BOOKS
A Century of Composition by Women: Music Against the Odds, ed. Linda Kouvaras, Maria Grenfell and Natalie Williams.
Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2022.
https://link.springer.com/book/9783030955564
This book presents accounts of creative processes and contextual issues of current-day and early-twentieth-century women composers. This collection of essays balances narratives of struggle, artistic prowess, and of “breaking through” the obstacles in the profession.
Part I: Creative Work – Then and Now illuminates historical and present-day women’s composition and various iterations and conceptions of the “feminine voice”; Part II: The State of the Industry in the Present Day provides solutions from the frontline to sector inequities; and Part III: Creating; Collaborating: Composer and Performer Reflections offers personal stories of current creation in music.
A Century of Composition by Women: Music Against the Odds draws together topical issues in feminist musicology over the past century. This volume provides insight into the professional and compositional procedures of creative women in music and stands to be relevant for composers, performers, industry professionals, students, and feminist and musicological scholars for many years to come.
The Composer, Herself: Contemporary Snapshots of the Creative Process, ed. Linda Kouvaras, Natalie Williams and Maria Grenfell.
Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2024.
https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-23922-9
This edited volume presents 27 original essays by living composers from all around the globe, reflecting on the creation of their music. Coterminous to the recent worldwide resurgence in feminist focus, the distinctive feature of this collection is the “snapshots” of creative processes and conceptualizing on the part of women who write music, writing in the present day, from prominent early-career composers to major figures, from a range of ethnic backgrounds in the contemporary music field.
The chapters step into the juncture point at which feminism finds itself: as binary conceptions of gender are being dissolved, with critiques of the attendant gender-based historical generalizations of composers, and with the growing awareness of the rightful place of First Nations' cultural voices, the contributors explore what, actually, is being composed by women, and what they think about their world. The needs that this book serves are acutely felt: despite recent social gains, and sector initiatives and programs encouraging and presenting the work of women who compose music, their works are yet to receive commensurate exposure with that of their male counterparts. In its multi-pronged, direct response to this dire situation, this vibrant volume highlights established as well as emerging women composers on the international stage; reveals myriad issues around feminism, as broadly conceived; and gives insights, from the composers' own voices, on the inner workings of their composition process.
The volume thus presents a contemporary moment in time across the generations and within developments in musical composition. With its unique insights, this book is essential for academics and practitioners interested in the illuminations of the current working landscape for creative women.
BOOK CHAPTERS
The Routledge Companion to Music Theory Pedagogy, ed. Leigh VanHandel (Feb 2020), Chapter 38
Mapping Symmetry and Form in George Crumb’s “A Prophecy of Nostradamus”
In Tune With Music, ed. Dorricott and Allan (2013), Chapter 5
Analysis of Five Portraits of Scheherazade by Natalie Williams
https://cengage.com.au/product/title/in-tune-with-music-book-2/isbn/9780170221252
JOURNAL ARTICLES
Engaging Students, Essays in Music Pedagogy, ed. Kris Shaffer and Bryn Hughes (2017), Vol 5
Melody Makers: Connecting Student Composers with the Community
http://flipcamp.org/engagingstudents5/essays/williams.html
International Alliance of Women in Music, ed. Meyer (2016)
Prize Recipient Essay by Natalie Williams for the Judith Lang Zaimont Award
https://issuu.com/rainworthington/docs/iawm_2016_fall_journal-review
PUBLISHED WRITINGS
Australian National University Reporter Magazine (2017), Vol 48 no. 4
The Creative Arts Need More Support for Women
https://reporter.anu.edu.au/creative-arts-needs-more-support-women
Resonate Magazine, Australian Music Centre (2013)
Insight: Replica and Our Don, new works for symphony Orchestra performed in Adelaide and Melbourne
https://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/article/insight-em-replica-em-and-em-our-don-em
Resonate Magazine, Australian Music Centre (2008)
Interview: Connecting with the Past, Thoughts on Earlier Compositional Journeys
CONFERENCE PAPERS
Musicological Society of Australia
Society for Music Analysis
University of New South Wales
Music Analysis Summer School
International Assoc. of Music Librarians
Australian National University
Music Analysis Summer School
Contrapuntal Analysis
Post-Tonal Counterpoint
Digital Musicology (in absentia)
Ruth Crawford Seeger, String Quartet Op. 31, Mapping Structure and Process
Preserving Compositional Sketches in a Digital Musical World
Historical Definitions of Counterpoint
Contemporary Counterpoint
Compositional Pedagogy
Keynote speaker, post-tonal theory
Perth, 6 December, 2018
London, 6 July, 2018
Sydney, 14 October, 2017
Melbourne, 23 November, 2017
Canberra, 29 September, 2017
Canberra, 26 October, 2017
Canberra, 16 March, 2017
Canberra, 22 September, 2016
Melbourne, 21-25 November, 2016