Female drummers

Well we do qualify things-at one church I was teased and called the deaf barefoot drummer (I say "HuH?" a lot). And I understand why you can ask whose the best male or female drummer but really the question we are asking is whose the best drummer and to the victor goes the spoils of adoration. I think past history has favored males in numbers of drummers but I think more modern times females are probably surpassing males in interest now-I don't have data to support that though. Best isn't a scientific measure of objectivity either but purely subjective-though I wager you could create a fair measure of index. There is talent and skills you can measure for mastery of specific things, some are more popular or successful and that deserves points but that part could be discriminatory because length of time playing can give you an advantage in being popular. It shouldn't dominate because some maybe newer and not as long in their career but better skilled (they just haven't risen to top yet-it takes time). A player with a longer history of success could always win but they do deserve due credit for that part-but a newer younger plays could actually be better in talent and skills category and not much playing history. That part would be difficult to weigh-you don't want to discriminate against either but length of time playing could really shift the tide unfairly (though really you can play a long time and still suck-I prove that everyday LOL). I haven't really thought about it much but now dagnabit y'all done planted the freakin' seed. But if we put on our Tom Terrific Funnel thinking caps I bet we could create an, much as possible, objective matrix to access and compare drummers objectively. Whether they have a wind sock and which way it's blowing won't be a question or related to their drumming abilities. I bet it would yield interesting result-heck if we can't do I bet we can get some supercomputer to figure it out. Sometimes when someone states who they believe is the best well it may actually be true and we can provide data to support it.
 
What I learned from this thread: Drummers drum, gender is irrelevant
Old guys still like to make sexist comments and bad jokes
Young dudes like to judge them for it
Everyone has an opinion and they're all valid
 
Every so often we drag this "female drummers" conversation out so everyone can get their feelings hurt and/or confirmed. This is the real comedy. You guys are way too sensitive. Who cares what gender a drummer is and who cares what group/gender/persuasion is represented? Represent yourself and your drumming and just enjoy everyone else's.

Turn off the video and grab audio of 5 Drum Solos from drummers of any gender and see if you can tell which gender each drummer is. Music doesn't care if you wear a dress or not or are a man, woman, or anything else.

But please, continue to cry about this. It nourishes my soul.
 
ok...a little explanation for the younger than 45 crowd:

when all of us older than 45 were growing up, it was very rare to see a good female drummer...because we lived in a culture where girls were actively discouraged to play drums. I remember being in band in the 80's, and hearing both male and female band directors telling girls that they should not play drums. Drums were for "big dumb guys" Girls (and weak boys 😑 ) played the "smart" instruments: violin, flute, clarinet, piano

this always confused me...why would you deny someone a chance to try what they wanted to first.

I made a pact with myself to NOT be like that as a drum instructor, and for most of my 30 years doing so, my programs have almost always been more female than male, which was revolutionary to A LOT of my colleagues, especially in the 90's. I would always get this: "how come you are letting girls play tenors/snare? Shouldn't they be on bells?"

I would be like: "letting?" They are there b/c they threw down, and won the audition...there is no "let"...there is "deserve", which they did...

I populated my programs based on ability levels within the demographic that I had to work with. Our school is more female than male for certain reasons, so i have a larger female population to work with.

...and don't get me started about how much the "bells" statement was a problem as well

Plain and simple, that is why it is still exciting to us to see women throwing down on drums...that is why we bring up the gender. It is NOT because we are all misogynistic...it is because we were raised in a time when we were immersed in misogynism, whether we knew it or not.

It is the same as me still being amazed that I have all 10,000 of my CD's on a small device that fits in my pocket; or that I can control my entire house while at work; there are some things that the younger generations take for granted that just didn't happen/exist when we were "the young people"



Every so often we drag this "female drummers" conversation out so everyone can get their feelings hurt and/or confirmed. This is the real comedy. You guys are way too sensitive. Who cares what gender a drummer is and who cares what group/gender/persuasion is represented? Represent yourself and your drumming and just enjoy everyone else's....

this times 1000
 
ok...a little explanation for the younger than 45 crowd:

when all of us older than 45 were growing up, it was very rare to see a good female drummer...because we lived in a culture where girls were actively discouraged to play drums. I remember being in band in the 80's, and hearing both male and female band directors telling girls that they should not play drums. Drums were for "big dumb guys" Girls (and weak boys 😑 ) played the "smart" instruments: violin, flute, clarinet, piano

this always confused me...why would you deny someone a chance to try what they wanted to first.

I made a pact with myself to NOT be like that as a drum instructor, and for most of my 30 years doing so, my programs have almost always been more female than male, which was revolutionary to A LOT of my colleagues, especially in the 90's. I would always get this: "how come you are letting girls play tenors/snare? Shouldn't they be on bells?"

I would be like: "letting?" They are there b/c they threw down, and won the audition...there is no "let"...there is "deserve", which they did...

I populated my programs based on ability levels within the demographic that I had to work with. Our school is more female than male for certain reasons, so i have a larger female population to work with.

...and don't get me started about how much the "bells" statement was a problem as well

Plain and simple, that is why it is still exciting to us to see women throwing down on drums...that is why we bring up the gender. It is NOT because we are all misogynistic...it is because we were raised in a time when we were immersed in misogynism, whether we knew it or not.

It is the same as me still being amazed that I have all 10,000 of my CD's on a small device that fits in my pocket; or that I can control my entire house while at work; there are some things that the younger generations take for granted that just didn't happen/exist when we were "the young people"





this times 1000
Lets start a topic .... Male drummers 😂😂🤪🤔
 
Lets start a topic .... Male drummers 😂😂🤪🤔
Or black drummers. Or white drummers. Or Asian drummers. Or christian drummers. Or blonde drummers. Or drummers with an IQ over 140. Or drummers who drive a Toyota. Or drummers who are shorter than 5'-9" but weigh over 200lb.

None of this crap matters. Only when the drummer is not a man does it matter. Just stupid.

So I'm 45. The Go-Gos, the Runaways, the Bangles, L7, Hole, Vixen, Shiela E, Terry Lynne Carrington, Bobbye Hall, Cindy Blackman, plenty more. Even Madonna is a drummer who played with the Breakfast Club before they or she made it big. Motley Crue had a woman drummer at one point also. Women drummers have always been there.
 
Camille Bigeault is a beast. And not even "for a girl"...she's just a beast. She's not a household name but she should be.

She's on par with Anika Nilles, but she doesn't rely on heavy computer processing to make herself sound better like Anika. Camille's drum tone (timbre and velocity) actually matches up to her stick heights and how hard she's hitting the drums. [Anika is still a fantastic drummer, I just wish she'd leave the heavy computer manipulation out of it.]



Also, her grasp of polyrhythms and independence is off the charts. I'm convinced she has 2 brains.

 
Last edited:
Camille Bigeault is a beast. And not even "for a girl"...she's just a beast. She's not a household name but she should be.

She's on par with Anika Nilles, but she doesn't rely on heavy computer processing to make herself sound better like Anika. Camille's drum tone (timbre and velocity) actually matches up to her stick heights and how hard she's hitting the drums. [Anika is still a fantastic drummer, I just wish she'd leave the heavy computer manipulation out of it.]



Also, her grasp of polyrhythms and independence is off the charts. I'm convinced she has 2 brains.


I'm hooked!!! That snare sound in the first vid is so dreamy!!!
 
Back
Top