i found this in another forum and figured i would show it to all of you who's reading this. http://www.dci.org/news/news.cfm?news_id=c0056a96-f2e8-44ac-af09-80ab2ab685d4

Our line is open for everybody but the two girls never try out for the battery. They were given chances but they never showed up.

I've put this up before, and I'll do it again because it's sweet This is Renee. (link and attachment)




The reason I'm putting this up is due to the fact that Renee will possibly be the last girl cymbal player to ever be on the 110 line. This is because someone wrote/called our director complaining that there was a girl up there shaking her booty and how 'horrible' it was for her to display herself in that fashion. Our director decided that there would be no more girls then on.

I personally don't agree with it. There's a fine line between sexist and just wanting to play. She's up there shaking her butt, yeah, we all hoot and holler at her, but so are the guys - they get way more attention than Renee. AND she's one hell of a player. I just don't see why it's such a big deal. I guess being PC can go a little too far sometimes.

i really see no need in banning girls from trying out or even making any drumline. they have just as good, if not better, chops than guys do. plus i speak for all drummer guys i think when i say that female drummers are sexy, a definate plus

For auditions, our drumline only auditions members of the section. This past season, we had four female basses (out of six), one female snare, and two female plates. Our line was a total of eighteen people this past season.

Yet, the females are still treated differently by a lot of the guys within the section. A lot of the guys look down on the playing abilities of the females in our line, and I'm not saying that doing so is right, but the talent pool is not very great in our line.

[What I am about to say is not meant to offend, I'm just being honest. I love females... especially Kelly Clarkson...]

I think part of it is that percussionists, for the most part, are protrayed mostly as males. We have a big problem with practicing in our line because a lot of the females lack confidence in their playing abilities.

I often hear some of the females in our line saying "Well, I'm not as good as the guys... I can't get this" and it seems like this idea just manifests itself when they are young and grows.

The majority of the males have some confidence in their playing abilties, so the difference can be seen.

I have talked with the entire line before about being confident with their playing and about all that stuff, but it doesn't sink in, because I think the image of good percussionists has been drilled into their heads as being males.

my line is the same way the females dont realize that they cam be just as good if not better than the guys of the line. but i guess it's really just that stereotpe that guys are the only good percussionist

One drumline in my area this year was all girls!

They beat us, too!

My opinion on if a girl wants to join? If she has decent chops, then Bass or Snare. If no chops at all then Pit, if she blows all the other guys out of the water, Tenors or snare. Accept the fact that girls are around the drumming world and let them play. Heck, Shenandoah Sound has 2 girls on the line as of right now on snare. One of them was a Jersey Surf Alumnus. Both can play very well.

I wouldn't say our drumline is sexist because girls are permited to tryout but since I've been in the line our better players do tend to be guys. Last year I was the only girl in battery (2nd bass) and there were six girls in the front ensemble. At tryouts this year we had nine girls tryout. For next years line there will be three girls on battery, two on bass and I'll be on tenors and five in the front ensemble.

The two years i've been in marching band there have always been two girls on our line, a snare and a tenor, One was a senior this year, but the tenor player is a shoo in for section leader. She refuses to try out though cuz she is unsure in her ablities and she knows the guys won't listen to her-she is by far the best percussionist at our school. I think girls should be given the same right to try out for drumline as they guys and no one, (guys included) should be put on the line if they can't hack it! duh! lol