Gender and Musical Instruments: Winds of Change? Jason Zervoudakes

Abstract

A nationwide probability sample of elementary schools, high schools, and colleges and universities was contacted and asked to send programs from band and orchestra concerts over the past three decades. Players of instruments were coded for gender by means of their first names. Using the band or orchestra as the unit of analysis, we found that the mean proportion of females playing historically “male” instruments increased over the period, but so did the proportion of females playing historically “female” instruments. Partial correlation analysis holding overall proportion of females in the instrumental groups constant showed that the partial correlation between year and proportion female playing “female” instruments was significantly positive, and the partial correlation between year and proportion female playing “male” instruments was negative or zero. These results held for the high school and college level but not at the elementary level. Thus, we conclude that gender-based segregation has increased at the high school and college level, but we have no evidence that it has done so at the elementary level.

Musical Motivation: Towards a model synthesising the research

“…Girls tend to prefer small high-pitched orchestral instruments. Boys tend to choose large low-pitched ones, although girls are less inhibited about selecting a masculine instrument, a tendency that is increasing, particularly in the younger age groups (Zervoudakes & Tanur, 1994). These stereotypical preferences can be manipulated, indicating that they are learned (Abeles & Porter, 1978;Bruce & Kemp, 1993).…”

Musicians crossing musical instrument gender stereotypes: a study of computer-mediated communication

“…A search of the Internet shows that parents as well as adolescents use the web in this way to find out information, seek advice and discuss issues regarding the relationship between gender stereotypes and playing a musical instrument. 1 In addition to provoking students to quit participating in music (Zervoudakes and Tanur 1994;Abeles 2009a), the consequences of stereotypes related to gender and musical instruments can have lasting effects on them (Taylor 2009). Reflecting Adolescents who have qualities that vary from social norms or participate in activities that cross gender stereotypes are likely to be the object of harassment (Swiatek 1995).…”

Are Musical Instrument Gender Associations Changing?

“…Research in the 1990s concerning gender associations and musical instruments (Delzell & Leppla, 1992;Zervoudakes & Tanur, 1994) reported that there appeared to be some change in the musical instrument gender associations of both children and adults when compared to stereotypes reported in the late 1970s and early 1980s (Abeles & Porter, 1978;Griswold & Chroback, 1981). Delzell and Leppla specifically reported that although the order of musical instruments on a masculine-feminine continuum was similar to that found in the Abeles and Porter study, the reduction of the range of normalized scale scores (NSS) along the masculine-feminine continuum indicated "that the degree of gender association is lessening" (p. 96).…”

“…A majority of the boys indicated that they wanted to play either drums (51.7%) or saxophone (31.5%), and the girls selected flute (30.4%), drums (21.7%), saxophone (21.3%), and clarinet (15.0%). Zervoudakes and Tanur (1994) specifically sought to examine whether gender associations for musical instruments changed over three decades : the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. They explored this by studying 590 concert programs for band and orchestra performances from a national sample of 42 elementary schools, 39 high schools, and 94 colleges during this 30-year period.…”