Plucked voices: history and life trajectory and university teaching of Brazilian women guitarists
women classical guitarists; university; oral history
The thesis aimed to investigate, through narratives from oral history interviews, the trajectories of training and professionalization of four classical guitar teachers in music courses at Brazilian federal universities, between 1976 and 2023. Questioning the history of occupation of spaces by women in music at federal universities, in the second half of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century, this research addresses the stories that these professionals, currently retired, bring about themselves. Although the initial project focused on a trajectory of university life and teaching from an approach focused on gender discussions, this problematization was extended to reflections through cultural studies and feminist historiography. From the concept of culture as something common, that is, as a way of life from the perspective of Raymond Williams (2011, 2015), the understanding of music as a space for the affirmation of women, guitarists and university professors, research participants, was consolidated and allowed for more in-depth analyzes of the processes of democratization of teaching and training in the field of music, specifically the guitar. It is therefore considered that, more than learning a trade, access to music constitutes a social practice represented in the life trajectories and university teaching of the four guitarists. These reflections, based on feminist historiography, reflect the political importance of the writing of women's history(s) by Joan Scott (1990); Michelle Perrot (1995); Maria Izilda Matos (2013); Rachel Soihet (1997), from self-reported sources. Knowing the stories that four women, guitarists, university professors bring about themselves, represents a new knowledge and the occupation of a previously silenced space. The trajectories of Brazilian guitarists, although they have common meanings, bring unique aspects that make each narrative unique. This research is based on, in addition to oral sources, the personal collection of guitarists such as printed sources, newspaper and magazine reports, imagery sources – personal photographs, artistic productions such as audio recordings, CDs made available by the participants themselves