Music teachers' constructions of gender in elementary education

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Music Education Research 13
support their views drawn from their experiences as music students and teachers.
When asked what observations he had made teaching girls, Brian commented that
‘other than voice type’, in the past he had never noticed any differences between
working with girls and boys. However, in contrast, he had observed girls in his
current group of middle school students ‘who were uncomfortable with a male
teacher’. Brian attributed this particular problem with a group of girls to differences
in teaching style between himself and the former nurturing female teacher, who was
counter-posed against his self-portrayal as a ‘demanding’ and ‘rough around the
edges’ masculine persona. Brian pointed out that in the past, although he had often
worked with majority girls, he had not experienced this problem. Although Brian had
taught for six years in elementary schools, his move to middle school (11 13-yearolds)
had occurred two years before. It is difficult to assess whether these accounts
relate to a specific teaching context, or may be relevant to age differences between
elementary and middle school students. What may be noted, however, is that his
description highlighted a ‘nurturing’ female teacher against a ‘demanding’ masculine
teacher who generated positive responses from the boys:
Very demanding in my tone, and demanding of what I would like. They [the girls] had a
hard time dealing with this. So I had to really back down and watch what I said, and
watch how I said it. The guys in my group responded well, in fact, the guys in my group,
I expanded the number of guys that I had in my group, coming into it.
Central to Amy’s account of her entry into music education was her ability to
compete successfully with boys on their terms.
I was always in somewhat male-dominated areas, like for instance, trumpet. Even in
high school and all through college, I was the only female in the trumpet section. ...
I was in the jazz-ensemble, I was the only girl. ...When I was ...a high school director,
I was one of very ...few if any females. I’m pretty comfortable as far as being in a male
dominated situation. ...I feel I’ve got some kind of skill or just some things about my
personality that ...I’m not real sensitive about, I guess. ...I don’t ever feel like I was
treated any differently because anytime I was ...I felt like I always proved myself ...I
didn’t feel like I was ever ...seen as like weak or incapable or anything like that at all.
What is interesting in this account is that while Amy portrays herself as both willing
and able to challenge men on their turf the gendered stereotypes of ‘masculine’
and ‘feminine’ behaviours are not challenged. In effect, Amy portrays her success as
a music teacher as lying in her ability to successively adopt ‘masculine’ traits of
‘insensitivity’ and ‘competitiveness’ as other to the ‘feminine’ trait of ‘weakness’.
In her reflection on her experiences as a music student, Amy described situations
in which she demonstrated competence as a musician by competing with boys
(‘Cause I am very competitive. So I really ...I really, I liked it a lot!’), exclaiming:
‘I like having a chance to prove myself’. Amy referred to gender stereotyping of
music instrument selection, noting her choice to move from learning the flute (played
mostly by females) to playing trumpet (played mainly by boys). In her account,
Amy’s success as a performer was premised on her ability to successfully compete
against her male counterparts. In her work as an elementary music teacher, Amy
described girls as more eager to participate in activities (especially singing), with boys
‘a little more hesitant at doing something’ until they ‘get the whole picture’.Amywas