Blog Entry No.3: Music and Gender
Music and Gender intake in Jazz
Hello everyone and welcome back to my blog! Today, we’re going to talk about how gender stereotypes played a major role in music. And how it’s evolved over the years. In my personal experience, I played the flute in the middle school band. Every person who played the flute was a female. Remember back in the past, I remember how the saxophone, the trumpet, and more were mostly male. My personal music type is all over the place, but I'd like to talk about Jazz and a little bit of its history.
But before we go more in-depth, I read an article about “Gender Expectation in the Music Industry.” In the article, I readed how women in the music industry are disrespected and were not understood because of society’s standards. She describes that society misunderstands the message about women, their identity, and their worth.
Back in the 1800s women’s positions prohibited them from performing music in public. The place of a woman was at home. When a woman gained a certain skill in playing an instrument they would be called poison. These women were not approved since women could only sing opera and play certain instruments. When society sees a woman they are uncomfortable, and they are mocked for taking a male transvestite. As a result, many women in the jazz world missed many opportunities. In the video below you can see a beautiful woman playing the saxophone like a goddess. I hope you enjoy it! (ps. the video of blurry but it sounds wonderful)
Nina Simone
One of my all-time favorites is Nina Simone. She sang various kinds of classical, blues, pop, and jazz. A little bit of her history is that she played the piano when she was young and ended up in Julliard. Where she ended up preparing to get to the school she has been denied. She understood that it was primarily due to racial discrimination. So she began playing in bars and clubs. Her career began at the beginning of 1954. But she was more remembered when she passed away in 2003. In spite of her troubled history, she was praised by many for the various types of alburns she created. In the video below you will find Nina Simons sing Feeling Good. (one my favorites!) I hope you enjoy it!
This was a very cool blog. I love listening to some good jazz music. For some reason your blog reminded me of fancy restaurants, like the Peddler, or Olive Garden, because they are always playing some nice jazz over the speakers. I don't know why but the jazz music has always been so calming and relaxing to me.
ReplyDeleteWow! This was such an interesting read. I honestly, never listen to jazz in my free time so I found it very interesting because it is not a genre I usually listen to. The videos really helped me in understanding your blog because I am honestly not very knowledgeable on what jazz sounds like and how the women also face discriminations of playing music in public.
ReplyDeleteThis is so cool! I loved how you incorporated videos and I loved hearing Nina Simone's deep rich voice. It is so amazing and I had no idea she sung Feeling Good. I'm glad that now things are changing in the music industry. We still do not get the respect as men, but at least now their are more opportunities available to us.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your blog. I also loved that you included the history about women in the music industry, it gives a background on why female singers are behind male singers in the industry. I am not a huge fan of jazz, however, I really enjoyed listening to the softer sounds within the music video, it really soothes the soul.
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