Marcia J. Citron
The works of a composer are not the only factor used to determine canonization; culture and gender play a large part in this process. Citron shows how the Western art canon is the result of a complex mixture of opinions, traditions, and interests that often go unacknowledged and unchallenged. The term 'canon' was applied to music in last twenty years, defined as a "specified group or body of related works." 1 It is debatable as to whether works are incorporated into the canon as a pre-existent concept or if the canon is only significant through the application of these works into a articulate and expressed repertoire. The canon is restricting in that it set the criterion for works that are to be included or discounted as marked repertoire. There is a categorization process that takes place in the development of the canon. This process places works into an appropriate group and eliminates those that do not fit the mould of what has been deemed culturally acceptable. Much new music is not accepted into reportorial canons, because the canons of the past have set high standards that do not allow for the conception and recognition of new music. These standards of repertoire are defined by cultural groups that are considered dominan
These individuals often change, presenting a change in the standards of the canon as well as a transformation of the value of the canon as a whole. These prohibited groups include women, blacks and Native Americans. " 4 This fear is based on a concern of female dominance and presents a suppression of feminine influence in the canon. Textbooks and academic curriculum also influence the construction of the canon. " 5 Periodization has set the groundwork for our systems of classification of the canon. t on the basis of class, race, gender, age, occupation, nationality, and religious orientation. These resources supply the standards that decide what goes into the canon and what is kept out. Creativity was used as a means to suppress women's desire to show any form of imagination through writing. This is a product of the fear of the unknown, resulting in the idea that "women's bodies are different and mysterious, possibly threatening, and hence must be contained. students and professors) and what music they are largely exposed to. Musicologists' preferences are the materials that are offered in academic material; however, these preferences were shaped by textbooks that were available to them. "The distinctions imply exclusivity: not only that men cannot (and should not) partake of women's bodily kind of creativity, but that women are unable to partake of men's intellectual kind of creativity. "History is a construction that we build from our values of the present and our visions of the future.
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