Musical Gals: Amy Beach

Oct 9, 2017 | Blog, History

Music Period: Romantic Location: New Hampshire, USA Claim to Fame: one of the few women to have found a place in mainstream histories of music. Amy Beach (neé Cheney) was an entirely self-taught composer born in New Hampshire in 1867. This incredible woman played...

Musical Gals: Dame Ethel Smyth

Sep 25, 2017 | Blog, History

Music Period: Romantic Location: London, United Kingdom Claim to Fame: composing the “The March of the Women” theme for the suffragette movement, and fighting for the right for women to play in orchestras. Dame Ethel Smyth was born in 1858 to an upper-class family...

Mythological Girls: Bachué

Sep 15, 2017 | Blog, History, MythologicalGirls

Bachué is the mother goddess and master of the Muisca or Chibcha culture, an ancient Colombian civilisation. They were native to the area now known as Bogotá, and gained fame as the origin of the El Dorado legend. Bachué was believed to have emerged from the waters...

Musical Gals: Changing perceptions on women and music

Sep 11, 2017 | Blog, History

After exploring the life of Clara Schumann, it seems appropriate to take a break, and consider for a moment how perceptions of women in music have changed throughout the ages. One nineteenth century contemporary stated that women “rarely attempt the more mature...

Musical Gals: Clara Schumann (Part 2)

Aug 28, 2017 | Blog, History

Music Period: Romantic era (1830 – 1900) Location: Leipzig, Germany Claim to Fame: One of the foremost pianists and greatest performers of the nineteenth century. With audiences in raptures over her music, Clara toured extensively towards the end of the decade....

Harriet Tubman: Abolitionist, Humanitarian, Spy

Aug 16, 2017 | Biographies, Blog, History

In third grade, I picked up a biography of Harriet Tubman, and ever since I’ve been fascinated by her life. In school I learned Tubman was a famous conductor on the Underground Railroad. She escaped slavery in Maryland by entering the free state of Pennsylvania....