This Sunday, the Women's Studies Research Center kicked off a new year of musical scholarship and performance with a dynamic lecture and concert program, Women "Making Music: Honoring the Work of Judith Tick." The hallmark events paid tribute to the lifetime of pioneering work that musicologist Judith Tick has done in the interest of women's participation and legacy in music.

On Sunday afternoon, the WSRC hosted a talk by Tick, who shared the inspiration for the day's events: the 25th anniversary of the publishing of an anthology of essays, compiled by Tick and her colleague Jane Bowers, entitled Women Making Music: The Western Art Tradition, 1150-1950. The heavy attendance of Brandeis alums contributed to an atmosphere of reverence and belovedness for the music and movements that Tick discussed.

WSRC scholar and accomplished historical musician Vivian Montgomery introduced Tick to the eager, packed audience, sharing that her work encompasses "performers who have unearthed and represented women in music."

Tick gracefully commanded the room, and began to tell the audience about the process behind the creation of the anthology, which has become both a teaching tool and an industry standard in musicology studies. "This book," she started, "came out of the civil rights movement, and what was then called 'women's liberation.'" While completing graduate studies at the University of California, Berkeley, the progressive Tick and Bowers "turned our focus from political activism to social feminism." While at the UC, she said, "We practiced very traditional musicology. We needed to gain control over the data."

Tick and Bowers began to study female composers and musicians from the last millennium who, though they possessed great musical genius, were prevented by social, societal and familial norms from rising to success amongst their male contemporaries. As they created the anthology, they were "sustained by cultural feminism and saw gender as a historical category, right up there with race." The musicians and composers featured in the anthology span several centuries and musical periods, so the final publication is not meant to be a history book, but rather a retributive look at several women who were born in the wrong time, if you will. "Even though it wasn't a survey, it was a representation of musical history-baroque, medieval, romantic, classical and modern," Tick shared.
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She delved into detail about several of the women whose musical careers were analyzed in the anthology. One particular example that showcased the historical obstacles between women musical success is the case of Fanny Mendelssohn, sister to popular German composer Felix Mendelssohn. While Fanny was a brilliant composer, and the harmonies in her quartet pieces were quite ahead of her time, her success was stifled by the stigma surrounding women having professional careers, instead of being fixtures in the home. Tick said: "She became a sort of 'poster child' for a resurrected figure who brings up all the complexities of class and gender. I think the quality of her work was recognized in a limited circle in her lifetime, but now it's getting up."

This is the exact conflict that has impeded countless women from becoming figures of musical consequence, and the very standard that Tick's trailblazing work in musicology has
defied. "We are watching the field widen. We are watching minds change," she says.
The afternoon lecture was followed by an evening concert at Slosberg Recital Hall, which was attended by a densely packed audience of Brandeis alumni, students and musicians alike. This particular performance was also part of a series sponsored by the WSRC, called "Women & Music Mix," which will last through the spring season.

The concert featured performances of landmark pieces composed by the musicians whom Tick included in the anthology, as well as premieres of pieces written by WSRC scholars. From the eye-opening lecture to the absolutely sublime concert, the entire day of events were a victory for women in music everywhere. Perhaps Tick puts it best: "If you don't believe in the power of music, a vital link is broken."
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