Music and Gender

The first story that comes to mind when dealing with preconceived ideas about music and gender is a fairly recent one. In my undergraduate program we had a wonderfully talented soprano. HE, Yacis, was from Sri Lanka and about 21 years old. He could sing most of the same repertoire that I could. He could sing up to at least a high B! When listening to him you could tell that it was a man singing but his tone was that of a soprano. It was always interesting when opera auditions came around. Our director was not very comfortable with having Yacis as one of the traditional female roles and neither were most of the other singers for that matter. Love scenes would not work too well. I believe that the only role that he was ever cast in was as Cherubino. This worked perfectly!

One day, Yacis and I had lunch together and I saw it as my opportunity to find out more about his voice. Even his speaking voice was just as high as mine. I was curious if he could speak or sing any lower. Instantly, he dropped his voice into a baritone octave and spoke a few sentences. Then he went right back up into his soprano voice. I was dumbfounded!!! He could change his voice into two completely different registers but he was more comfortable with the higher one. He could easily sing baritone repertoire just as beautifully as he did soprano but he preferred the soprano pieces. His cultural influence was the reason for the preference. The voice is an amazing thing.

I have also experienced gender in a very different way here at Converse. Casting the opera can be tricky and limiting as well. Luckily, Mrs. Turner is amazing and doesn't even attempt operas that could be uncomfortable with women having to play men. (love scenes) The overall environment of the music building is very different as well. As far as the level of competition it can be greater or lower than my prior experiences. In one way it is lower because girls are not trying to impress the guys. However, I feel that it is higher because women have more competition amongst themselves. There are a lot of sopranos! But, there is a greater level of support as well. It is a strange balance. I think that I like it better.