Klarinet Archive - Posting 000073.txt from 1999/02

From: "Kevin Fay (LCA)" <kevinfay@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] Women and orchestras
Date: Tue, 2 Feb 1999 17:41:35 -0500

Lisa Canjura-Clayton responded to Lelia in part:

<<<I've met a number of women in my community band who are extremely
talented, well-educated musicians who just gave up trying to get a
professional job. However, they also wanted to have a life and not spend
100% of their time and energy breaking down the barriers. All their male
colleagues had jobs, families, lives--yet they had to work extremely hard to
get 1/3 of what their male colleagues had obtained. Their experiences
reminded me of that this saying: "Women have to work twice as hard to be
considered half as good as a man.">>>

Sorry to rain on the parade, but this just ain't true anymore. ANYONE who
gets a job in an orchestra has to overcome overwhelming odds, no matter what
their race or gender. ALL of them have spent "100% of their time breaking
down the barriers." There is no question that the hurdles were higher for
women thirty years ago--and perhaps are still in some brass sections--but
I'd bet that the percentage of female hires in U.S. orchestras today is
higher than the percentage of applicants who are female.

The sad truth is that the vast majority of women don't "make it" for the
very same reason that the vast majority of men don't--they're simply not
good enough. As prior posts have noted, the number of people who make their
living by playing in an orchestra is extremely small. The performance bar
is therefore very, very high. The vast majority of applicants for these
jobs are never hired anywhere, ever. Even among the ranks of the
exceptionally-talented, getting a symphony job is almost a random event.

Consequently, for all but a very tiny percentage, gender discrimination is
but an excuse. Sorry.

<<<A woman who spends five years learning how to be a great musician in the
Women's Philharmonic has a MUCH better chance of getting into a major
orchestra than a woman straight out of school.>>>

This, too, is unfortunately not true. Orchestras love to hire musicians out
of school. The very prestigious "major" orchestras tend to hire either very
young (Stan Drucker was what, 19? Like Ricardo Morales?) or musicians with
substantial "major" orchestral experience. The Women's Philharmonic is
undoubtedly a fine group, but not likely to boost your resume to get the
principal job in Philadelphia.

Should the Women's Philharmonic be disbanded? Heck no. (How can there be
too many orchestras? That's like saying there is too much ice cream in the
world.) If a bunch of like-minded females want to get together and toot,
fine. I do the same with my friends, as often as I possibly can. To say
that it is an avenue to redress past discrimination is, IMHO, overstating
the case.

kjf

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unsubscribe from Klarinet, e-mail: klarinet-unsubscribe@-----.org
Subscribe to the Digest: klarinet-digest-subscribe@-----.org
Additional commands: klarinet-help@-----.org
Other problems: klarinet-owner@-----.org