Klarinet Archive - Posting 000354.txt from 1995/07

From: Lisa Clayton <clayton@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: The effeminate clarinet
Date: Mon, 31 Jul 1995 12:29:02 -0400

> John Gardner writes that he believes his son started playing sax instead
> of clarinet because the sax is "more manly".
>
> WOW!
>
> I would have thought that this comment would have started an avalanche of
> opinions on this list.
>
> Is the sax "more manly"? Well, it does have a deeper voice. And a bari
> really hangs low. But, the real question is whether there is a higher
> percentage of females playing the clarinet than the sax. My personal
> observation is that this is true.
>
> What does this mean?
>
> I'm a writer by trade and I once wrote a piece about harps and harpists.
> Turns out that 90 percent of harpists are women. Of the remaining 10
> percent, the majority are gay. Several harpists told me that women are
> attracted to the harp because it is massive and that is embraced by the
> entire body as in an act of love. (I couldn't make that up.)
>
> The whole subject of instruments and their possible sexual overtones is
> intriguing to me. Am I alone?
>
> fred cicetti

Nope not alone, but WARNING: As a Women's Studies major I can overanalyze all
this from 0 to 60 in 2.4 seconds flat. (Note: I'm a computer science
minor who will eventually major in it as a grad student. I know where
the money is.)

However, I'll forego the Freud, Foucalt and Firestone. Frankly, the only
clear reason that kids pick up instruments based on "sex-typing" is that they
know they're either (male) going to get picked on if they take up flute or
(female) they'll have to play twice as good if they pick up some kind of
brass instrument in order to gain any respect. Although as adults we
now have a bit more flexibility as to gender roles, in kids it's still
pretty rigid-- one dose of Saturday morning commercials will illustrate
that pretty clearly.

Clarinets, from what I can remember of my bad 'ol elementary school days,
were seen as not quite as effeminate as flutes, but not nearly as macho
as saxes and brasses. Interestingly, most of the boys who took up
clarinet were later encouraged to take up bass clarinet, even if there were
better female players. The girls were discouraged from taking up drums
and low brass, although later on in high school this had been relaxed
quite a bit.

And, as an added aside, my mostly gay wind band has a pretty good mix in
all sections between men and women, except for the flutes: all male.

____ Lisa K. Canjura-Clayton The obligatory homepage:
/ clayton@-----.edu/~clayton
/ Band=Life COMING SOON: Virtual Barstow!
"There is nothing more onanistic than playing the bass clarinet by yourself"
-Steve Trier

   
     Copyright © Woodwind.Org, Inc. All Rights Reserved    Privacy Policy    Contact charette@woodwind.org