Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2013 Womansong: Healing in a Communal Musicking Village Felicia K. Youngblood Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF MUSIC WOMANSONG: HEALING IN A COMMUNAL MUSICKING VILLAGE By FELICIA K. YOUNGBLOOD A Thesis submitted to the College of Music in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Music Degree Awarded: Spring Semester, 2013 ! Felicia Youngblood defended this thesis on April 12, 2013. The members of the supervisory committee were: Margaret Jackson Professor Directing Thesis Denise Von Glahn Comittee Member Michael B. Bakan Committee Member The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members, and certifies that the thesis has been approved in accordance with university requirements. ii For my family, friends, y Corazón. Thank you for being my village. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am grateful to the members of Womansong for allowing me to share in a piece of their communal musicking village and for being open, honest, and kind throughout our interactions. In particular, Althea Gonzalez has been a wonderful source of knowledge and support throughout this project. The professors in the Musicology faculty at The Florida State University made this project possible. Their willingness to share their knowledge and explore new areas of study and their relentless efforts to shape me into the best scholar possible have not gone unnoticed. I am forever grateful to Meg Jackson for taking me on in her first year of instruction and for allowing me to keep my creativity while pushing me to sharpen my scholarly sensibilities; Denise Von Glahn for helping my early ideas about this project come to fruition and for inspiring the manner in which I think about women and music; Michael Bakan for having faith in this project from the very beginning and for signing on as temporary advisor before Meg Jackson joined the faculty; Douglass Seaton who pushed me to learn more than I ever thought possible in the span of one semester; Sara Nodine for giving me the tools of research and spending time in her office talking with me; and to Frank Gunderson for creating a fun and effective learning environment which reminds me of why I first became passionate about ethnomusicology. I am also grateful to my colleagues at FSU, particularly Alex Carrico, Brian Wilcoxon, Mia Gormandy, Vane Navarro, Heather Paudler, and Catherine Williams. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures .................................................................................................................................vi Abstract ..........................................................................................................................................vii INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................................1 Background ......................................................................................................................................1 Main Thesis...................................................................................................................................... 3 Review of Literature ........................................................................................................................3 Methodology.................................................................................................................................. 10 Theoretical Approach .....................................................................................................................11 Thesis Structure.............................................................................................................................. 15 CHAPTER 1: GENDER ................................................................................................................18 Big Legged Woman: Seventy-Five Female Bodies .......................................................................19 I Come from Women: Feminism and Womansong in Context ......................................................25 Arise!: Men in Relation to Womansong .........................................................................................32 Gaia Medley: Nature and Spirituality in the Village ......................................................................37 Helmet: Homosexuality and Protection in the Village ...................................................................45 CHAPTER 2: COMMUNITY .......................................................................................................52 You’ll Never Walk Alone: What is a Village? ................................................................................52 True Colors: Identity, Shared Experiences of Loss, and the Benefits of Communal Musicking ...58 Heal Me: Communitas, Belonging, and Leadership in the Village ................................................68 I Will Carry You: Concepts of Care in the Village .........................................................................74 CHAPTER 3: CONTRIBUTION ..................................................................................................80 Old Fat Naked Women for Peace: Raising Awareness, Music, and Social Movement .................80 The New Start: Womansong’s Charitable Arm ..............................................................................87 Everybody Got Her Own: My Experience of Healing in the Village ............................................91 CHAPTER 4: CONCLUSION: SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW................................... 96 APPENDICES.............................................................................................................................. 100 A. Videography ............................................................................................................................100 B. IRB APPROVAL AND INFORMED CONSENT LETTER................................................... 101 C. SONG ATTRIBUTIONS .........................................................................................................104 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................................105 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH .......................................................................................................109 v LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1: Nonsense syllables in the soprano line ........................................................................20 Figure 1.2: The final word of “Big Legged Woman” .....................................................................21 Figure 1.3: Womansong members form a kick line and a blow-up doll (top left) joins the choir .23 Figure 1.4: Holly (bottom left) at the twenty-fifth anniversary concert ........................................25 Figure 1.5: Linda Metzner, far right, with Womansong in 1988.................................................... 28 Figure 1.6: The final stave of “Arise!”........................................................................................... 35 Figure 1.7: Allijah and Althea enjoy a moment together ...............................................................36 Figure 1.8: The masked dancer ......................................................................................................38 Figure 1.9: Repeated eighth-notes on “Gaia.” ...............................................................................42 Figure 1.10: The dancer has removed her mask and braid; Debbie asks the audience to join ......43 Figure 1.11: Sharron (front and center, with the calculator) and other members of Womansong enjoy the outdoors.......................................................................................................................... 45 Figure 1.12: Jean’s partner, Va Boyle (left), dawns her helmet in the twenty-fifth anniversary concert............................................................................................................................................ 47 Figure 1.13: “Bananananananana” into “Badadadadada.” .............................................................49 Figure 1.14: The altos continue singing nonsense syllables ..........................................................50 Figure 1.15: The members of Womansong dawn their helmets .....................................................51 Figure 2.1: High notes on the “eh” syllable in measures 56 and 58 ..............................................54 Figure 2.2: Sue Curtis sings at the twenty-fifth anniversary concert with Mirra Price (on the stool) watching in the background .................................................................................................60 Figure 2.3: Shiner ASL interprets for the twenty-fifth anniversary concert ..................................63 Figure 2.4: The introduction to “True Colors.” ..............................................................................67 vi Figure 2.5: Dramatic pauses after “afraid” and “show.” ................................................................67 Figure 2.6: Liz Preyer ....................................................................................................................71 Figure 2.7: Susies (middle) sings with the choir in the twenty-fifth anniversary concert .............72 Figure 2.8: Lytingale plays