Generalized Musical Theatre Anthologies Raw Data

Objective: Recent studies have found limited demographic diversity in resource materials used in music theory, art song repertoire, opera repertoire, music education textbooks, and competitions. Musical theatre anthologies are commonly used resources in voice lessons but have yet to receive a content evaluation. The objective of this study is to assess demographic diversity as seen in the composers and lyricists of musical selections included in musical theatre anthology resources, as well as the characters portrayed in these pieces. Study Design: Ninety-Nine generalized musical theatre anthologies curated for teen or adult users were found in commercial search engines. “Generalized” defined resources without a specific demographic, show, or identity marker noted as the basis for their musical selections. Musical theatre competition lists were similarly analyzed to compare the usability of resources with the requirements of the professional market. Methods: Publisher websites, commercial search engines, academic and music libraries, and personal collections were searched for MT anthologies. Resources sometimes feature a specific composer, lyricist, or show, while others are generalized and organized by the singer’s gender or historical period. Generalized materials were included in the data collection process, and resources curated toward a specific composer, lyricist, or show were excluded. Non-generalized materials could potentially bias the data and provide an inauthentic view of the demographics in non-specific resources. Anthologies for children’s voices were excluded from data collection because they typically include additional songs from outside the MT genre. Results: Significant alignment exists between musical selections in the analyzed resources and those included in competition lists, as well as remarkable disparities between creator identities and public stakeholders. When diverse identities are extant in a resource, they are most often not explicated to the reader, making it less likely that a user will know this identity without further research. Women and BIPOC creators are incorporated disproportionally compared to populations learning, listening to, and performing musical theatre. Jewish composers and lyricists comprise a significant portion of the musical selections but are left unidentified in biographic material. Queer identities are rarely explicated or indicated to the user. Conclusions: Musical theatre anthologies currently available on the market do not contain musical selections written by creators with diverse demographics.研究目标：现有研究发现，音乐理论、艺术歌曲曲目、歌剧剧目、音乐教育教材及各类赛事所使用的资源材料，其人口统计学多样性（demographic diversity）较为匮乏。音乐剧选集（musical theatre anthology）是声乐课堂常用的教学资源，但目前尚未有针对其内容的评估研究。本研究旨在评估音乐剧选集资源中收录曲目之作曲家与作词人，以及曲目所塑造角色的人口统计学多样性。 研究设计：本研究通过商业搜索引擎检索到99部面向青少年或成年使用者的通用型音乐剧选集。此处“通用型”指的是，该类资源未以特定人口统计学背景、特定剧目或身份标识作为曲目遴选的依据。本研究同时对音乐剧赛事曲目单进行了类似分析，以对比通用资源与专业市场需求的适配性。 研究方法：本研究通过出版商官网、商业搜索引擎、学术与音乐图书馆以及个人藏品库检索音乐剧选集。部分资源以特定作曲家、作词人或剧目为核心收录内容，其余则为通用型资源，按演唱者性别或历史时期进行分类。本研究仅将通用型资源纳入数据收集范围，排除以特定作曲家、作词人或剧目为遴选核心的资源——非通用型资源可能会引入数据偏差，导致无法真实反映通用型资源的人口统计学分布特征。此外，针对儿童嗓音的音乐剧选集因通常收录非音乐剧体裁的额外曲目，故未纳入本次数据收集范围。 研究结果：本次分析的资源收录曲目与赛事曲目单之间存在显著重合，但创作者身份与目标受众群体之间则呈现出明显的失衡状态。若资源中包含具有多元身份背景的创作者，其身份信息通常不会向使用者明示，导致使用者若不进行额外调研便无法知晓这些创作者的背景。相较于学习、聆听与表演音乐剧的群体，女性创作者以及黑人、原住民及其他有色人种（Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, BIPOC）创作者的占比严重失调。犹太裔作曲家与作词人在收录曲目中占据相当比例，但相关传记材料中并未对其身份进行标注。酷儿（Queer）身份背景的创作者则极少被明示或告知使用者。 研究结论：当前市面上流通的音乐剧选集，其收录曲目均未出自具有多元人口统计学背景的创作者之手。