New Standards in Europe: Lead Sheets by Female Composers
Funded through CREA-CULT-2024-COOP (European Cooperation projects)
Funding volume: € 198.661,85
Duration: 10/2024 - 09/2028
Abstract
The project "New Standards in Europe: Lead Sheets by Female Composers" is a multi-dimensional and collaborative project that includes a research project, a printed publication, an international competition and recordings. The goal of the project is to draw attention to European female role models in jazz and to promote gender equity in jazz as an art form, where women are currently severely underrepresented. The centerpiece of the project is a publication as a compilation of 101 compositions in the form of sheet
music by women composers currently active in Europe or of historical significance to Europe. An international panel of experts will be involved in researching and selecting the compositions from all european regions that will be compiled in the first published volume.
A second publication with arrangements on the lead sheets and a CD recording will follow. The selection and editing process will be led and overseen by the Jam Music Lab Private University for Jazz and Popular Music Vienna (JMLU).
The process of the selection will be documented and published as an artistic research project at JMLU with an ethnographic approach, documenting the planning and working process with video and audio material, interviews and reflective analysis. Schott/Advance Music, one of the world leading publishing houses for music, will license and publish the compilation. A further component of the project includes a competition for arrangements of the lead sheets for various ensemble sizes, for both professional and amateur musicians, in order to achieve sustained and widespread dissemination in both the professional and amateur music sectors, especially for training and development of capacities of artists and professionals. The project will benefit already active female jazz artists, girls and women who will be encouraged in their artistic work in the field of jazz, but also the European jazz scene, whose so far underexposed cultural european heritage will be highlighted.
Consortium
JAM MUSIC LAB Private University (JMLU) is an autonomous private music university located in Vienna. It is a new and worldwide unique university for music forms of the 20th century and especially of the present, moving from the interface between U- and E-music into the most diverse styles of popular music forms. Individuality, internationality and innovation are central values that accompany the cooperation between students and teachers. They open up important scope for the high-quality and contemporary development of artistic practice and subject-related theoretical, but also human, competences. In this sense, diversity is not only a central motif in the design and delivery of the curriculum, but also in the composition of students, faculty and administration. JMLU welcomes individual and cultural diversity and values them as general foundations for further development in the arts, society, economy and science. JMLU is the leading project partner and is responsible for the selection of the lead sheets as well as the overall responsibility for the project realization.
Advance Music is part of the Schott Music Group, the second oldest German publishing house. Schott celebrated its 250th anniversary in 2020 and is internationally active with agencies and partners. Advance Music is a leader in the field of jazz books and has several hundred titles in its catalog: Playalongs, ensemble works and original compositions as well as Latin American music, klezmer and arrangements of classical works. With its expertise in the production of high-quality sheet music editions and its distribution competence in the analog and digital market, Advance Music is the responsible project partner for the collection of works by women composers and for the realisation of the CD.
MIDJ, the Italian Jazz Musicians Association, founded in 2014, serves as a central hub for jazz musicians in Italy. Its primary goal is to support policies for jazz and improvisational music, aligning with European practices. MIDJ represents and supports Italian jazz musicians in a rapidly evolving professional landscape, focusing on information, training, and creating opportunities. The association advocates for awareness, collaborates with key players in the Italian jazz system, and works to enhance musicians' protections. MIDJ contributes to promoting and analyzing the professionalization of jazz musicians, addressing diverse roles within the field including export of Italian jazz. MIDJ is the responsible project partner for organizing and hosting the competition and the recording of the CD.
Contact
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Monika Herzig (Principle investigator)
monika.herzig@jammusiclab.com
Dr. Bianca Schumann (Project coordinator)
bianca.schumann@jammusiclab.com