Taylor Swift; St. Vincent; Nicki Minaj; Cardi B; in today’s music industry there are countless women who dominating the scene and doing so on their own terms. In 2018, with mainstream society beginning to embrace a woke perspective, it goes without saying that women are equally as talented and competent as men, in many cases more so, since they’ve been forced to compensate for so long. Of course, society has not always been so enlightened. Artists like Patti Smith and Joni Mitchell had to work extra hard for airtime, and jazz singer Nina Simone’s life was severely disrupted by her abusive husband who became her manager only to make off with a significant chunk of her money when he left her.
Going back even further, it’s fascinating to consider the life of the first successful female composer, an American woman named Amy Beach, born in New Hampshire in 1867. Beach was already strong on the piano by the age of four, writing original waltzes and composing pieces mentally, away from the instrument. By sixteen, she was performing at a virtuoso level that impressed audiences and critics, and shorter thereafter she was featured in performances by the Boston Symphony. On one occasion, performing Mendelssohn in 1885, the conductor slowed the orchestra to ‘go easy’ on the young woman. She responded by picking up the speed, leading the orchestra back to the proper galloping tempo against the conductor’s indications.
This type of badass behaviour surely helped pave the way for the gradual acceptance of women in music and in other aspects of culture and society. In married life, Beach was only permitted to perform once a year, but her husband provided her with a lavish studio designed to her specifications where she could work on a daily basis. Some of the limitations she faced seem barbaric to a modern reader, but back then, what Amy Beach accomplished seemed like a miracle of progress.
In today’s culture, men often take it for granted that women have access to equal opportunity, but this is by no means true. There are still insidious (and overt) influencing factors of misogyny and patriarchy at every turn. If you are a young woman, or if you have a daughter, it’s important to remember that the battle is not over. It can be inspiring to dedicate your life to expressing your strength through song, signing up for music lessons and learning to wail on the guitar, batter the drums or perform complex compositions on the piano like the trailblazer Amy Beach did.
When female musicians find success – already a difficult feat for anyone to accomplish in such a competitive industry – they still have to deal with individuals who are shortsighted on gender equality and record labels that potentially want to dumb them down and objectify them to the masses. In 2018, no woman has to take that kind of shit anymore. The public sentiment is shifting with the paradigm to make room for genuine individual expression rather than mass marketed bullshit art puppeteered by crusty old white men.
It’s time to rock girls, pick up your axe and shred.