Exploring the Gender Roles of Instruments
“The countless and varied musical instruments that have existed through time are evidence of how people make music meaningful and useful in their lives”(Wade 34). In her book Thinking Musically, author Bonnie C. Wade describes how “ideas about gender sometimes dictate who may and may not play an instrument”(Wade 50). This notion can be observed across many areas of the world, including Europe, North America, Africa, and the Middle East. The concept of gender roles assigned to various instruments was increasingly predominant in early Western European culture. Women were not supposed to play wind instruments because it was said to take away the grace and beauty from their faces. They were not allowed to play in churches, because men were to lead church. This idea lives on even in today’s culture, where many churches do not allow women to be the head of music because it wouldn’t be “appropriate” to have a female pastor. One acceptable women’s instrument of that time was...