Feminist and Non-Western Perspectives in the Music Theory Classroom: A Study of John Harbison's "Mirabai Songs"

John Harbison's "Mirabai Songs" are musical settings of six poems by 16th-century Indian princess Marabia Rathor. Given the viewpoints related by the poems and their historical and present-day place in Indian society, as well as the nature of Harbison's musical settings, a study of these songs offers an opportunity for broad, interdisciplinary explorations in the music theory classroom. Focusing on the first three songs, this study outlines aspects of the poetry, its setting, and the interaction between text and music that might be discussed in an undergraduate theory class, along with possibilities for exploring the poems as windows to Indian culture, history, and feminist thought.