Generalized Musical Theatre Anthologies Raw Data
Description
Objective: Recent studies have found limited demographic diversity in resource materials used in music theory, art song repertoire, opera repertoire, music education textbooks, and competitions. Musical theatre anthologies are commonly used resources in voice lessons but have yet to receive a content evaluation. The objective of this study is to assess demographic diversity as seen in the composers and lyricists of musical selections included in musical theatre anthology resources, as well as the characters portrayed in these pieces. Study Design: Ninety-Nine generalized musical theatre anthologies curated for teen or adult users were found in commercial search engines. “Generalized” defined resources without a specific demographic, show, or identity marker noted as the basis for their musical selections. Musical theatre competition lists were similarly analyzed to compare the usability of resources with the requirements of the professional market. Methods: Publisher websites, commercial search engines, academic and music libraries, and personal collections were searched for MT anthologies. Resources sometimes feature a specific composer, lyricist, or show, while others are generalized and organized by the singer’s gender or historical period. Generalized materials were included in the data collection process, and resources curated toward a specific composer, lyricist, or show were excluded. Non-generalized materials could potentially bias the data and provide an inauthentic view of the demographics in non-specific resources. Anthologies for children’s voices were excluded from data collection because they typically include additional songs from outside the MT genre. Results: Significant alignment exists between musical selections in the analyzed resources and those included in competition lists, as well as remarkable disparities between creator identities and public stakeholders. When diverse identities are extant in a resource, they are most often not explicated to the reader, making it less likely that a user will know this identity without further research. Women and BIPOC creators are incorporated disproportionally compared to populations learning, listening to, and performing musical theatre. Jewish composers and lyricists comprise a significant portion of the musical selections but are left unidentified in biographic material. Queer identities are rarely explicated or indicated to the user. Conclusions: Musical theatre anthologies currently available on the market do not contain musical selections written by creators with diverse demographics.
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Publisher websites, commercial search engines, academic and music libraries, and personal collections were searched for MT anthologies. Resources sometimes feature a specific composer, lyricist, or show, while others are generalized and organized by the singer’s gender or historical period. Generalized materials were included in the data collection process, and resources curated toward a specific composer, lyricist, or show were excluded. Non-generalized materials could potentially bias the data and provide an inauthentic view of the demographics in non-specific resources. Anthologies for children’s voices were excluded from data collection because they typically include additional songs from outside the MT genre. Searches focused on easily accessible demographic information reflecting what the average person might find without reading an entire show script. Only pieces with 2 or fewer characters were analyzed to maintain a user-centered focus on applicability in voice lessons. A negligible number of songs with three or more characters were excluded from the analysis since anthologies are used primarily as solo repertoire resources.