Zach Castle

1/20/15
Reflection Paper 1
I will begin by looking at the questions raised and statements made, as well as my
thoughts, of the three required readings. First is the Continuum Encyclopedia entry, Gender
and Sexuality. It begins by stating the definitions of gender, sex, and sexuality, as we did in
class. It goes on to discuss how various genres had certain gender and sexual connotations
and caused social uprising, such as rock and roll. Traditional cultures and their gender roles for
certain types of music are discussed. The next thing is that certain instruments have gendered
performance stereotypes, which I believe. This is due to society having passed down beliefs
that certain instruments are more masculine or feminine than others, due to the sound they
produce, and perhaps even the shape of the instrument itself. While gender played a role in
learning an instrument and which one, so did the class of family you came from. The higher
your class the more likely you were to be able to 1. afford continual lessons and 2. afford the
instrument. Mass media also plays a role in the gendering of instruments in both the
professional and casual setting. The article then talks about how music technology has been
categorized as male, which is something I hadnt thought about. Looking at the music I have in
my library, specifically dance/electronic music, I notice that the producers are mostly male while
the females, if any, provide vocals on the tracks. Also, I took Music Technology I and II at
Rhodes, and there was only one female in my class in the first course, and there were none in
the second. The article continues on to talk about gendered music and resisters of the
stereotypes, gendering of popular music, and concludes that gender and sexuality clearly play
a signifiant part in popular music practice and ideology.
The second reading, The Gender Stereotyping of Musical Instruments in the Western
Tradition, is exactly what it sounds like. It begins with the discussion of Luca della Robbias

Cantoria, which was a relief sculpture that illustrated verses of Psalm 150. The Psalm is
dealing with music and boys and girls are carved and play specific instruments related to their
gender. A lighter, airier instrument is played by females while the deeper, raspier and larger
instruments are played by males. Throughout, the article has many interesting paintings and
sculptures that represent gender roles throughout the history of music and instruments. I read
the entire article, and I dont know any arguments to present. Basically, the article is stating
what are facts in a sense of the gendering of music through time, presented through historical
sculptures, painting, and artwork.
The last reading, Why Have There Been no Great Women Artists, is a misleading title.
This is because the title itself is an opinion which I disagree with. I believe there have been
great women artists throughout time. The definition of great itself can be varied from person to
person: maybe one thinks that great means winning a Grammy, or perhaps being on the
Billboard Top 100. It might mean the quality of musical production by the female artists, such as
their voice quality or timbre. Or perhaps for some great means the meaning behind the music
itself. I fully support female artists and enjoy their music. That being said, I believe that females
are just as capable on the musical world as males are. There are plenty of terrible (in my
opinion) male artists, as well as plenty terrible female artists, just as there are great ones.
If one was to look at my music collection, they would see quite a wide variety of music.
From pop to classical, rap to country, deep house to techno and electronic, my music library
encompasses many of the existent musical genres. That being said, I have quite a few female
artists in my library, as well as artists who are openly homosexual. For example, I enjoy music
by Frank Ocean, who he is openly gay. He is a very successful artist and his music has a
unique vibe to it, part of which can be credited to his unique use of synthetic instruments as well
as his voice. I also have a few songs by MIKA, my favorite of which is Grace Kelly. Overall,
MIKAs songs (or at least the ones in my library) are overall bright and peppy, and this is why I

enjoy them. Over this past Christmas break on my drive home from the store, Grace Kelly
came on the speakers and I listened to it on repeat the entire drive home. I may or may not
have sang along as well. I have other gay and queer performers in my library as well, such as
RuPaul. This can be credited to my middle school/early high school years of loving
Abercrombie and Fitch, and their obnoxiously loud store music and cologne (which I proudly
wore at the time). Now Ill discuss female performers.
Ella Fitzgerald. Where do I begin? She has one of the most full and wonderful voices
that ever sang the music of the early to mid 1900s, in my opinion. She has a powerful voice
and impressive range. Paramore, whose lead singer is a female. I have quite a few songs by
Ariana Grande as well. Lets not forget Katy Perry, I do enjoy quite a few of her songs as well.
Mary J. Blige, for her classic hit Be Without You. No library would be complete without
Beyoncs Love on Top. Blue Moon by Rosemary Clooney. And At Last, Etta James. Pun
intended. I could keep going, there are many more female artists/instrumentalists in my library
across various genres. To give a general idea, probably about twenty-five percent of my library
is either lead by a female or the main melody of the song is sung by a female. I do personally
believe that there is something about the female voice that can be soothing and more
persuading than a males voice at times, depending on the song content and genre. Maybe its
only because Im a guy. To recap, I very much enjoy music by female performers.
Taking a step back and looking at my music library as one entire flowing form, I can see
one general trend: more often than not, my music is positive and in a major tonality. Im an
optimistic person overall, and not much gets me down for long. I think that one can look at
someones music library and be able to somewhat accurately guess a few personality traits of
the person. I say somewhat accurately because I have many rap songs, as well as those by
2Pac, and I am by no means a gangster.

As I write this paper, I am listening to a band called The 1975. Something interesting
about this is the fact that their album is complete in my library, which is a rarity. The only other
complete albums I can think of that I have are Maroon 5s Songs About Jane, Fallout Boys
Folie Deux, as well as multiple Oscar Peterson albums. This is significant because I find it
difficult to purchase an entire album of an artists music, for one main reason: much of the
popular music I listen to features one or two big hit songs, and the rest on the album are
mediocre at best. To delve a bit into a specific album, lets take a look at The 1975 and their
self-titled album. I own the deluxe version, which is thirty-nine songs long, including six song
remixes at the very end of the album. A good female friend of mine and I share our enjoyment
of this band, and one day last semester when we were hanging out, we ended up laying around
and talking while listening to the album. All of it, two hours and twenty-six minutes. This is the
first time Ive listened to a whole album nonstop in my life. What makes this stand out to me is
the fact that while we often make music background music for daily events, she and I also found
ourselves often drawn back into the music. Its of what I would label an alternative rock/laidback
chill genre with performers from London. The album has a very flowing feeling, from start to
finish. While each song has its own unique qualities, no song played back to back scrapes
against one another. Also, in my opinion, this album has at least 20 very quality songs. It is a
rarity in these modern times to find a band with an album that isnt focused on pushing one or
two hits while releasing the whole album, hoping one will press the purchase button without
listening to the rest of the album. I dont know if you would personally enjoy this band, you
might think theyre garbage. However, I do believe it would be hard to deny that you didnt feel
more relaxed after listening to it.