March 1, 2005 -- Music education teachers need to make their female musicians aware that participation in instrumental jazz ensembles is critical to their marketability, according to a University of Wyoming Department of Music researcher.
A study by Kathleen McKeage, a senior lecturer who has played the bass professionally since she was 16 years old, verifies what educators, parents and students intuitively already know -- when people attend college or professional jazz band concerts, they see few female musicians.
Although both genders play jazz in high school, women's participation drops off significantly in college and professionally. The reasons women quit vary, but when they do, they fall short of being fully prepared to teach music at the high school band director level, says McKeage. Her article will appear in the winter issue of the Journal of Research in Music Education (JRME).
McKeage says this situation can be corrected.
“We can encourage instrumental jazz ensembles to expand their instrumentation to include instruments traditionally played by women, such as the flute, clarinet or oboe,
A study by Kathleen McKeage, a senior lecturer who has played the bass professionally since she was 16 years old, verifies what educators, parents and students intuitively already know -- when people attend college or professional jazz band concerts, they see few female musicians.
Although both genders play jazz in high school, women's participation drops off significantly in college and professionally. The reasons women quit vary, but when they do, they fall short of being fully prepared to teach music at the high school band director level, says McKeage. Her article will appear in the winter issue of the Journal of Research in Music Education (JRME).
McKeage says this situation can be corrected.
“We can encourage instrumental jazz ensembles to expand their instrumentation to include instruments traditionally played by women, such as the flute, clarinet or oboe,
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