Contemporary American Composer Project

What is the Contemporary American Composer Project?

The Contemporary American Composer Project enables researchers and scholars to discover and study the music scores of self-published American composers from historically marginalized groups.

In alignment with the library’s strategic plan, the project will actively seek out and incorporate works from underrepresented groups to grow an inclusive array of voices in the library’s music collections, and to foster a more equitable and representative platform for teaching, learning and research.

Background

As is the case with libraries around the world, the UC Davis Library has traditionally acquired music scores, both new and old, through conventional publishers. However, traditional publishing has often overlooked composers from underrepresented backgrounds, leaving their works absent from library collections and perpetuating a skewed narrative.

An increasing number of composers have chosen to self-publish their music, often via personal websites, but discoverability remains a challenge. While today’s social media environment provides a plethora of options for self publishers to share recordings, similar options for sharing (and finding) written scores remain limited.

Why Participate?

The Contemporary American Composer Project will make digital self-published scores more accessible and discoverable to professional musicians and music scholars. Making scores available in the library catalog creates a new range of opportunities for audiences to discover composers and their scores, both deliberately and fortuitously.