Just finished reading the three articles on feminism and had some revelations. I just realized that I have yet to have a female music professor. The women teachers that I have had, have been for private lessons or coaching. I do know when I go to the annual CMEA competitions, I feel rather isolated in the sea of tuxedoed conductors. And I as I am meeting more people at the regional ACDA reading sessions and workshops, the female conductors that I have met are all in elementary education (I do realize that I have not met everyone). I liked what Lamb had to say about this, "A major disjuncture in music pedagogy is that even as the identity 'woman' is socially constructed and complex, the discipline of music essentializes that identity into a singular 'woman', a diva or a piano teacher, but not a conductor. There is disbelief in woman as conductor, such that an expectation that I will have to prove myself through performance (walk like a man) is always (already) just beneath the surface of classroom actuality. Again, the dearth of women as bona fide conductors and the experiences reported by other women in music education indicate that this disbelief is not an extraordinary situation." 128
Why is this??? Are we changing this reality?
I'm sure I will learn more over the weekend as I prep for Tuesday's presentation.
Why is this??? Are we changing this reality?
I'm sure I will learn more over the weekend as I prep for Tuesday's presentation.
2 comments:
this is very interesting- I hardly ever see many women in professional orchestras- it is usually old white men and there are very few women conductors and famous women composers also. I am however surprised to read your opinion on female educators. In our class women outnumber men and I remember being one of few men or sometimes the only man in undergrad music education classes. I guess it always easy to tell when you are the only one, and I probably dont remember as well moments when I was in the majority, which i suppose could have been many.
I haven't yet read the feminism articles, but this post makes me wonder why we look at the balance of gender in the profession of teaching at all. To suggest that there is an issue with more women in elementary teaching positions than in choral or orchestral conducting positions (or higher level education, for that matter) is to assume that one level of the profession is more valued than another. Perhaps we should look at the values that our culture places on higher level teaching and ask why we (students, educators, Americans) don't expect the brightest and most highly trained teachers to be in pre-school or elementary settings? Is it because many men are choral and orchestral conductors and many women are elementary music teachers that we came to value one level over the other?
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