Advice for the Female Musician
Being Female in the Music Business is an Art in Itself
by Shannon Kennedy
I have found that being female in the music industry is an art in itself - it
takes both mastery of playing your instrument and of using your femininity.
A lot of biases come along with the female gender. It is assumed
automatically that a female will not or cannot be as good as a guy because
of reasons such as: not being aggressive enough, it is just a "guy" thing,
etc. These pre-generated opinions can make it really hard for someone to
take you seriously as a musician. This can be very discouraging, making the
reason you have to work hard to get good even more essential so you can
prove them wrong.
There are some key abilities you should have other than being a musician
that will help you in the music world. For example, a female sax player
should have the ability to innocently flirt. You give your male employers the
illusion of your availability regardless of whether you are or are not without
ACTUALLY making yourself available to them for anything other than a gig. A
lot of male employers or fellow musicians may look for a lot more from you
than your musical abilities, so unless you are ready for the consequences on
you personally (reputation, emotions, etc) and on your career, I would not
head in that direction (to be blatant - don't sleep with guys to get gigs).
Avoid manipulating people, it completely destroys relationships (every kind)
and other people get the impression that you are selfish and greedy, so they
will not want to be hired by you or hire you.
Do not dominate relationships or positions. Being a leader is one thing, but
being a controlling psycho is another - in other words, never be or doing
anything more than you need to be. It is the tendency of some girls to
completely take over everything because they feel that things will be more
"fair", successful, or whatever when things aren't happening for them. It is
one thing to lead something, and another to completely take it over.
Never ever date someone you are in a group with. Even if you think the
relationship will last, it most likely will not and your break up will not only end
the relationship, but also the group. Never ever date or "get with" a club
owner, boss, or anyone to get or keep or gig and avoid it for any other
reasons as well. Essentially, relationships, if possible, should be out of your
industry.
Even though the industry should not be based on image and not ability, it
never hurt anyone to take time on their appearance. If you dress in a cute
cocktail dress or a cute top and pants, you are more likely to be hired than
if you show up dressed like one of the guys. I have been hired for gigs just
for the reason of being there to be looked at (sometimes for the members of
the band and sometimes for the audience) - a lot of this stuff can be really
degrading and cause doubt in your career choice. There are three solutions:
just keep taking the gigs because its money, go off and start doing your
own thing, or quit altogether. It is up to you to decide which decision is the
healthiest for you.
As a musician, you are constantly competing against guys and sometimes it
is hard not began emulating more than just their playing (some girls feel they
need to be one of the boys). You should try to keep your own individual
identity and not lose sense of who you are. Musicians are admired for being
unique and not a clone of someone else, so it is important to be yourself.
Not to be discouraging but it is important to know that discrimination is
never going to be entirely eliminated, so if it is something that you find
difficult or unbearable, than it is best that you find another path to take in
music other than performance (composing, producing, teaching…). But no
matter what you decide to do, it is important that approach things with a
mature and business sense (not emotional) so that your decisions are logical
and are mature.
This article was written as an introduction to a new series of articles I plan
on coming out with on how to handle different situations that girls run
across as musicians and how to handle them. You can email me any
questions, suggestions, or comments that you have on being female in the
music world.
Some Female Musicians:
Diana Krall :: Vocalist and Pianist
Mindi Abair :: Saxophonist
Candy Dulfer :: Saxophonist
Ella Fitzgerald :: Vocalist
Billie Holiday :: Vocalist
Sarah
Vaughn :: Vocalist
Maria Schneider :: Composer
