Klarinet Archive - Posting 000236.txt from 1999/02

From: DHmorgan@-----.com
Subj: Re: [kl] Women and orchestras
Date: Fri, 5 Feb 1999 22:17:45 -0500

In a message dated 2/5/99 6:33:47 PM Pacific Standard Time, pollyg@-----.com
writes:

<< What blows me away in this discussion is what I read as the assumption
that "race/gender" is what makes the difference in how someone plays. I
think that the culture/instructor/exposure to etc would possibly make the
difference...this is all my opinion. Do you think a child brought up in
the culture(s) of a race different than the one they inherited would
still play according to their genes??? Something fishy here.
So, IMO, the audition judge is hearing the *culture* of the player in the
double blind test, his/her instructor, his/her playlist of exposures and
so on - not that individual's DNA.
Paulet >>

I'm not sure why you brought DNA into the discussion--Race has nothing to do
with DNA. I know that sounds confusing--it's confusing to me--but I have
geneticists assuring me that French and Scottish people are genetically more
different than 'black' and 'white' people. Race has to do--largely--with
appearance--which group society lumps you in based on which group you appear
to belong to. Any differences we are talking about have to do with growing up
among the influences of the sub-culture and social scripts you were popped
into at birth. Gender has to do with DNA, but I'm not arguing that genetic
differences in men and women affect musical performance--YIKES! But social
scripts might, mightn't they, based on gender identification and such?

Also, I never said race or gender IS what makes a difference in someone's
playing, I only ever said that based upon the best available evidence, it
MIGHT lead to differences that COULD trigger unconscious bias and it would
make sense to keep that POSSIBILITY well in mind! An argument could be made
that training has much, much, much, much more to do with how one plays than
any other factor--or any number of other factors. But, for the purposes of
that particular discussion, we were just talking about how race or gender
might influence playing. Even if it is the least important factor in
influencing a musician's playing style, if such differences COULD BE PROVEN,
MORE OFTEN THAN NOT to trigger bias in the audition process, even in a double-
blind scenario, then that would be really unfortunate for the people being
systematically excluded, wouldn't it? When ever we are dealing with a
scenario where all the 'objective' tests prove that a 'certain group' just
'doesn't cut it' in a given field of endeavor, we must pause, reflect, look
into the 'objectivity' of those test in the interests of fairness and human
progress.

Ahem.

Truly,
Don

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
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