Gender studies

Ethnomusicology

Music theory

Sociology

Social science

Composition (language)

Musical

Gene

Literature

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Visual arts

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Period (music)

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Music Theory Spectrum

The Society for Music Theory (SMT) remains a starkly male-identified society. According to the SMT’s 2019 annual report on demographics of its membership, 33% of SMT members self-identified as women—a figure that has not changed significantly over the last five years—in comparison to 51.2% of American Musicological Society members in 2017 and 52.2% of Society for Ethnomusicology members in 2014, the most recent data available. The NORC Survey of Earned Doctorates indicates that in 2018, only 20% of U.S. Ph.D.s in music theory and composition were women, a decrease from 26.4% of the period 2013–16; the previous five-year period was 18.9%. The paucity of women, trans, and non-binary gender music theorists over many decades should be a huge concern to the Society. Demographic diversity is not only an issue of equity, but also yields innovation in research that enriches the field. Drawing on insights about disciplinary constructions of gender and race by women scholars and scholars of color in classics and philosophy, experiences shared by women in music theory, an interview I conducted with composer and theorist Milton Babbitt, and the archive of music theorist and pianist Patricia Carpenter, this article proposes that we rethink what gets to count as music theory, become aware of discriminatory attitudes and behavior towards those who are not men, white, or heterosexual in the field, and take action by reshaping the field into one that supports those who wish to be part of it.

Getting to Count