While most seniors in the Honors Department slave away over their 50-page plus capstone papers, College of Arts and Sciences senior Danielle Giusto is working on a different type of project.
Giusto is majoring in music with a concentration in vocal performance, and instead of a paper, she is presenting a recital as her honors project. Dr. Michael Mass, director of the University Honors Program, said he strongly supports capstones that take advantage of all kinds of nontraditional expression.
"We want it to be something the student is passionate about," he said. "We're very excited about this presentation because it gives [Danielle] an opportunity to put together her interest in music with her activism in other areas. It is wonderful that this event can be part of the Women's Initiative HERstory Month."
The show, titled "Music She Wrote," seeks to draw attention to women in the arts by presenting a 50-minute concert consisting entirely of works written by female composers.
"I didn't have to choose a theme, but I wanted to focus on women composers," Giusto said. "That made [the recital] much more difficult than it already was, because it is obscure music. Most of the teachers aren't even familiar with it. And I certainly didn't have to do the display and make it a mission to educate women in music."
But Giusto felt that it was important to develop this focus for her project.
"I was frustrated in my music history class that women were only mentioned as a marginal comment," she said. "They were featured in set aside text boxes. But the music is obviously out there and being a feminist in other areas it really appealed to me to showcase that music in my capstone."
JoAnna Smith, director of Women's Initiative, said it is very important for their organization to support women in the arts through events like this one.
"We think it is wonderful that Danielle is raising awareness of all of the great contributions to music that women have made," Smith said.
The program includes music selections that range from the ninth century to present day and features everything from chant and art songs to oratorio and operettas.
"There is a list of types of music that every teacher wants their student to have in their recital," Giusto said. "And at first we thought we might have to sacrifice that because of the theme. But it turns out that it wasn't difficult at all to showcase women composers in all of those areas."
Giusto said the best part of her work has been introducing new pieces of music to groups of people.
"As I've been working on this stuff, I've had to perform some of it for classes, and everyone is like, 'What was that? Where did that come from?'" she said. "That is exactly what I'm trying to accomplish, and also, it's exactly what you want a college experience to be, that kind of community where you are learning and teaching all at the same time and working through things together."
Giusto admits that the women composers were not as successful during these time periods, but says that it was not because they were less talented or less interested in music.
"They were limited in the roles they could have. They were not permitted to be published or perform or be the successful one in their marriage," she said. "So they weren't as big then, and that means their music is harder to find now."
"Some might say it is justified to ignore [these composers], because why would you learn the more obscure composer when you have Bach and Mozart," Giusto said. "But I think as a woman musician, it is important to know that women have been composing all along. When you can relate to a certain piece of history it means something different to you."
"Music She Wrote" will be held in the Katzen Arts Center on March 31 at 2 p.m. The reception following the event is sponsored by Women's Initiative. Admission is free.
Eagle Staff Writer Vanessa C. Mueller contributed to this report.
