sound. Continuum pp. 187 9 Gurian, Micheal et. al (2011). Boys and girls learn differently. Jossey Bass. pp. 270 10 Gurian, Micheal et. al (2011). Boys and girls learn differently. Jossey Bass. pp. 270

11 Gurian, Micheal et. al (2011). Boys and girls learn differently. Jossey Bass. pp. 270 12 Gurian, Micheal et. al (2011). Boys and girls learn differently. Jossey Bass. pp. 270 13 Gurian, Micheal et. al (2011). Boys and girls learn differently. Jossey Bass. pp. 270 14 Whyte, Judith et. al (1985) Girl friendly Schooling. Routledge. pp. 24