That would have been my nearly-uncle-by-marriage.
I did a quick-and-dirty survey of (some) major professional orchestras in the United States for the gender breakdowns of their flute sections:[ul]
[li]Chicago Symphony: 2 males (including the principal), 2 females[/li][li]New York Philharmonic: 1 male (the principal), 3 females[/li][li]Boston Symphony: 1 male, 3 females (including the principal)[/li][li]Philadelphia Orchestra: 4 males[/li][li]Cleveland Orchestra: 1 male (the principal), 3 females[/li][li]Los Angeles Philharmonic: 3 females (principal position vacant)[/li][li]San Francisco Symphony: 1 male (the principal), 3 females[/li][/ul]So from among those seven orchestras, there are 28 flute positions. 13 are held by men, 17 by women (and one is currently vacant). Of the seven Principal Flute slots, 5 are held by men, 1 by a woman, and one is vacant.
(It’s certainly possible to quibble with my selection of orchestras. I picked the big ones that popped into my head.)
That’s quite a different gender distribution from your typical high school band, which in my experience looks something like this or this. (Just Google “high school concert band photo”.)
My son is in a large high school marching band, and of 15 clarinet players, he is the only guy. He kinda likes it that way.
I cannot do basic math today. That list adds up to 10 men, 17 women, and 1 empty chair. :smack:
This is what I think a male flute player is like.
Oops, I always get the guy mixed up with the band name.
When I was in high school band, there seemed to be girls’ and boys’ instruments. When I was in university, it evened out a bit more, though there weren’t a whole lot of male flute players.
Two of my faves:
Q: What’s the difference between an oboe and an onion?
A: Nobody cries when you chop up an oboe.
Q: How do you make a trombone sound like a french horn?
A: Stick your hand in the bell and play a bunch of wrong notes.
Boys instrument? Girls instrument? Hey, if you keep the spit valves clean & sanitize the mouthpieces, anyone can play them.
(…and if you don’t, no one will want to.) :eek:
I was in school bands from the mid 1960s to the mid 1970s and my younger siblings, a brother and two sisters were in band at least another ten years after that. We’re in Massachusetts. There were boys and girls playing mixed throughout all of the instrument sections in band and orchestra during all those years. Girls played trumpet, trombone, other horns, saxophone, drums, clarinet, flute, strings and likewise boys played flute, clarinet, violin, etc.
A male violinist from my high school was a member of the New World String Quartet and the Manhattan String Quartet. There is a local jazz orchestra in my area with a female trombonist who was in high school when I was. I have and aunt who was a drummer in the high school band and a sister who played trumpet.
The only male/female split on instruments that was ever aware of is that simply because of size and weight the sousaphone and the bass drum in marching band tended to be “boy” instruments in the lower grades.
This flautist is totally girly.
How do you tune three piccolos?
Shoot two of them
What’s the difference between a piccolo and a dog whistle?
The what between a piccolo and a dog whistle?
What’s an oboe good for?
To set light to the bassoon
What’s the definition of perfect pitch?
Throwing a viola in a skip from twenty yards without hitting the sides.
What’s the difference between a chainsaw and a baritone saxophone?
The chainsaw has a marginally greater range of dynamic expression
Why do people who play bagpipes march up and down?
It’s harder to hit a moving target
What’s the definition of a gentleman?
Someone who can play the bagpipes, but doesn’t
What’s the definition of a string quartet?
A good violinist, a bad violinist, a wannabe violinist and someone who hates violins getting together to bitch about composers
Our school system starts its string program in fourth grade. I’ve noticed that the manly string instrument seems to be viola.
Just send the kid to an all boy’s school and it won’t be an issue.
As a guy with a BA in performance on the Tuba, I can safely say that I have know quality musicians of both genders for all the common instruments, although some of the first responders to the thread did hit it pretty much on the head: although the majority of woodwinds, violin & viola players were female and brass & percussion tended to be male in high school, by the time we got to college, the outliers who had crossed that “gender gap” were fairly exceptional at their art. In other words, the female trumpet or trombone players I knew in high school were good; the ones I met in college were phenomenal. Better than their male college counterparts.
IME, school music teachers discourage young students whose teeth haven’t changed yet from playing brass instruments. Or at least their incisors.
I first met the man who would become my nephew-in-law at my brother’s funeral. At the shiva afterwards, we became aquainted. He’s a semi-professional drummer. I play guitar. My nephew played trombone in middle and high school. Jokes were told.
How can you tell if a drummer just broke up with his girlfriend?
He’s homeless
How can you get a guitarist to stop playing?
Give him some sheet music.
How can you get a trombonist off your porch?
Just pay him for the pizzas.
What’s the difference between a saxophone and a chain saw?
The saw has better sustain.
What’s the difference between a trombone and an extra large pepperoni pizza?
You can feed a family of 4 with the pizza.
How many guitarists does it take to change a light bulb?
Six. One to change the bulb, three to watch how he does it, and two to say “Hey, I can do that better.”
When I joined band in 5th grade I was the only trombone player period. Then the next year, 5 boys from the younger grade joined. I was their leader, and the sole female player, until I got to high school.
In high school, the oldest trombone playing girls were field commander & band president. They graduated and I was the only girl again until my senior year. I was band president, and so was the girl who joined my squad my graduating year, when she was a senior.
When I went to college I joined the jazz ensemble and I was the only girl IN THE ENTIRE GROUP. This was Jazz II, I think there was one in Jazz II (the same girl who was a senior in my HS band when I was a freshman). It was this way in Jazz II until my 5th year when a couple girls joined - a french horn player (??) and a saxaphonist. By my 3rd year I was the eldest and playing the first part.
When I joined a band post-college, it was me and 4 guys again. I was playing the first part but I don’t think it was because I was better than the guys. I just was suited for that range having played first for some 12 years by then.
So trombone seems to be a boy’s instrument, but yeah when a girl plays it we are exceptional! 