Music and Gender

Music is a historically male dominated industry (like many others). Think about it, how many female composers have we studied in music history? How many mainstream female rockstars do you know about? Luckily today more than ever we have a plethora of women in music to look up to. Artists like Lizzo, Lady Gaga, and Taylor Swift are just a few examples. To truly appreciate the female artists we have to look up to today, it is important to look back and appreciate those who came before them. I can't cover all of them in a single jan term blog post, so I will highlight a few that are close to my heart.

1. The Mother of Blues

    This is a common nickname for singer Ma Rainey. Rainey is responsible for what we know as classic blues. She made her first recording in 1923. Not only did her lyrics portray the black female experience, 

but she portrayed it in the same way as men in music at the time. In her songs women sleep around, drink, party, etc. She took the white, middle class, heteronormative standard and shattered it into a million pieces. A black queer icon? What's not to love?

2. Patti Smith

The so called godmother of punk. Smith's trademark sound is that of 3 chord rock and spoken word poetry. Patti Smith breaks the norm by being loud, and taking up space. She doesn't make music that is necessarily "pretty". It is very basic backings, with her yelling, shouting, moaning, etc. Her lyrics contain commentary on politics and pop culture. She is a highly intelligent individual, and honesty anything I could write about her in this short blurb in a blog post would not do her justice.

3. Madonna

Everyone knows and for the most part loves Madonna. Since the 1980's she has been pushing the boundaries of gender norms and sexuality. Really she created the mold for the modern pop artist. Like the other two women I have highlighted, she demanded attention. She took up space. She stood her ground. She is confidently, fully, herself. Another huge reason Madonna is changing the rules is that she is sticking around. She is aging, but she is still vibrant and youthful, and she's still the same sexuality owning woman she was in the 80's. She is a powerful reminder to to everyone that women's value isn't confined to a fleeting youth.

A common thread between the women in music then and now, is the way the media treats them. The press loves to turn confident powerful women into the villain. In addition to this, they like to diminish female artists accomplishments and gloss over them. They do this in favor of commentary on relationship status, diet, kids, etc. Male artists, rarely have to deal with these lines of questioning, and when they do it is playful, never condescending.

As for my own experiences with music and gender, they mostly center around the ensembles I have been in. From the very start of middle school band, the woodwinds are made up mostly of girls, while brass and percussion are mostly boys. This trend continues through school. In high school band. Even now in college, most of the converse wind ensemble is woodwinds, and the brass uses a lot of male community members. I don't claim to know why this is the case with instrument selection and assignment. If anyone has any ideas maybe we could discuss in the comments.