Toward Increased Inclusivity: Women’s Solo Piano Repertoire in Royal Conservatory of Music Curricula

In 1886, The Royal Conservatory of Music established its presence in Toronto where it continues to maintain significance as a Canadian institution for Western classical music study. The primary focus of this research is to understand how women’s solo piano music has been included in Canada’s most prominent music conservatory curricula by tracking how and when women’s music appeared in editions of the syllabi. Ultimately, this research intends to better understand how classical music repertoire has shifted from its patriarchal core through an intersectional feminist lens. This study bridges music education and music performance literature to better inform scholars and musicians of the impact surrounding historically underrepresented groups and its effect on the canon. With the societal shifts that took place since 2015—namely the #metoo movement, pandemic, and racial reckoning—many education systems were confronted with identity-related bias. Using the RCM as my case study, I discovered an increase of inclusive patterns regarding women composers in the last two editions of piano syllabi (2015, 2022). I gathered primary data regarding new inclusions, ultimately resulting in a catalogue of 306 newly included solo piano works by women composers (Preparatory A to Licentiate Diploma) in the 2022 piano syllabus. Each new piece of repertoire includes information that outlines composer name, date of birth and death (where applicable), composition title and date, publisher(s), geographical points of interest, and a narrative link discussing topics from the literature review. In addition, a numerical and thematic analysis regarding women composers of the last two editions of RCM piano syllabi (2015, 2022) was conducted. Themes that emerged include politics of place, the focus on the RCM examination system, level-based inclusive patterns, and women composers included in the 2022 RCM piano syllabus. No research on this 2022 RCM piano syllabus—the most recent edition at the time of this writing—exists. This dissertation fills the gap and provide teachers, students, and performers with a catalogue of the 306 newly included pieces of piano music by women in the 2022 syllabus. This tool highlights newly included repertoire and composers and provides means to avoid becoming overshadowed by the more familiar repertoire of previous syllabi, which, as the study shows, has historically been comprised of music by men. The significance of this study informs our understanding of the historical patriarchy of Western classical music, confronts gender bias in the evaluation of composers, and ultimately highlights the RCM as an institution toward increasing inclusive practices. The goal of this research is to amplify women’s music for solo piano, ultimately resulting in more interest and performance of this repertoire.

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