• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Double Bass Orchestral instruments

Status
Not open for further replies.
#21
Lee Moses said:
I am also glad to hear that you have no more words .
Click to expand...


Unnecessary and misogynist. Because women should just STFU and listen, right?

Did anyone check that link? It's a feminist link, and while feminism is not quite my thing either, it's a teenage feminist site and the comments are from young women bassists commenting on the misogyny they get just wanting to play their instruments.

To answer the OP, yes there are reasons women don't take up the DB. Outright misogyny, part of which is showing here is one, perhaps the major one.
You have to be emotionally strong as well as physically capable to survive in such an environment.
 
#22
SeaMist_au said:
Unnecessary and misogynist. Because women should just STFU and listen, right?

Did anyone check that link? It's a feminist link, and while feminism is not quite my thing either, it's a teenage feminist site and the comments are from young women bassists commenting on the misogyny they get just wanting to play their instruments.

To answer the OP, yes there are reasons women don't take up the DB. Outright misogyny, part of which is showing here is one, perhaps the major one.
You have to be emotionally strong as well as physically capable to survive in such an environment.
Click to expand...


Your personal attacks are misguided and unnecessary. You have apparently read way too much into my posts, and you may very well be doing it intentionally to make yourself into some kind of hero on a white horse. In addition to trying to help the O.P. identify why a relatively small number of women play bass, I believe I have expressed my views clearly. The two are separate, by the way. And there is no way to describe my views as misogynistic, although you will obviously continue to do so for your own purposes. I have never, nor would I ever, discourage a female from playing bass.

And as a matter of fact, I have never known of anyone to discourage a female from playing bass. The few females I have known to play bass have received encouragement and help generally above and beyond what most males receive, because most bass professors would love to see more women take up the instrument. And male peers are usually glad to break the monotony of being surrounded by men.

So your comments about an "outright misogynistic environment" are nothing more than a straw man. But if they continue to help you build your ego, carry on.
 
#25
mtto said:
Chi-chi Nwanoku
Click to expand...

I have a CD of her playing the Dittersdorf,Vanhal Double Bass Concertos :

Invalid Link Removed

A TB contributor on occasion as well! :)

I have seen many women playing DB in European Orchestras - but what surprises me is why Harp players are always women?

I have never seen a male harp player in an orchestra...:eyebrow:
 
#28
2 WORDS..Jane Little... google her.

Principle Emeritus..Atlanta Symphony..She's been a symphonic bassist for over 60 years..[ well..I should say more years than some of us have been alive..]

Jane plays symphonic 7/8 basses that are museum quality pieces. She is petite with 'short' fingers and plays like her fingers are a 'foot long'...no excuses..no tendon issues..just pure symphonic bass at its finest.
 
#30
It's not an assumption - it's based on many years of going to the Proms and seeing the best orchestras in Europe playing things like Mahler Symphonies (e.g. the famous adagietto) and I have never seen a male Harp player in those orchestras! :hmm:

I have seen male folk players - with the smaller version - e.g. Celtic music Alan Stivell.

But this is relevant to the current discussion - the orchestral Harp is huge and must be heavier than any Double Bass - difficult to move let alone transport! But it's always played by women -- why?
 
#33
I honestly *almost* never see any bears playing the guitar. And there is a distinct lack of Rosicrucians among the french horns.
bearplayingguitar.jpg


What are you guys talking about? (notice I didn't say gals) I see guys playing harp all the time!
38321751001_2769456417001_video-still-for-video-2769352297001.jpg
 
#35
PS I did say "I have never seen a male harp player in an orchestra"

I have seen lots of male harp players as soloists or in folk groups etc. - I was just commenting that of all the many concerts I have attended with large symphony orchestras - the harp players have always been women.


Please note - this thread is titled : ORCHESTRAL INSTRUMENTS
 
#37
Bruce Lindfield said:
PS I did say "I have never seen a male harp player in an orchestra"

Please note - this thread is titled : ORCHESTRAL INSTRUMENTS
Click to expand...

Absolutely, excuse the faux pas... harp players in an orchestral setting...
437868114_640.jpg



I'll let you inform the bear he's not playing in an orchestra, my health insurance doesn't cover that kind of thing.
 
#39
I read the blog post about harp, and the other orchestral instruments mentioned. Before this develops into disputing why "x" gender does (not) play "y" instrument, I think it is fair to say that almost every instrument is faced with overcoming some sort of stereotype, or gender/personality assumptions. Some instruments are even faced with a wide range of them, depending on the context that they are used in. Classical saxophone players are regarded much differently than jazz or blues players, and everyone has an opinion on Sergio Flores (the careless whisper guy) or Kenny G.

A lot of of these do carry some weight. As with any stereotypes and assumptions, they wouldn't exist if there wasn't some truth to them. Regardless to the amount of truth that they carry, this needs to stop. Our society has come a long way on a lot of fronts, but has a long way left to go. "I bet you wish you played the flute" or "it's so inconsiderate to be taking up so much space on public transit" or any of the other discrimination and harassment we receive as bassists isn't right. It is still discrimination and harassment, and we shouldn't collectively be outraged by racism, but perfectly ok with people saying violists are all idiots.

I will admit that I too am guilty of these things. I have made jokes about the stage being level when drool is coming out both sides of the drummer's mouth. It needs to stop. As musicians, we are fighting hard enough to try to find an audience and (fair) paying work, while the instrument/bow market is becoming inflated by investors and we face losses on all fronts. Maybe instead of all of the joking, infighting, and unnecessary back stabbing, we can try to get along? Take a moment to think about what we could accomplish if every time you opened your mouth to make a remark about a guitarist with a big ego, we raised a valid point about decreased arts funding, or horrible record contracts. What good does it do to say that brass players are drunks? Everyone is hurting, so why not direct some of that frustration towards making positive changes, instead of putting each other down?
 
#40
As I said before, there were no assumptions or stereotyping on my part - I was simply reporting what I had seen. So every year, I go to a lot of concerts and like seeing the big symphony orchestras - Berlin, Vienna, Leipzig, Concertgebouw etc.

I was surprised that all the harp players in those orchestras, have been female and wondered why?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back