Sexism in the Symphony the Uphill Battle for Female Trombonists

rebecca cherian has held the position

of co-principal trombone with the

internationally acclaimed

grammy award-winning pittsburgh symphony

orchestra for 30 years now

she has also taught at carnegie mellon

university for over 25 years

in the pittsburgh symphony orchestra she

is the only female brass instrumentalist

of the 15 which includes french horn

trumpet trombone and tuba rebecca you

probably get asked this often but

why did you choose to play the trombone

i grew up with classical music playing

constantly in our house

as a family we attended the symphony

opera and ballet on a regular basis

from the time i was very young seven or

eight years old

my father was seriously ill much of my

childhood

and the music that he played on the

stereo was a reflection of his

emotions and moods but it was also

a reflection of his passion for music

and the arts

he loved the brass instruments in

particular and would always point them

out when a piece was playing so

naturally i loved them as well

why are there so few women trombonists

and brass players in major symphony

orchestras

aren’t the arts places of free thinking

liberal values and progressive ideas

historically women have been excluded

from most professions the arts

being no exception women were not even

allowed into professional

orchestras until recent history the turn

of the 20th century

and even then there was a great deal of

opposition to opening that door

it was very slow progress incorporating

significant numbers of women into

professional orchestras

the initial acceptance of women into

orchestras was not due to some

revelation that women were equally

qualified

the breakthrough for women and

orchestras as well as women in other

fields

corresponded to the beginnings of world

war 1 and world war

ii there was a sudden shortage of men

they were all being shipped off to the

war

so if there were to be any orchestras

or an economy for that matter women

had to be allowed to fill positions that

they never would have

otherwise again this didn’t suddenly

change people’s attitudes or beliefs

about women

women were still not regarded as great

musicians

even as they took up ranks in symphony

orchestras

the symphony orchestra was born out of a

very conservative european tradition

which was an exclusive white male club

that’s changed somewhat but not enough

there’s still

far too few people of color less than

two percent

of professional orchestral musicians are

african-americans

and very few of those are women

we have only one african-american in the

pittsburgh symphony orchestra today

not only am i the only female trombonist

in a major orchestra but there’s still

only

a handful of female trombonists and

brass players

in smaller less prestigious orchestras

30 years ago when i first joined the

pittsburgh symphony

there were only 25 women out of 100

members

and i was the only female brass player

today there are 50 women in the

orchestra

however i remain the only female brass

player

in 2020 we should not be seeing such

shockingly low numbers of female brass

players in

professional orchestras what was it like

growing up as a trombonist and

a girl in the 1960s and 70s

i began playing the trombone at age 10

and all my friends at that time said i

could not play the trombone because

it was a boy’s instrument throughout my

life

i have had conductors colleagues

teachers and friends tell me that i

could not play the trombone

but i refused to accept that and if

anything it just made me

dig my heels in deeper and work harder

in college i was introduced to the

absurd idea

that women were not physically strong

enough to play brass instruments

more than one conductor told me that

women could not play loud enough

if at all playing a brass instrument

is a physical activity and it does take

a certain amount of

strength and lung capacity however it’s

not super human

probably female ballerinas have as much

physical strength as most brass players

i nearly lost my job in the pittsburgh

symphony when one of my colleagues

complained to the conductor that i took

too many breaths

and i did not play loud enough up until

that point in time

the conductor had nothing but praise for

me

so it came as a complete shock when i

was not granted tenure

and i was put on probation another year

there is a double standard here about

lung capacity and physical strength when

it

concerns men and women arnold jacobs was

a world-renowned

tuba player of the chicago symphony for

44 years

he was a guru and pedagogue of air and

breathing

not only did brass players come from all

over to study with him but also woodwind

players and vocalists

tuba is an enormous instrument and very

demanding air-wise

and yet because of childhood illnesses

mr jacobs had the air capacity of a man

with only one lung

overcoming that limitation was a badge

of honor for him

but for a woman with a normal set of

lungs it was still considered a

disability

where do you think the sexism towards

female brass

instrumentalists comes from

in addition to the belief that women are

physically inadequate

there is pervasive instrument

stereotyping

and emotional stereotyping instrument

stereotyping is the idea that while

men can play any instrument women can

only play the high-pitched instruments

like flute and violin

that partially stems from the natural

differences in pitch between men

and women’s voices but there’s some

interesting historical background here

demonstrating another

double standard in the early 17th

century

unusually high male voices were so

esteemed and coveted

that talented young male vocalists were

castrated

in order to ensure their voices would

remain high for the rest of their lives

fortunately that practice stopped after

200 years

but high male voices remained

valued and desirable

on the other hand unusually low women’s

voices

have not been held in high esteem

emotional stereotyping

is the idea that men and women have

different emotions

women have always been defined as

sweet pretty gentle and

men have been more defined by their

feelings of aggression

and strength however

women can be strong powerful and

aggressive

those are human emotions not exclusively

male

even though we’ve been told time and

time again otherwise

women have been denied access to

positions of

power and leadership throughout our

society

because we have not been allowed to feel

or have those emotions

it’s not been acceptable for women brass

players

because the brass instruments express

power through loud and aggressive sounds

and playing

one trombone can overpower an entire

string section

allowing women into classical orchestras

has been seen as a degradation of

masculinity

why do you keep going after so much

criticism and discrimination

well when everything comes together in a

live performance there’s

nothing else quite like it the emotional

energy of the orchestra

is shared with the audience in a

collective

transcendent experience but it’s only

been in the past 10

or 15 years that i have really been able

to enjoy

playing great music in a great orchestra

rather than just fighting and defending

my right to be here as a female

trombonist there’s something

still very wrong going on when i am the

only female trombonist to make it this

far in the professional world

i should not have to give special

instructions to my

my young female students at carnegie

mellon university

about sexism at auditions

and discrimination on the job

my young students today will most likely

still be working in a

in a sea of men some of whom

will be questioning and challenging

their authority

as great musicians

as female brass players we experience

the same thing as many

other women in high level positions

in male dominated fields in that

getting hired is just the beginning of

the fight keeping your job

is yet another

studies have shown that women in the

stem fields are twice as likely as men

to leave their jobs once they have them

and this has been attributed to sexism

and discrimination on the job

where would you like to see the

classical music industry in the future

classical music is a microcosm of

society at large

even though there have been a lot of

positive changes in the past

few decades there are still many

obstacles for women

even though we are now able to become

engineers

scientists neurosurgeons and musicians

when it comes to the expression of raw

powerful aggressive authoritative

emotions it’s as if we’re still living

in 1940.

in all professions emotional

stereotyping is a barrier

on the road to gender equality

i personally would like to see greater

diversity in classical

music more people of color and a more

even distribution of women

i’d also like to see female brass

players treated as any other musician or

artist

instead of as anomalies

i’d like to challenge everyone to listen

to classical music

in a new way and the next time you hear

a powerful passage or a

lyrical sweet soaring melody that you

ask yourself

is that a man or a woman playing can you

tell the difference

music is meant to be an expression of

the entire spectrum of human emotions

it is a shared transformative experience

that should not be degraded by sexism or

discrimination

you