Abstract
Jill Sullivan, a leading author on women in bands, was inspired to organize a series of essays filling a gap in a history that has too often omitted women musicians and their contributions. In the Introduction, Sullivan encourages the reader to contemplate the diverse sociocultural challenges women encountered in forming their own bands. The following collection of chapters, contributed by leading music educators, documents the bands women formed, from military to town bands in the 1800s to rock bands in the 2000s and the difficulties and triumphs they experienced.
Discussed throughout are the men who took advantage of and exploited women’s bands and the cultural stereotypes and struggles faced by women. Helen May Butler’s famous all-female band was often publicized by pointing to nonmusical values such as women’s looks and attire, or for just being women. Admission to the concerts of the women’s military bands, one featured on the cover of the book, was the price of a war bond for support of the war. Even though the women gladly participated in raising money, a look at the way they were portrayed paints a darker picture. According to Sullivan, “these talented, musical women ended up being commodified and objectified as propagandists to help the government sell the war” (231). The famous Twin Bands of Kent State University (two gender-segregated bands often combined for performance) contributed to the exploitation of women because of the reliance on novelty and emphasis on the band women’s objectified physicality.
Discussions of dresses and uniforms the women wore are a common theme in the essays. In the early years women wore long dresses or military-style jackets and hats. In her chapter, Howe notes that this is possibly due to the influence of company catalogs catering to military men and their uniforms. Female bands in the early 1900s moved to wearing skirts, corsets, and boots with heels. During the Vaudeville Era, women musicians clothed themselves in a very feminine way with attention to their hair and make-up. Writing on women’s bands on the Vaudeville stage, Joanna Ross Hersey notes that they were trying to portray themselves in a manner similar to the styles women preferred when playing music in parlors.
Women also played a role in the long-lasting tradition of drum and bugle corps. Corps were sponsored by the American Legion and often organized by veterans returning home from World War I. Many of the men who joined these groups also formed bands. Women also formed their own corps and according to author Danelle Larson, “evidence suggests that they have contributed to the sport since the beginning” (154). Special attention was given to the first all-female senior drum corps to compete, the Hormel Girls, nicknamed the “Spamettes.”
The experiences of several influential women are highlighted. These include Lillian Williams Linsey, Gladys Stone Wright, and Mary Lou Williams. These women made significant contributions over several decades by challenging cultural perceptions of gender, becoming the first women voted into the American Bandmasters Association and challenging the power of gender and race, respectively. Other notable bandleaders included are MaryBelle Nissly and Martha Jean “Martye” Awkerman of the Women in the Air Force (WAF) Band. The WAF was formed after World War II and disbanded in 1961 after members were interrogated about their sexuality by the Air Force Office of Special Investigators.
Sullivan’s book is much needed in the historical area of women in music. Too often women bandleaders have not been discussed or included in the history of music and music education. If not for the publication of this book, many stories of women and bands they formed may never have been told. According to the author, “Town and professional women’s bands likely had a positive impact on women forming bands in schools, such as among women studying to be teachers in normal schools in many states” (146). Of particular importance is the positive contribution the book makes to the image and identities of female teachers and leaders. It thus helps provide a more balanced and complete view of the history of bands and a truly usable past that includes significant contributions of women musicians in education and performance.