Music is a blessing. No matter what your level of participation everyone can relate to some aspect of music. Personally, I believe that is it one art form that no matter what gender, race, creed, or age everyone can appreciate and participate. For this reason, children all over the world are educated in music. The broad spectrum of music education ranges anywhere from playing a musical instrument to studying genres, composers, and cultural phenomena associated with music history.
The most common form of music education in America is band. Catering to children without prior musical experience, band programs are designed to help kids select a musical instrument, learn the fundamentals, and develop a life-long healthy respect and relationship with music. These are merely idealistic goals for a very flawed system. Consequently, the music programs across the nation do many kids a disservice. Instead of guiding them toward positive musical experience, many programs are poorly funded and run by disinterested band directors. This is a huge problem. Generations of children have received the bulk of their musical experiences from school band, thus their whole perceptions of music will be based on whether or not those experiences were positive. More often than not, these experiences are negative. In my opinion the root of negative perceptions of music can generally be traced to the musical instrument selection process.
Usually, a child is given the option to enroll in band. Once their parents have signed the consent form, the child is given the choice of a musical instrument. Now, before I describe the process any further, it is important to note that there are two kinds of contributing factors in this process: external and internal. External factors are based on influences outside of the child’s personal preference-instrument cost, instrument availability, band director’s influence, parent’s influence, peer pressure, and gender associations. Internal factors are derived from the child’s preference, such as timbre –color preference, physical aptitude, and general interest.
Several studies, dating from the 1970's to the present, that demonstrate the extent to which external factors affect instrument selection (Abeles). The two most influential external factors were band director's opinion and gender associations. However, over the last 20 years band directors have reformed their musical instrument selection process, basing their guidance more on physical aptitude and timbre preference (Gordon's Instrument Timbre Preference Test).
Unfortunately, the one external factor that has changed the least is gender association. Gender association is defined by a clear distinction between instruments based on the ideas of femininity and masculinity. For instance, flutes, clarinets, and most strings instruments are categorized as feminine instruments. On the other hand, trumpets, trombones, and percussion have traditionally been classified as male instruments.
Why are gender associations so problematic? If a child bases their instrument choice primarily on the social pressure of gender associations and their peers' influence, more than likely they will choose an instrument that they will not wish to continue, possibly tainting their relationship with music for the rest of their lives.
