Music and Gender

Just a little bit of Taylor Swift humor before I start

 

I have been lucky enough to grow up in a family that is very girl power oriented and it probably helps that my grandmother raised six girls by herself. When it was time for me to pick an instrument for band class, my mom wanted me to play trumpet and my dad wanted me to play percussion. I took the stereotypical elementary school girl mindset that the flute was the quintessential girly instrument, so that was my number one choice. Obviously that did not work out and so I chose the clarinet and I did see as I got older that more and more girls played the upper woodwinds while it was primarily boys that played percussion and brass. However, there was nothing strange to me when I saw someone who did not fit the norm. My parents had never told me that "boys play ...and girls play...," the only knowledge I had of bands prior to fifth grade was through general music class. My elementary school music teacher Mrs. Cromley, to my knowledge never made a statement that created this divide in instrumentation and gender. Everybody in our elementary school learned keyboard and recorder. The same number of boys were asked to join the fifth grade honor choir as girls, etc.

 

At my high school there was more diversity in genders and instruments. I remember being a senior in our band was a big deal. You got to sit on the senior couch in the band room, there was a special senior dinner, and speeches were given in honor of the seniors at the last band concert. The years leading up to my senior year there were a lot more boys than girls in each graduating class in band. And I can not really say that those years were particularly heavy in graduating brass players. But my senior year was dominated by the girls. (I should have known then that I was going to pick Converse) The only seniors in marching band were girls and even in concert band we only had three or four senior boys.



I think a lot of music and gender has to do with what you are used to growing up. For example, if we are being stereotypical most girls listen to boy bands and pop music while boys listen to rock and rap. Don't get me wrong, I love me some Backstreet Boys and One Direction but I also quite frequently listen to Pink Floyd, Santana, and Boston. I believe the more we limit saying "boys do that" and "girls do that" then the less stereotyping we will have. So I'm excited to see what it will be like when I have kids and what the role of music with gender will be at that time.