Music and Gender

The first time I remember working with a musician from the opposite sex was when my private piano teacher asked me to play a piano duet (four hands) with a male student in her studio when I was fourteen years old. She felt that he and I were at about the same level of musicianship and therefore thought that we would make a good duo. My first reaction to this was “Please don’t make me play with a BOY! I would have to sit next to him”. I eventually agreed as my teacher insisted we perform together at a recital. This first experience made me feel more comfortable about working with male musicians in general and it helped me to bridge the gap I had felt before, between female and male musicians. He ended up becoming my boyfriend and one of the best friends I have ever had. It was one of those special moments in my life where I realized how music can truly bring people together.

As we studied music of the Native American and South African traditions, I found myself comparing and contrasting them with my own music culture. It was interesting to note how women never played drums in the Native American tribes and in music from South Africa. When the Sinhalese/Tamil New Year is celebrated in Sri Lanka, the “Bench Rabana” (a large drum generally played by a group of people seated around it) is always played by a group of women. This drum is very similar to the drums used by Native Americans in the pow-wow. The main differences are that the pow-wow drum is played by men and the men use sticks to beat it while the Sri Lankan women use their hands.

Women also play an important role in the singing of traditional Sinhalese music. “Jayamangala Gatha”, which is an ancient chant of victory and blessing, is “a set of eight benedictory stanzas extolling the virtues of the Buddha, and is usually sung on important occasions or when inaugurating any venture of significance.” (quote from the “Messengers of Dharma”). This chant is sung in Sri Lanka for special occasions and it is almost always sung by female children. The fact that this chant is habitually sung by girls even though change in voice timbre ( i.e. differentiation between Soprano and Tenor) would not be a problem between male and female child-singers, is fascinating.

There is much debate about how female musicians are seen in the world today and there are speculations that women musicians are still sometimes seen as inferior to male musicians. As a composer (who happens to be female), my opinion can be summed up by one of my favourite Joan Tower quotes. “I think some people are not aware that there are no women composers on their concerts. So for that reason, I do like to be reminded this is a woman composer…Other than that, the music is the music and the fact that I'm a woman doesn't make the difference to the music.”