Even though instruments themselves are genderless, we tend to assign gender stereotypes to many of them — an unfortunate habit of thinking that has been ingrained in our culture for centuries. If you joined your elementary or middle school band back in the day, you may have been discouraged from picking the flute (“That’s a girl’s instrument!”) or the trombone (“It’s more of a boy thing.”). A 2016 Baltimore Symphony Orchestra post cites some startling statistics compiled by composer/programmer Suby Raman, and this infographic illustrates the gender imbalance for many instruments on the professional level. For example, 95% of harpists reported are women, as are 66% of flute players; the overwhelming majority of percussionists are men (94%), ditto trumpeters (97%).
Even non-musicians harbor these biases. A 2002 University of Windsor study asked 98 students to describe musicians playing traditionally “masculine” or “feminine” instruments: “musicians of feminine instruments were perceived as more caring, warm, sensitive, and better adjusted; but less dominant and prone to leadership than musicians of masculine instruments.” And while both male and female musicians of “masculine” instruments were judged similarly, males who played “feminine” instruments were considered less dominant.
These prejudices are a cultural inheritance, and looking back on the discourse around music, gender and certain instruments offers a glimpse at the root of these ideas. Canadian musicologist Rita Steblin points out these perceptions have existed, in one way or another, for centuries. Ancient Greek art showed a sort of gender stereotype reversal by modern standards: women were depicted playing a double-reed pipe called the auolos (associated with the female followers of Bacchus), and men were often shown with the harp or lyre (it had masculine qualities thanks to associations with the god Apollo).
Gender associations evolved over the centuries. In an essay on early women’s orchestras in America, Grove Music Online Editor Anna-Lise Santella references the Victorian-era literary image of the “angel in the house,” which takes its name from a poem by Coventry Patmore that paints the image of an ideal housewife: self-sacrificing, submissive, graceful, etc. The poem’s popularity gave all sorts of people very funny ideas about how women should behave and, as Santella suggests, it made its way into music as well, dictating what women could (and couldn’t) play. Instruments that required more active motions from the whole body, as well as those that “disfigured” that face, were considered unbecoming. “Women cannot possibly play brass instruments and look pretty,” wrote composer Gustave Kerker in 1904, “and why should they spoil their good looks?”
Among the more “acceptable” instruments for women were keyboards like the piano and harpsichord. (The organ, explained Christine Ammer in Unsung: A History of Women in American Music, was excluded because the “pedals required an ungainly posture.”) Also fine was the harp. And today, while violins may be perceived as a more “feminine” instrument (according to Raman’s survey, women violinists edge out men 59% to 41% — although 82% of concertmasters are men), it’s is relatively recent development. Women were discouraged from pursuing that instrument — one critic in 1881 wrote, “The picture of an angel fiddling a solo, be it ever so divinely, is an ideal incongruity, and evokes laughter.” But, as Ammer points out, several figures helped shift the public’s view, including Camille Urso and Maud Powell, who advocated for greater opportunities for women on the concert stage — violinist or not. (Powell was also one of the first violinists to be recorded by the Victor Talking Machine Company.)
Social norms also informed men’s choices. “Spoiling good looks” was not a problem, and instruments like the trumpet, horn and drums had long been associated with more “masculine” pursuits. Trumpets came from a long military tradition, and the horn was closely associated with the hunt — two activities that traditionally excluded women. As for percussion, it was considered unnatural for a woman to strike something with such power, but just fine for a man.
As far as we’ve come culturally, these centuries-old prejudices remain. The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra piece includes the story of Maryland music teacher Alex Mueller, who noticed some instruments won’t be picked up by boys or girls. Children may have learned from their parents that instruments are an extension of the voice, so boys should pick one that is deeper or projects a louder sound, or girls should go for something in a higher register (not to mention the idea that they aren’t strong enough to lift a tuba).
Mueller thinks countering these expectations must start in the classroom. His suggestion? Encourage children to choose the instruments they want to play, regardless of what anyone else thinks. He says it’s paid off, too — his clarinet and low brass sections have an almost equal gender makeup. And when dealing with an especially stubborn student, he comes equipped: “I have definitely heard over the years ‘don’t play the flute, that’s a girl instrument,’” he told the BSO. “Then I’ll say, ‘Have you ever heard of a guy named John Coltrane?’”