Gender plays a big role in many things, one of those things is music. I have seen it throughout my life and through my musical experiences, and I can also see it through the music that I listen to.
Growing up I was in choir and I was in musicals. Within those activities each person has their roles and it was often that your role was determined by your gender. There were multiple songs that my class would sing that would have different parts. For example there would be both an alto and soprano part to the song and that would be the job of the women's choir, but the song would also have a bass and tenor part of the song and that would come from the Men's choir. It wouldn't be the women's job to sing that part, because that isn't their role in the song. One memory that really comes to mind is when I was in Elf jr. when I was in middle school. My character had a solo with the person who played my son in the musical. We each had our own roles in the song, because each part had different requirements and that was partly to do with our genders. I was his mother and he was my son.
Also when you have different genders singing within the same genre you get a different vibe and a different message. For example, typically in country music when a male sings a song it’s stereotypically about beer, women, and their tractors, but that isn’t the case when a female sings a country song. Their songs typically have a deeper meaning and have a different message. As a disclaimer, I am not claiming this to be true about all country songs and artists. I am a big country fan. However, you can see a difference between gender and the messages that their songs deliver. Country isn’t the only genre that this is the case. There are some genres that are more heavily dominated in one gender over the other as well. There is just a different feeling in music when it is preformed by a different person and has a different sound to it. One of the things that cause music to have a different sound to it, is if it a male or female singing it.
Another aspect of music that I have witnessed the role of gender is the different genres. There are some genres that come to mind that have one gender more popular. There are also biases when it comes to gender in music. Some people have a preferred gender that they like to listen to, simply because they like the way that it sounds.
Hi Emily! I like that you shared your personal experience with gender roles in music. I have never been a part of a choir or musical. I think some parts of songs that typically are sung by a specific gender are done so that they can sing it. I don’t think it is based on gender but rather who sounds best in that part.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your blog and hearing about your personal experiences with gender roles and music. I like the point you made on how some gender roles are almost unavoidable because it is more natural for a woman to sing higher parts whereas men are naturally lower. I also mentioned this a little in my blog.
ReplyDeleteHi Emily! I really enjoyed how you explained the different choir roles according to gender and tone of voice. I also enjoyed your discussion of gender roles within country music. It is interesting how the song's meaning and motivations change according to whether a man or a woman is singing them.
ReplyDeleteIn choir it is hard to not to differentiate gender. Usually men can hit lower notes that women can not. Women can usually hit higher notes than men can not. It is not always a bad thing to have that difference.
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