Music and Gender
- Hannah Cheatham
- Jan 17, 2020
- 2 min read
Updated: May 8, 2020
In many of the cultures we've looked at so far, musical roles has been fairly gendered. So this post is supposed to be about my own personal experiences with gender in regards to music. Well, the paradoxical thing about this blog post is that it haven't really a story to tell of any personal experiences. Let me explain.
I have observations when it comes to gender in musical situations, but I personally would not go so far as to call them experiences. There wasn't this very specific time that something happened to me, my friends or my family. I have merely observations based on my experience in the arts over the years. And if someone wants to be a musician, gender shouldn't determine how they participate as a musician. It's something that I never really noticed or thought about because I felt like a shouldn't have to. A musician is a musician is a musician. I didn't make some huge fuss over it. I treated it like it was normal because it is. I didn't have to make it a huge deal because it wasn't. It was simple.
So, that's why I feel like I don't have "experiences" as some might define the word. I am obviously of the belief that musical instruments and songs are non-gendered. So if the bass section is mostly men (and all men in my experience), that doesn't mean that the bass section is by definition male. Bass has to do with the vocal range of the singers in. Same with the treble voice parts. In my opinion, there is nothing more awe inspiring than a good countertenor!
When it comes down to it, all that I can control is how gender in relation to music is viewed in the future. Yes many women in the past have been told that they can't be professional musicians because they are not male, and yes that's irks me big time, but there's nothing I can do about it except make sure that no one is held back in music because of their gender.
Here's a thought: you're going to be a music educator, right? And, while it's important to be open about your experiences/non-experiences, you also want to be observant as to what sorts of experiences others are having, so that you can then relate to more of your future students on a deeper level. For instance: I've never been diagnosed with clinical depression, but I still need to be aware of some of the signs are, and what some first steps are to dealing with it, so that I can help my students. You're lucky that you've never really experienced any gender inequities in your own musical journey, but I can guarantee that someday you'll have a student that was told that…
I agree with you on the fact that a high part or instrument isn’t necessarily reserved for a female and a male voice or instrument doesn’t always mean low. However, I am happy to see how far we have come in this society as far as welcoming men and women to “untraditional” voice parts and instruments.
I agree with you on the fact that a high part or instrument isn’t necessarily reserved for a female and a male voice or instrument doesn’t always mean low. However, I am happy to see how far we have come in this society as far as welcoming men and women to “untraditional” voice parts and instruments.
I really enjoyed how you backed your claim in this blog post but its very much valid. You didn’t focus on gender and what they did or leaned more towards. From what I read I felt that you accepted everyone as the musician, not as the “female” musician, etc. I believe if more people had your mentality or form of thinking, this gender bias in music wouldn’t be a topic of discussion.
I completely understand. I never really encountered so extreme. Like I never heard anyone say anything about what females should play and what males should play. I think I grew up around people who did not really gender base anything, which is great.