Music and Gender

Music and Gender

Gender has not affected me or my music much. The only instruments I have ever played or wanted to play were always acceptable for either gender to play.

After a rather traumatic move from Indiana to Minnesota which resulted in many cars damaged due to deer choosing to cross the street at inopportune times, I joined the choir at my new high school. The choir was rather large with the biggest section being the altos and the smallest section was the bass’s. The Basses sat behind the sopranos, and the tenors sat behind the altos. 

Our choir had a yearly tradition of each section of the choir competing in games for a trophy likely bought on ebay. It was during the two day retreat that was supposed to make us all bond. Each section would pick a game to host and the other sections would play the games, each section racking up points until one won. 

I always hated the soprano’s game, it was the same one every year. The sopranos would all be Princesses and either the basses, tenors, or altos would have to try to capture us while the other sections would protect.

All the sopranos in my choir always wanted to be caught and have the tenor or bass carry them to the area where the captured princesses stood. I could lie and say that I hated the game because I’m an independent woman and I don’t need no man to save me. But the truth of the matter is that having a guy sprint at you full speed with the intent to capture is utterly terrifying and I would rather never experienced it again. I used to stand there thinking about how fast I would run, or how I was safe because I’m pretty sure all the guys feared my resting snob face. This was until one fateful time when a bass decided it would be a fantastic idea to capture me. As soon as I saw him running toward me it stopped being a game and became survival. My heart nearly pounded out of my chest and suddenly I was no longer an asthmatic, but an Olympic runner. I ran as fast as humanly possible, there was no way I was letting this dude capture me. I managed to make a narrow escape.

Back on topic, the sopranos had yet another obnoxious tradition of squealing “yay sopranos!” whenever we won, or really saw each other. I never participated in it, but it made all of the other sections dislike us. 

When we returned to school from our retreat, all of the basses and tenors spent the school year making fun of us sopranos. They talked in high pitched voices and pretended to giggle like girls. That is really the only issue I have ever had with gender when it comes to my music.