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