MUSIC

Defining the "American" criterion as including individuals who were "born in the United States, resided in the United States, or made most of [their] contributions in the United States" (p.vii) and the "since 1900" criterion as covering individuals who were "born in or lived primarily during the twentieth century" (p.vii), [Kristine H. Burns] limits the scope of coverage considerably for this encyclopedia. The final criterion for inclusion is the significance of the individual's contributions to the field of music. Burns writes, "For example, her compositions have won many awards, she was the first woman editor of an important periodical, she was the first woman conductor of a major orchestra, or her band was the most successful rock group, female or otherwise, of the 1980s" (p.viii). This standard will, no doubt, have the potential to cause quibbling over who is and is not included. Many of the biographical entries have an opening sentence that refers to that individual as "one of the most important," as if saying so justified her inclusion. One might wonder about the entry for Linda Eder, referred to as "one of the most important woman vocalists on Broadway in the final decades of the twentieth century" (p.166), when she was known primarily for one role in Jekyll and Hyde in 1997. However, the judgment of a person's significance is often subjective, and most of the entries make perfect sense.