Women and Music

Extract

“‘Will my daughter prove a good musician?

‘I think she'll sooner prove a soldier.’”

Shakespeare.

It is generally accepted that women are the musical sex. It is taken for granted that nearly all women in the middle and upper classes are musically inclined, and practically every girl of these classes “learns music,” or better still, “studies music.” Our musical colleges have far more girls than men. Socially, ladies monopolise any performance there is; a man may sing a song, but that is generally all; he hardly ever plays the piano or violin. Some of us remember times when a man playing the piano was considered odd; it was essentially a lady's instrument. At a concert, especially a ballad concert, or a piano or fiddle recital, women fill most of the seats.