I love Women’s History Month where we can honor the inspirational musical women who came before us! I have a great list today of not-to-miss women composers and poets in “Music Lessons for Women’s History Month.” Add these to your studies during March.
Here are your Music Lessons for Women’s History Month
Hymn Writers
The beautiful hymn “Blessed Assurance” was written by Fanny Crosby and Phoebe P. Knapp
See a lesson about these ladies here.
Ms. Crosby also wrote many other hymns such as
- To God Be the Glory
- All the Way My Savior Leads Me
- I Am Thine O Lord
- Near the Cross
You’ll enjoy this book about her:
Gutsy Girls: Strong Christian Women Who Impacted the World. Book 3 ~ Fanny Crosby
Another hymn “Be Thou My Vision” has an unknown composer and lyricist, but the translator and person who versified it were women:
Translator: Mary E. Bryne in 1905
Versified by: Eleanor H. Hull in 1905
Learn more about the hymn here.
Women in the Composer Study With 10 Lesser-Known Composers course
Maria Theresa Paradis is featured in the Composer Study With 10 Lesser-Known Composers course. See her lesson here.
Amy Beach is also a part of the Composer Study With 10 Lesser-Known Composers course and her lesson can be found here.
Get the Composer Study With 10 Lesser-Known Composers course here!
Women in the Music Appreciation: Middle Ages through Classical Era course
Hildegard of Bingen is one of the earliest women composers we still have music from. See her lesson here.
Women in the Music Appreciation of the Romantic Era course
Clara Schumann was a wonderful composer and musical performer who was married to a great composer (Robert Schumann) and friends with another (Johannes Brahms). See her lesson here.
Fanny Mendelssohn composed over 460 compositions. Learn about her here.
Women in the 20th Century Music Appreciation Course:
In the 20th century course, we talk about jazz musician Ella Fitzgerald, a master of scat! See and hear her here.
Women in the Intro to Musicals course:
Here are 3 women featured in the Intro to Musicals course.
Lynn Ahrens wrote the musical Seussical which is based on stories by author Dr. Seuss. See the lesson here.
Mary Poppins was originally a book published by woman author P. L. Travers in 1934. See the Mary Poppins, the musical, music lesson here.
The musical Annie Get Your Gun is (loosely) based on the life of woman sharpshooter Annie Oakley. The Annie Get Your Gun lesson is here.
Women in the Music for Holidays & Special Days course
Mother’s Day is celebrated in the United States on the second Sunday in May. Honor all moms with the Music Lesson for Mother’s Day here.
St. Lucia’s Day is celebrated on December 13th in the Scandinavian countries of Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland. It is a holiday to remember and honor the life of Santa Lucia, who is also known as Saint Lucy. See the St. Lucia’s Day music lesson here.
Women in the FREE Sampler Music Appreciation course
All the following are in the Patriotic Music Lesson here.
“America the Beautiful” was written by Katherine Lee Bates and Samuel A. Wood in the late 1800s. Bates had traveled to Colorado and the words of the poem came to her while standing at the top of Pikes Peak. The lyrics and music were joined together and published in 1910.
“The Battle Hymn of the Republic” was written by Julia Ward Howe in 1861 during the American Civil War. The arrangement you hear here of the song is one of the most popular choral arrangements, meaning it’s sung by a group of singers called a choir.
“God Bless America” was written by Irving Berlin and made famous by the singer Kate Smith in 1938 on the anniversary of Armistice Day, the day that World War I ended with Germany. Armistice Day would have its name changed to Veterans Day to give a special day for remembering all veterans in 1954.
Women in the 15-Minute Musicals Course
“In the Bleak Midwinter” Listen to his musical arrangement of the beautiful Christina Rossetti (1830-1894) poem “In the Bleak Midwinter” which became part of The English Hymnal of 1906. English poet Rossetti wrote the poem many years earlier for the magazine Scribner’s Monthly. See the music lesson here.
Other Fine Arts: Poets
African American female poets Phillis Wheatley and Maya Angelou are featured in the Charlotte Mason Inspired High School Fine Arts course. Both of these ladies are such inspirations. It might be fun to do a compare and contrast since they wrote in different eras and their poems are so different.
Do you have other suggestions for Music Lessons for Women’s History Month?
Please leave a comment below with your favorite women musicians and composers. I’d love to add some more to the list!
Related Posts
- The Classics for Kids website has some Women Composer music lessons here.
- How to Teach Music the Charlotte Mason Way
- Behind the Scene at the Lyric Opera
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