Opportunities for women, during that time, as musicians, composers, and stageperformers in the American Popular Music from 1895-1945.

The author describes women in music as the duty of women as instrument performers,
stage performers, composers, educators, as well as other professionals in music. Music
between 1895 and 1945 was not a public thing and was mostly played at home by women and
girls while they played the instruments (Dunbar and Julie 166). Luckily, financially stable
women were able to get music lessons with the intention of attaining a particular social status.
However, the connotations used in musical instrument changed with time, allowing women to
play all tools that were earlier defined as unladylike. Opportunities for women in music came
up where women were permitted as accomplished violinists to perform in America, and
others took part as amateurs. Besides, the audiences very much wanted to hear and see
women play music in events such as fairs, parties in the park pavilions. The music clubs also
provided opportunities for women to showcase their talents in music, facilitating skill
development and music composition.
The role paid to women in the music entertainment filed included that of music
composers, theater, and music-related stages, some of which hold many opportunities.
According to Dunbar and Julie (176), the musical genres were used in the interspersion of
musical acts, comedy, animal tricks, and magic shows, creating more opportunities. The
shows well held with deep roots of the South, and this led to the development of the comic
and ballad songs. Fortunately, the different musician activities in that era created a high

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demand and in return, employed a large number of musicians. Theaters show organized by
the whites ensured that women earned prominent roles in the industry as singers and dancers
rather than being instrumentalists. However, in the event of women staging their
performance, sexualization was evident compared to their male counterparts who rarely
appeared in the advertising sheets of the Ziegfeld shows (177). For instance, women
performers were displayed in a publication as a garden of beautiful women in relation to the
songs they performed.
Women music composers had little opportunities even when the music-related
entertainment duty for women had great opportunities. In the 1920s, women were lucky to
have increased their chances of performing on stage. At this point, musical revues and variety
were converted into full dramas of Broadway and musical content (177). The focus was
shifted to entertaining the audience in interspersed songs and dances. This created more and
more news shows that required more women to perform along with their male counterparts.
For instance, Carrie Jacobs and Kay Swiff made an earning with their popular music as
composers, and performers in different stages around the country (175). However, it was not
the case for all women as some settled in music as avocational musicians and not as
professionals.
Moreover, women have used their musical ability to deliver their intended message,
especially when they are less likely to teach directly to the recipient. For instance, in church,
women will, in rare cases, serve as preachers; therefore, they deliver their social message
through the musical pulpit. The gospel was then recognized as a male preaching duty, and
this led to the realization of opportunities for church women. Women understood music held
people’s attention, and they took the chance to enlighten their spirits using street performance.
For instance, a woman Arizona Dranes was blind but used the piano to expand the

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evangelical role. Women as musicians, composers, and stage performers found the music as a
source of empowerment compared to others who lost their style in the industry.

Work Cited

Dunbar, Julie C. Women, Music, Culture: An Introduction. Routledge, 2015 pp. 166-185