Growing up in a family full of musicians, there was very little I was told I could not do when it came to music making. My parents always encouraged me to make music and they gave me my first formal music lessons at the age of three years old. In my experience, all of my music teachers were women, and I grew up associating teachers to be women. This idea was also supported when I would go to school and have wonderful teachers, who were women, help me in my academics. As I began to grow, I came to the realization that I too loved teaching. As I helped friends, classmates and younger students, I found that it was something I was pretty good at. For me, teaching felt natural and it seemed like it was the right thing for me to do. As I grew older, I found myself getting more serious about making a career out of teaching music. When it came time for me to make a choice on where to go to college or what major to pursue, I chose Converse College and declared myself as an instrumental music education major. Now, this did not seem out of the ordinary for someone like me – I was just another female pursuing a degree in education. But as I made my way through college, I found myself questioning my decision to be a teacher. For many years, I had another musical interest that I had suppressed due to fear and ignorance. But as time went on, I was so drawn to it that I started to reconsider my education plan. This new pursuit would be in the field of conducting.
Now, I knew that conducting was not a major offered at my college and it was not the “safe choice” as a musician, much less a female musician. I knew that someone like me would have to work really hard to even get a chance at being a conductor in such a male-dominated field. It took a lot of thought, a lot of talking to people/family before I realized I wanted something more in my life than just becoming another teacher. Not that teaching is unimportant or not as influential of a career path, because without strong women teachers, I wouldn't be where I am today. But because I became so enamored with this lifestyle, I was willing to take a leap of faith and go for this dream. Today, I am challenged to break barriers and to challenge the stigma. I am shooting for conducting to prove to those who doubted me that I can do it and because I love it!
Although this is a scary endeavor at times and it certainly does take me out of my comfort zone, I have received much support from professors, friends, and other musicians who want to see more representation in the field of conducting, not just for females but for people of color also. As I follow this path, I cannot help but think of the strong women who have already come before me. Women like Marin Alsop, Nadia Boulanger, Xian Zhang, Kayoko Dan, and Antonia Brico, I am encouraged and given a sense of hope and duty as another female conductor in the making.
Attached below are videos of these powerful women in action.
Marin Alsop speaking of her challenges as a female conductor
I love how you described your thoughts being suppressed because of fear and ignorance. There are very few female conductors, but from my experience with you in conducting class, you’re going to be great! The videos you included were amazing as well!
ReplyDeleteI understand when you said all of your teachers were women, because I had that same experience. I found it interesting that you began to consider conducting as your primary field of study. I do agree with you that conducting is a male dominated profession and it is difficult for women to get into that field. Thank you for sharing your story with us!
ReplyDeleteI loved reading about your experience. I'm glad that you were able to figure out what it is you really want to pursue, even if it goes against the norms. One of the concerts I went to in the fall was the Spartanburg Philharmonic and it was directed by a woman and I thought "Oh interesting, a woman conductor" and then I thought that it was funny I should even have the thought. There's no reason a women conduction should be an odd thing and yet it's just not something we see as often. I had a similar experience last week when consulting for a surgery and for the first time, I have a woman surgeon. It's great to see women forging ahead in male-dominated fields.
ReplyDeleteThis was great to hear, Allana! Spoken like a motivated musician! There are a lot of female musicians I've heard of that are constantly given the idea that they can't achieve a certain music goal, but they always prove that wrong! That's why I was glad to see you include the bit on Marin Alsop! She had that very same experience. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeletethis was amazing to hear I loved your story about making music It is always so cool to see woman want to be in male dominated fields thank you for sharing
ReplyDeleteYesss. This is what we like to see! Seriously though, it's awesome that you want to be a conductor and even better that you see the challenges ahead and are willing to take them on. Very inspiring.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed listening to your story and how you had the courage to go into a career path that most women don't do and watching the videos of the women composers that inspired you. Really awesome story. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDelete