UK Edition
British woman is the only female trumpeter in 20 of the world's top orchestras, survey finds, as it reveals instrument gender divide
There is only one female trumpet player in the world's top 20 orchestras, according to a survey which found that playing musical instruments professionally is split along gender lines.
The trumpet, trombone and tuba are almost exclusively male preserves, while the harp is the only instrument skewed in the opposite direction.
Anne McAneney of the London Philharmonic Orchestra is the only female out of 103 trumpet players in the study, which looked at the make-up of the top 20 symphony orchestras as ranked by Gramophone magazine.
"Historically, only the violin, flute and piano were considered to be feminine," McAneney said.
"Colliery bands were male, and it took a long time for women to get involved in those. Back when I started in the mid-1980s, I was definitely a rarity. But things are changing. I have been teaching at the Guildhall School of Music for 23 years and during that time there has been a huge increase not just in trumpet players but right across the board.
"But change doesn't happen overnight if something has been a great male tradition. Some orchestras now have screened [blind] auditions, although at the London Philharmonic we don't, because people can feel that if they are seen to be a woman, they won't get through no matter how well they play."
The survey, by the website Quartz at Work, studied 2,438 full-time musicians and found that 69 per cent were men. Breaking the instruments down by gender revealed that 96 per cent of timpani players were male, followed by the double bass (95 per cent male) and the bassoon (86 per cent male). The study found that 94 per cent of harpists were female.
Amy Phelps, a cello instructor who wrote her PhD dissertation on gender discrimination in orchestras, told the site: "The instruments identified as male are the louder, bigger instruments. Our society does not want women to be loud."
Some musicians pointed out that the Gramophone list is subjective, and other orchestras do feature women on those instruments. English National Opera and the Halle Orchestra both have women as principal trombone.
The BBC Symphony Orchestra has a female principal trombone, Helen Vollum. She also plays in an all-woman trombone quartet, Bones Apart.
"I have never experienced any discouragement shown towards girls in taking up the trombone. I was always among the minority but never treated in a negative way," Vollum said. "I believe the current trombone sections of both the National Youth Orchestra and the National Youth Brass Band contain more female than male trombonists.
"Sometimes people are surprised that I play the trombone. I would guess that it is because I am female. I can’t explain their preconceptions."