Music HERstory: Estela Cabezas (1921-2011)

Estela Cabezas (1921-2011)

Estela Cabezas was a Chilean composer, pianist and educator.

Estela Cabezas was born in Temuco, on September 28, 1921. She was the second daughter of eight brothers from a wealthy family. She grew up in a progressive environment, in which women handled themselves with intelligence and freedom, and played instruments. Later she went to live in Angol with an aunt, where she attended high school.

Estela began playing piano at age four with Professor Héctor Moraga. At seven she won the Chopin contest. Her piano and music studies continued in Temuco with Leonor Davison. Although her father wanted to take her to study in Germany, the plan did not come true because of his sudden death. Then, Estela Cabezas moved to Santiago, where she studied between 1942 and 1944 with Rosita Renard. There she began her composition studies with Professor Pedro Humberto Allende and, later, with René Amengual.

Almost in the 60s Ester entered the Catholic University, where she studied composition with Juan Orrego Salas, counterpoint with Federico Heinlein and analysis with Juan Pablo Izquierdo.

At the same time she began to create a method of teaching music for children, inspired by her own experience as a mother, called Música en Colores (Music in Colors). This method is a program that facilitates the learning of music for preschool education and the first cycle of basic education. She presented it in 1969 to the School of Music at the University of Michigan in New York and then in Europe in the 1980s, with great success. Today the programme it enjoys great prestige in Chile and it is used in several schools.

In Music in Colors we find various compositions, from which her lullaby songs stand out, which are complemented by other works by the composer for choir, singing and piano, violin and piano, and even ballet music. From the beginning of 1960 its three melodic piano studies are also highlighted.

Estela Cabezas received in 2002 the Medal of Music for the book Music in Colors. In 2004 she was invited to integrate the Latin American Forum of Musical Education. Credits:

Source: Musica en Colores