{"id":2577,"date":"2020-10-12T13:20:18","date_gmt":"2020-10-12T17:20:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/?p=2577"},"modified":"2021-02-22T15:58:06","modified_gmt":"2021-02-22T20:58:06","slug":"black-composers-matter-zenobia-powell-perry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/2020\/10\/black-composers-matter-zenobia-powell-perry\/","title":{"rendered":"Black Composers Matter: Zenobia Powell Perry"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor’s note:<\/strong> In conjunction with the current “Black Composers Matter” display at the Music Library, I – your friendly neighborhood Music Library Associate – had a great time researching for it and I thought it might be nice to showcase the Black Composers highlighted therein. Things that are linked will take you to additional relevant information or to OneSearch for library-owned materials. <\/em><\/p>\n

****<\/p>\n

Zenobia Powell Perry<\/strong>
\n(October 3, 1908 – January 17, 2004) <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Perry was born in Boley, Oklahoma into a well-educated, middle class family. Her grandfather, who had been enslaved, sang her traditional spirituals<\/a> as a child, which later influenced her work. <\/p>\n

When she was about 7 years old, she met Booker T. Washington<\/a> and sang for him at his appearance in Boley on August 22, 1915. She won a piano competition in 1919, and also learned to play violin. <\/p>\n

Perry went on to study music at Berryman Conservatory in Nebraska and the Hampton Institute in Virginia. In 1935, she started at the Tuskegee Institute<\/a> where she studied with composer William L. Dawson<\/a>, who encouraged her to compose original work. She graduated from Tuskegee in 1938.<\/p>\n

After Tuskegee, Perry became part of a Black teacher training program which was headed by Eleanor Roosevelt<\/a> (who helped to fund Perry’s graduate studies). <\/p>\n

\"\"

Perry (left) with music students and teachers in 1949.<\/p><\/div>\n

Perry worked as a professor at several historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), including Central State University<\/a> in Ohio. <\/p>\n

She did not seriously begin composing until she was in her 40s. Her music is classical with some jazz and folk influence. She wrote an opera Tawana House<\/a><\/em> (first performed in 1987 and revived in 2014), as well as works for voice, orchestra, band and a mass. <\/p>\n

\"American<\/p>\n

If you’d like to learn more about her, here are some items about Perry from the Music Library’s collection: <\/p>\n

* American Composer Zenobia Powell Perry: Race and Gender in the 20th Century<\/em> by Jeannie Gayle Pool<\/a> (Book) <\/p>\n

* Soulscapes: Piano Music by African American Women<\/a> (CD) <\/p>\n

* Black Women Composers: A Century of Piano Music (1893-1990)<\/em> edited by Helen Walker-Hill<\/a> (Score) <\/p>\n

* You can also find her works by searching on streaming services like Spotify or Youtube! <\/p>\n

\"Black<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Editor’s note: In conjunction with the current “Black Composers Matter” display at the Music Library, I – your friendly neighborhood Music Library Associate – had a great time researching for it and I thought it might be nice to showcase … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2182,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[162379,15223,162442],"tags":[162379,120698,120695,162381],"class_list":["post-2577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-black-composers-matter","category-collection","category-exhibit-tie-in","tag-black-composers-matter","tag-composers","tag-women-composers","tag-zenobia-powell-perry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgMV3E-Fz","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2182"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2577"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2577\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2654,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2577\/revisions\/2654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}