Lompoc resident and musicologist Linda Shaver-Gleason does a lot in a day. She’s raising a son with her husband, is preparing for a talk at a university conference, battles cancer, and still makes time to post to her blog.
Shaver-Gleason runs Not Another Music History Cliché, where she disabuses readers of common misconceptions about music history. Headlines like, “Is music a universal language?” hint at articles that debunk, question, and illuminate complex issues in music studies.
“My philosophy is basically, don’t be proud of ignorance,” she said. “So even if you’re like, ‘Oh, I’ve never heard of them,’ well, that’s not really something to be proud of.”
Three years ago, Shaver-Gleason was ready to graduate from UCSB with her Ph.D. and continue on in academia as a professor. That’s when she got her diagnosis—stage 4 breast cancer.
Everything changed, she said. Completing her graduate degree was delayed, and the past three years have been spent in aggressive treatment, all while helping her husband raise their small son, Linus.
Undeterred from remaining connected to the wider world of musicology, Shaver-Gleason started her blog as an outlet for her research. She’s also active on Twitter, keeping in touch with colleagues across the U.S. and getting feedback on posts.
“The neat thing about the musicology community on Twitter is that it’s also very well tied to the art music composer community and also the classical performance community, there’s really no division there,” she said. “It seems like we’re friends and we’re all talking the same conversation.”
A two-part post on her blog shared recent discussions among musicologists, composers, and performers about the representation of women in the classical music community, academia, and among composers.
The post captured the conversation in classical music circles that is working to shift awareness toward musicians and composers who are women or minorities, Shaver-Gleason said, and looking at that with the eyes of a scholar can be helpful.
“Part of it is the historical aspect,” she said. “There were women composers throughout history. They certainly weren’t as prominent as men, and they haven’t been as encapsulated in the musical canon as men, but their music is still out there.”
“It’s an interesting conversation that has many branches,” she added. “It is kind of tied to ‘MeToo’ and the real sentiment today with women standing up and trying to be more visible, or audible I guess in this case.”
She has also been incredibly open on Twitter, sharing her story of fighting cancer with followers, along with photos and posts about her son and cat. Swells of support come her way from friends, followers, and blog readers, she said.
“It’s been so meaningful for me to be part of these conversations when I’m feeling isolated by geography and just the ability to do stuff because of cancer,” she said.
It’s safe to say that Shaver-Gleason does a lot. Her blog posts aren’t a casual couple-hundred words, they’re explorations, filled with links to relevant materials with a deep dive into the subject. She also shares insights from her academic focus called Reception Theory, finding how audiences reacted to and discussed music.
On her upcoming trip to a Utah State University conference for a talk about Felix Mendelssohn, she will also give a couple classes to students about music blogging. Oh yeah, she was also on Jeopardy! last year. She didn’t win, but she put up a good fight.
“You have no idea where it’s going to lead, and it leads to interesting places. It’s really fun with musicology,” she said. “And it’s all about the music; it’s stuff I already love, so I’m motivated.”
Managing Editor Joe Payne has already been disabused of a couple clichés. Contact him at [email protected].
