Our theme on the blog this month is celebrating diversity, so what better way to do this than highlighting the work of the female composers featured in our syllabuses. You may have read our previous blog on this subject back in August 2022. Since then, we’ve also released new Woodwind, Jazz Woodwind, Piano and Singing syllabuses, so in this blog we will highlight a selection of female composers which are included in these, and in our diploma syllabuses. Read on for some inspiring women composers and their pieces which you can select for your exam:
Marie Jaëll (1846 – 1925)
Jaëll was a French pianist and composer who wrote pieces for piano, concertos and quartets. She was the first pianist to perform all the piano sonatas of Beethoven in Paris. For Grade 4 piano, you can play her beautiful fairy tale composition ‘Conte de fée’ (Fairy Story) (no. 3 from 7 pièces faciles), with legato lines where you can practice pedalling and crossing your left hand over your right.
Betty Jackson King (1928 – 1994)
Betty Jackson King was an American pianist, singer, teacher, choral conductor and composer. She gained a master’s degree in composition from the Chicago Musical College of Roosevelt University and was best known for her vocal compositions. In our Singing Syllabus, you can sing her moving ballad with text by William Shakespeare ‘In the Springtime’ at Grade 3, or the soothing piece ‘A Lullaby for You’ at Grade 7.
Marta Ptaszyńska (1943 – present)
Marta Ptaszyńska is a Polish composer, percussionist and professor of music at the University of Chicago, a post which she has held since 1998. She has composed many different works from orchestral, vocal and instrumental to solo works and chamber music. At Percussion LTCL and FTCL you can find her compositions: why not try out ‘Space Model’ for multi-percussion LTCL, or ‘Graffito’ for marimba/xylophone?
Judith Weir (1954 – present)
Judith Weir is a British composer who has served as Master of the King’s Music from 2014 to 2024. She was appointed by Queen Elizabeth II and was the first woman to hold this post. Notably, she wrote the orchestral piece ‘Brighter Visions Shine Afar’ for the coronation of Charles III and Camilla which was performed before the ceremony in May 2023. We are delighted to include her compositions in our diploma syllabuses, which include ‘Sketches from a Bagpiper’s Album’ for Clarinet FTCL, ‘In the Lovely Village of Nevesinje’ (from Songs from the Exotic) for Singing ATCL and No. 1, 2, 3 or 4 (from Songs from the Exotic) for Singing LTCL.
Diljeet Bhachu (n.d. – present)
Dr Diljeet Kaur Bhachu is a Glasgow-based musician who works primarily with flutes. You can play some of her compositions for flute in our updated Woodwind syllabus: ‘Something Strange is Happening’ for Flute Grade 1 is slow and mysterious whereas ‘Embrace the Space’ for Flute Grade 2 explores multiple different note lengths and even ornaments, such as a trill.
Recent commissions have come from Zhenyan Li, Seána Davey, Gillian Walshaw and Mari Sainio (you can listen to podcasts with these composers here) for Piano, and Yshani Perinpanayagam, Diljeet Bhachu, Huan Li and Nicola Tagoe for Woodwind. Recent published compositions for our Singing syllabus have come from Ellen Mandel, Amanda Ira Aldridge, Ayanna Witter-Johnson and Barbara Arens.
We hope you found this blog helpful in exploring the work of inspiring women composers which we have featured in our repertoire lists! Did you know you can perform one of your own compositions in your Trinity graded exam? You can find the parameters for your grade and instrument in the relevant syllabus, and watch support videos on our website. Keep checking out the Trinity UK and Ireland blog this month for other ways we are celebrating diversity.
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