Women in Brass: re-examining gendered involvement in music, a preliminary report in to Musical Preference Stereotypes

The dearth of females playing so-called masculine instruments has not gone unnoticed, but frameworks for investigating females’ participation have been driven almost entirely by a feminist agenda. A construct for studying gendered participation in music, employing a post feminist perspective is presented. As one of the major areas in which female participation does not match their male counterparts is in that of brass playing, this paper also reports on the preliminary stages of a project aimed at engaging more females in playing brass instruments. In addition to outlining a philosophical standpoint, therefore, it investigates female brass players in a variety of musical genres and emphasises the impact of role models in challenging the status quo. It examines how schools and society (through the media) perpetuate systems that support hegemony, which in turn limits musical opportunity for both males and females