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