Gender and Musical Instruments

As a saxophone player, I have often been prompted to consider the gender of instruments. When looking at a concert band, there are definitely some instruments that are considered more traditionally masculine than others.

Percussion, for instance, usually has a very masculine image. It is a field dominated by men. The strict rhythms have little melody (unless accompanied by bells). Percussion is essential in keeping the beat and holding the band together, especially in a marching band situation. The Penn State Blue Band percussion section demonstrates their masculinity by throwing down their cymbals and engaging in a series of rhythmic push ups.

Low brass (tubas and trombones) are the lowest wind section in the band. These sections, like percussion are heavily dominated by men. Low brass is important because the low tambors drive the crescendos and dynamics of the wind instruments.

Flute, on the other hand, is primarily dominated by women. The higher notes tend to float above the other instruments. It is a quiet instrument, and does not have nearly the amount of influence that percussion has in holding the band together or that low brass has in driving crescendos.

I would consider saxophone to fall very close to the middle with its gender ratio. The saxophone is a middle-ranged instrument; playing equal amounts of higher and lower music. Its influence on the beat of the band is not as great as percussion or brass, but greater than flute, because it is a lower instrument.

The point of this blog is that I find it interesting that the "less powerful" instruments are dominated by women whereas the "more powerful" instruments are dominated by men. Within my high school marching band, there was always a huge push for drum corps. from many of the guys. Drum corps. are marching bands that use only percussion and brass instruments (tubas, trombones, melaphones, and trumpets); i.e. the majority of the male-dominated instruments. The flute and clarinet players used to get angry with the pro-drum corps. guys, because such a band would mean that their participation was not needed. I realize now that this idea could have been an unconscious (or conscious) form of sexism.

Ending the gendered instrument stereotypes in the music field could be a very difficult process. It would mean that elementary music teachers would have to encourage guys to play flute just as much (or more) than girls to help them overcome the "flute is for girls stereotype" and to allow them to feel comfortable with their instrumental choice.