Feminist literature on women's involvement in music has predominantly focused on western art music and the relationship women have with feelings versus a rational approach to writing music. Little consideration has been given to women's music practices in everyday settings, including early years education. This thesis explores women's accounts of writing songs or working with young children in terms of what factors are involved in them having a successful relationship with music. Findings are drawn from a qualitative study in which fifteen interviews were undertaken with women between the ages of 20 and 78 in which singing was an element of their musical practice. A horizontal and vertical analysis was used to explore the nature of the women's relationship with music. This study suggests that for the women engaged in writing songs for adult consumption, the development of a long-term commitment to participate involved four key ingredients, which were: finding the 'right' genre, music becoming an important means of expression, a sense of choice concerning the materials one works with, and developing a positive relationship with music. Although there was a strong emotional connection with music, for the women involved in music on a professional basis no linkage with well-being was made. In contrast, many of the women involved in music on an amateur basis or working with young children, were found to engage in music practices in which well-being was enhanced. This caused music to playa crucial role in their everyday lives. This was the case regardless of the level of skill already acquired.

Divided between a prototype digital resource and a written companion, this research implements and examines some of the possibilities and prospects offered to the study of Welsh traditional music by digital humanities methods and approaches. Built on a relational database, the digital prototype functions as a server-based annotated index of a sample of sources from the collections of the National Library of Wales. The user interface of the prototype uses hyperlinks and geographical mapping to express connections between sources of, figures involved with, and reception information relating to Welsh traditional music. Its written companion serves as a contextual review and exposition of some of the research interests that have informed the creation of the prototype. Philosophically, these interests include the concepts of cultural geography, national identity, collective memory, archive, and their intersections with music. Musicologically, the research centres around twin axes: the traces of Welsh traditional music in the theoretical and literal archive constituted by the National Library of Wales, and the integration and inter-referencing of these traces in a virtual space in order to consider Welsh traditional music and its material record as a situated cultural activity.

In Taiwan, female musicians who play Western classical music have often been considered a group with a fixed image regarding their appearance. The stereotype is common amongst Taiwanese people, including female musicians. It has become an important criterion for assessing whether an individual can be considered legitimate as a female musician. Although the visual factor plays a critical role for Taiwanese female musicians, it has never been seriously investigated. This thesis aims to establish why and how the stereotype is formed, what elements constitute the favoured image, what messages are sent by the principal components, what is its mechanism and how does it affect the life and career of female musicians in Taiwan. First, the thesis traces the development and current condition both of women’s status and of Western classical music in Taiwan to clarify the position of female musicians in Taiwanese society. Due to its association with the hegemonic cultural and imperial powers/domination of the West, Western classical music is considered the embodiment of progress and civilisation in Taiwan. Female musicians are also deemed a group of high class and with an appealing image. This particular status has usually made them popular and advantageous in the marital market. This is partly revealed from the analyses of newspaper reports. The statistics in the present study show that, when female musicians are discussed in newspapers, most topics centre on their marriage and appearance. This demonstrates how most people think of female musicians and which aspects of female musicians are considered important in Taiwanese society. After reviewing the background of the status of female musicians, the thesis analyses what elements constitute the stereotype by scrutinizing the concert poster. The concert poster can be viewed as the most influential medium for displaying female musicians’ images, because of its prevalent circulation, its focus upon directly displaying the appearance of female musicians, and the fact that it is produced by the musicians themselves. The images of female musicians on their posters demonstrate high similarity. The thesis examines the critical elements of the posters by comparing them with ancient and modern women’s images. Through investigating these elements and the culture in which they are rooted, the meanings and connotations involved in the poster image will be clearly demonstrated. The findings show that most images of female musicians are designed from the angle of the male gaze. The interview data further illustrate that the posters are not only designed to satisfy the male gaze, but also relate to real men’s looking pleasure and interests in many cases. This thesis undertakes interviews with 17 female musicians. These in-depth conversations with the participants reveal why most female musicians are brought up to be musicians. It is often a decision made from an early age by their parents due to the gendered stereotype and partly to enhance their marital prospects. Nonetheless, whether or not they conform to the image significantly influences their partner searching and career development. Most participants are so accustomed to the image that it is often hard to detect its presence and operation. Through the examples of the social event and the experiences of the participants, the thesis intends to denaturalise the stereotype. It also explores the possibility of changing the image through concert posters.

Existing accounts of the music profession argue that between 1750 and 1850 musicians acquired a new identity as professional ‘artists’ and experienced a concomitant rise in their social and cultural status. In the absence of sustained investigation, it has often been implied that these changes affected male and female musicians in similar ways. As this thesis contends, this was by no means the case. Arguments in support of female musical professionalism, artistry, and their function in public life were made in this period. Based on the gender-specific nature of the female voice, they were an important defence of women’s public engagement that has been overlooked by gender historians, something which this thesis sets out to correct. However, the public role and professionalism of female musicians were in opposition to the prevailing valorisation of female domesticity and privacy. Furthermore, the notion of women as creative artists was highly unstable in an era which tended to label artistry, ‘genius’ and creativity as male attributes. For these reasons, the idea of female musicians as professional artists was always in tension with contemporary conceptions of gender, making women’s experience of the ‘rise of the artist’ much more contested and uncertain compared to that of men. Those advocating the female singer as professional artist were a minority in the British musical world. Their views co-existed alongside very different and much more prevalent approaches to the female singer which had little to do with the idea of the professional artist. Through examining debates about female singers in printed sources, particularly newspapers and periodicals, alongside case studies based on the surviving documents of specific singers, this thesis builds a picture of increasing diversity in the experiences and representations of female musicians in this period and underlines the controlling influence of gender in shaping responses to them.