Sigma Alpha Iota

Pan Pipes Winter 2024

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12 Winter 2024 • sai-national.org Music Histy The New Woman A Social History of Women as Told Through Music By Dr. Patricia Backhaus On August 20, 1920 women were guaranteed the right to vote after a many decades long struggle. While much has been written on the leaders of the movement, very little has been written about the music, in particular, the band music and the bands that performed it. Suffrage event organizers hit upon the idea of holding parades to advertise their cause. Then, as now, bands were an important component of all significant events. I was asked to create a program for our Milwaukee Alumnae Chapter in Region III, Epsilon A Province. It was to be a lecture on band music, but the 100 th Anniversary of Suffrage was perfect for addressing this unique genre. The lecture recitals I have done in the past were limited to the instrumentalists in our Chapter and a few friends. This time, because of the pandemic, I decided to send a mass email to see who would respond. I got just over 30 responses and I took everyone regardless of what band instrument they played. The instrumentation turned out to be quite good and most of the parts could be covered. We rehearsed outside on a playground so the group could social distance. We fought the onset of darkness, but a great benefit was that neighbors came out of their houses to listen. 2020 was the 100 th Anniversary of the ratification of the 19 th Amendment to the US Constitution. The fight for women's right to vote had begun nearly 80 years earlier. As women stood up to be counted they did so in a variety of ways. They held meetings and conventions. When the newspapermen would not report their events, they even started their own newspapers to publicize their cause. Today we look at another aspect. We look at the music that was a live soundtrack to women's social history. Let's establish our context. It comes from noted author Charlotte Bronte. Charlotte and her two sisters, Emily and Anne, all tried to have their manuscripts published. We know their writing was excellent as their titles are still studied and loved today. These three sisters devised a plan to have their stories published. The plan was to write under pen names, and names that were masculine, so that they would be taken seriously. Charlotte became Currer Bell, Emily became Ellis Bell, and Anne became Acton Bell— and it worked. Fast forward to where the public learned that they were women authors. Their success was an awakening for many women. The sisters' writing inspired women to look for things to do in their lives beyond cooking, cleaning, and tending children. No less then Florence Nightingale, who was impressed by Charlotte Bronte's novel Jane Eyre, looked to find a "necessary occupation." 1 She wrote about the importance of women contributing to society. Nightingale said, "What are they to do with that thirst for action, useful action, which every woman feels who is not deceased in mind or body?" The year was 1849. The Bronte sisters, writing as the Bell brothers, caused quite a stir throughout the English-speaking world. There was much debate by reviewers regarding the sex of the authors. The stories were strong, so it was believed that the authors had to be men. If they were women, especially Currer/Charlotte, well, the North British Review concluded, "if a woman, 'must be a woman pretty nearly unsexed.' 2 " Bandleader Helen May Butler Bandleader Helen May Butler Photo: Library of Congress, Music Division Photo: Library of Congress, Music Division

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