(originally posted here∞)

One thing I've been wondering is why women are so rare in the brass section. Does anyone know? I've been travelling with a few orchestras and especially in eastern Europe I got a lot of reactions when we entered the podium. They stared at me and whispered and it was quite obvious that they were not used to women playing brass instruments. In fact I never saw a single woman playing a brass instrument. Is this something that is common around the world? Is eastern Europe different or just lagging behind?

Even in high school the breakdown seems to have at least 70/30 in favor of men for non-French horn brass, vice versa for woodwinds. Among professionals the stats are sketchier since there are only a few in a given area, but my guess is the distributions are roughly the same minus having more male clarinets. And yes, at least when I was in Vienna (2000), the only woman in the Philharmoniker was the harpist. That's pretty rare for a modern orchestra, though; they're the best in the world, so I guess that's why they can get away with it.

Anyway, I started on piano at about 4, picked up the trombone at 11, euphonium at 12, horn at 18, and tuba and mellophone at 19. The piano was long my best instrument when I was but a wee prodigy (traveled the National competition circuit, gave full recitals since I was 6) but these days the euph takes that slot. I hope to get my horn playing up to the same level and beyond, since (1) it's my favorite instrument (2) you can't play euph professionally outside of the military bands and the Dallas Wind Symphony.


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