This post was originally written for the blog of Women & The Canon, an interdisciplinary conference to be held at Christ Church, Oxford on 22-23 January 2016:
How do exams shape canons?
One A-level student has questioned the make-up of a music exam which features 63 male composers and not one single woman.
The exam boards response ‘women were not prominent in the western classical tradition’ is not only somewhat inaccurate – McCabe (the student in question) herself pointed out Radio 3’s programming on music composed by women – but also indicative of an approach to canonicity which fails to ask why we make certain assumptions about who should be studied/taught/revered.
via Student demands female composers on A-level music syllabus | Education | The Guardian.
