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From Spirituals to Symphonies: African-American Women Composers and Their Music - Book Review

American Music Teacher, Dec, 2002 by William Chapman

by Helen Walker-Hill. Greenwood Press (88 Post Rd. West, P.O. Box 5007, Westport, CT 06881-5007), 2002. 480 pp., $99.95.

Helen Walker-Hill's fascinating new book, From Spirituals to Symphonies: African-American Women Composers and Their Music, is a must-read. The cover succinctly describes the book as a "unique, extensively researched examination of the history and scope of musical composition by African-American women focusing on the implications of race, gender and class for their musical creativity." It is an impressive work that will appeal to musicians as well as the general public.

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From Spirituals to Symphonies reads effortlessly. The flow of the language is easy; the composers dealt with are quoted often, and the almost up-to-the-minute information is very refreshing. The reader will be held captive by the good balance between the objective and subjective and will be left with so much more information than imagined, including a new perspective on composers who have been unjustifiably neglected. The book also will, hopefully, encourage the search for more diversity in art music by the teacher, the student and general music lover.

A well-known authority on music by women composers of African descent, Walker-Hill provides a staggering amount of information, bibliographical references and sources. From Spirituals to Symphonies is very well organized. There is an introduction with a picture gallery of African-American women composers. The book also has a selected list of composers, selected bibliography, discography and an index.

The historical overview for the first chapter is excellent, setting the tone for the in-depth look at the individual composers in the following chapters. Walker-Hill presents a chronology of events pertinent to Africans in the Americas reaching back as far as 1619. She then proceeds with a "broad survey of African-American women composers from the perspective of their political and social context, with particular emphasis on their relationship to the history of African-American music."

Walker-Hill concentrates on eight composers: Undine Smith Moore, Julia Perry, Margaret Bonds, Irene Britton Smith, Dorothy Rudd Moore, Valerie Capers, Mary Watkins and Regina Harris Baiocchi. Each composer has a separate chapter beginning with a chronology of her social and musical life. This is followed by a biography, which in most cases, is corroborated by the composer herself. What is so interesting is the discussion of social issues encountered by the composer. The author has painstakingly researched and interviewed these composers on issues of race, gender and class affecting them and their compositions. Each composer's view is quite different and also very enlightening. Walker-Hill then gives a general overview of the music and discusses the composer's stylistic traits. She proceeds to concentrate on particular works in analytical detail. Although there are no musical quotations, the description and analysis of some of the works given are enough. This book lists in detail the composers' works by genre, giving the first performance and the duration of the work wherever possible. Most importantly, the location of the music is given and also data on whether the music is published or in manuscript form. This mine of information is what should encourage and inspire musicians to seek out this music for performance.

She brings up the ambivalent feelings a few composers felt about participating in this book and notes how varied and complex the issues are for women of African descent in the world of "art" music. She examines these complex situations from several angles and stresses how they need to be addressed.

Walker-Hill concludes with other composers not previously discussed. She summarizes the trends running through most of the composers' lives and the impact their circumstances have on their music. Topics such as social class, gender, sexual orientation, community, disabilities, and publishing and recording problems are mentioned.

It is interesting to note that the author had originally planned twelve chapters for the book and cut them to reduce the book's length. Her final choice of composers was influenced by the need to present a wide variety of backgrounds, social issues, styles and generations. Despite the generous amount of information in From Spirituals to Symphonies, this superb book probably will leave the reader wanting more. I certainly hope there will be a sequel.

This book hopefully will be an integral part of all music education. Teachers and students seeking to expand their knowledge of music by women composers of African descent will find From Spirituals to Symphonies invaluable. Institutions offering gender studies will definitely find it a phenomenal textbook. Finally, it is an excellent reference and great resource book for research into several other areas of the vast field of music performance, musicology and sociology. Reviewed by William Chapman Nyaho, Kirkland, Washington.

From Spirituals to Symphonies: African-American Women Composers and Their Music - Book Review

American Music Teacher, Dec, 2002 by William Chapman

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