SPOTLIGHT ON... Lyn H. Loewi, Advocate for women’s music

Lyn, how did your interest in women’s music begin?

I needed a topic for my DMA (Doctor of Musical Arts) and my husband suggested women composers. Brilliant! No one would have any knowledge of the topic, so I could avoid the competition of a well-researched area. Once finished I submitted an article to a major musicology journal and was told that my topic was “amusing but not research. Try Beethoven”.

What about women’s compositions for the church? Why does that matter?

“He’s got the whole world in his hands” reflects our patriarchal church which teaches civil society how to behave. In our current nightmare of a U.S. government, racism and misogyny are on full display. The Epstein saga exposes not just the President, but the whole country as deeply indifferent to the welfare of its women and girls. He’s got the whole world in his hands...

Women’s music for the church interprets scripture in a new way, gives attributes to God missing from the canon, invites poetry that reshapes scripture exegesis, brings music of new voices. Can you tell a woman’s work from a man’s work? Angular bass lines and pompous character contrasted with stepwise basslines and more exploratory musical material. Less certainty. More questions. Men’s music tends towards way too much certainty. I think the same is true in art. If the lines are drawn with deadly precision, I’ll bet you a Judith Weir score it was painted by a man.

What has been your experience as a woman working in church music?

Our role models were men, so the women of my generation stepped into their skins. But women acting as men are judged harshly. The book The Confidence Code: The Science and Art of Self-Assurance---What Women Should Know by Katty Kay and Claire Shipman hit me like a splash of cold water. That’s what I’ve been swimming against for 40+ years! I encountered disapproval I didn’t understand, chafing with a minister or priest who objected to my running the program “like a man”, not like a woman- deferential and needing help. I faced discrimination in every job I had where I was the first woman to hold the DOM title.

What I want for young women entering this dangerous, wonderful profession is to be themselves, to be loved for who they are and the gifts they uniquely bring to the profession. We are connecting to the church in new ways, transforming the culture into something that looks more like the - whoops, not Kingdom, but - garden of Eden. Images of God as a woman are life-giving. She shelters me in the shadow of her wings. She knows me. She made me. She’s got it all worked out.

You are involved in the SWO Directory research team, the AGO IDEA committee, Women's Sacred Music Project, and A Great Host of Composers. Tell us more!

These groups all started with the flash of vision by a few women who wanted to do something. Women working together is a nourishing and comforting unit. Mariann Budde is the Bishop of Washington, and in a recent sermon she used the image of a Flywheel:

“The Flywheel Effect borrows from the image of turning a massively heavy metal disk on an axle, one rotation at a time. In the beginning, it takes all your effort to turn the flywheel one rotation. The second time is just as hard, and the third. But as you continue, the weight that once held you back begins to work in your favor. Amazingly, there isn’t one moment or thing you did that alone can account for the shift—the breakthrough comes through the cumulative result of countless small steps.”

You’ve probably heard the proverb "If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.” I believe that being together is a kind of spiritual discipline. I think SWO models that intensely disciplined and loving community of women, knowing that everyone brings insight, nuance, and wisdom to a discussion.

The Women’s Sacred Music Project is publishing a collection of gender-inclusive anthems – it’s taken off because the idea arose from a group vision, not a single person. With this team and Her grace, we hope to teach children of all ages that, indeed, “She/They/He have the whole world in their hands.”

How can we discover more women’s music?

Use the fantastic SWO Directory. And check IMSLP, which is increasing women’s compositions. Type www.clara.imslp.org to sort by gender. Upload your ‘finds’ to IMSLP if they are in the public domain.

What about hymnody?

I’m working with Rev. Dr. Janet Wootton and Dr. Gillian Warson to create a three-year lectionary of hymns by women. I love exploring these love poems to God and about God without the masculine attributes of power and violence. Issues one and two have been published in the Association of Anglican Musicians’ Journal.

How do we engage our choirs, students, congregations and audiences, when they expect music by dead white men?

Make inroads every week: every Sunday is Woman Composer Sunday. When I first started programming works by women I feared pushback, but it soon became a necessary part of planning. How can I worship in the presence of all this male history without the company of these women?

What three actions can SWO members take right now to improve the gender balance of performers, students and performances?

1. The SWO pluSWOne program is a wonderful, intentional way to build up the number of young women in the profession. Go further and offer a young woman six free organ lessons. Give her a membership to the AGO or SWO!

2. Where you can legislate the guidelines, require that every recital, jury exam, recital, etc. demonstrate diverse programming. We’ve done this at the national level of the AGO, but more needs to be done at the chapter (local) level. Our deans, for example, all almost all men.

3. Speak up. I love how Sarah MacDonald smiles when asking for exactly what she needs from the choir: eye contact, quiet, precise, focused. Advance the cause not on your own behalf but for all of us. In that mindset, we can advocate with undivided energy. Ask for what you need. You are doing this for all of us.

Lyn, congratulations and much gratitude for the important work you have done and are doing. Thank you, too, for your valuable contributions to the SWO Directory.

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Lyn Loewi D.M.A. (Stanford) is Director of Music at Christ Church, Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. She studied organ with John Rodland, Marilyn Mason, Herbert Nanney, and Marie-Claire Alain. She holds a unanimous First Prize in organ from the French National Conservatory. From 2019-2025 she was Associate Organist at St. John’s, Lafayette Square (the church of the Presidents). From 2012 until 2019, Lyn was Assistant Organist and then Interim Director of Music at St. John’s Cathedral, Denver. In addition to many years as a church musician, she has taught at the University of Minnesota, Portland State University, and Lewis and Clark College.