She moves through the band room as the only girl in class.
It wasn’t always this way. In 6th grade and 7th grade there were other girls in the band class. The attrition that happened through the years left her as the only girl in the 8th grade band.
There has always been a gender issue in my band classes. Our students elect to take band or choir, and because of many factors, some known and some I have yet to figure out, more boys join band than girls.
This is an issue that I continue to address in different ways. When I show examples of musicians playing instruments, I am conscientious of the gender identity of the musicians. I have helped create a women in music program that includes an assembly that features women musicians and classroom visits. I’m also very careful to choose repertoire that is composed by women, which in the band world is a challenge. Yes, there are great band music written by women but the vast majority of music is written by men.
After winter break in 8th grade band, we had an elective unit. During this time we allowed students to choose, some with my guidance, from a selection of musical activities. The choices included chamber music, solo work, and Garage Band on the iPads. When I introduce this unit, I mentioned that if someone had an idea of something that they really wanted to do, we could talk and do personalized independent study during this unit.
She asked me to do an independent study. Her plan was to spend this time writing a song and accompany herself on the ukulele. She had always been someone in the class who worked well independently so I so no reason to not let her work on a project of her own design.
During the work time in class, I checked in on her. She was working hard, so I decided to give her space to work. We had some conversations about chords and the form of her song but I didn’t really dive into the subject of her song.
When she volunteered to share her song in class today I felt nervous. I told her that she could share from her chair if she wanted to but she opted to come up in front of the class and perform from the conductor’s podium.
She introduced this song as being about one of her best friends that recently passed away. Then she started playing a simple strumming pattern through on a chord progression, and sang this beautiful song about this friend that was no longer with her.
I’ve seen hundreds of performances in my life and this was one the best. It was honest, it was powerful, and it was beautiful. The song expressed venerability, longing, and love. This girl performed in front of an all male audience, and I was proud of that audience for being respectful and giving her space to be honored and to be valued as an artist
Sometimes when you give students space, like with this girl, they will impress you with artistry beyond your imagination.
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