Playing Like A Girl

@administrator said in Playing Like A Girl:

My cousin is married to a man who is a gracie master. He teaches is at the local universities. I took Jiu-jitsu lessons from him for a couple of weeks, but it turns out that I'm not super into getting the crap beat out of me.

I know what you mean about "getting the crap beaten out of me".
The first lesson I took, was rough. Once the class was over, I went home, took a shower and tried to lay down. It was the first time the only thing on my body that didn't hurt was my hair. I slept sitting up.
However, the most important lesson I learned was not a technique but an observation. There would be all kinds of people that would drift in and out of class and I would look at some of the people and say to myself, "they won't last." Come to find out, they would often be black belts from some other discipline or one of the teacher's friends passing through town. The lesson? You can NEVER know a person's abilities (physical, financial, artistic, intellectual, etc.) by the way they look.

Kehaulani

Dr. Mark- "It was the first time the only thing on my body that didn't hurt was my hair. I slept sitting up."

IMO something's wrong. This is not to say that the Martial Arts should coddle someone. I see enough of that as it is. Unbelievable. But IMO, you should ease someone into a program with the right kind of orientation and conditioning, not just jumping in cold turkey.

I guess he analogy would be taking a beginner on trumpet and throwing at him/her an etude with Double High Cs in it.

@Kehaulani said in Playing Like A Girl:

Dr. Mark- "It was the first time the only thing on my body that didn't hurt was my hair. I slept sitting up."
IMO something's wrong. This is not to say that the Martial Arts should coddle someone. I see enough of that as it is. Unbelievable. But IMO, you should ease someone into a program with the right kind of orientation and conditioning, not just jumping in cold turkey.
I guess he analogy would be taking a beginner on trumpet and throwing at him/her an etude with Double High Cs in it.

You've got no argument from me. Yes, coddling isn't good but half killing a beginner isn't good either.

fels

Women sub in the Quintet and Jazz band i play in frequently. Very talented -

I remember when i was in high school -(mid 60's) there was perhaps one female trumpeter. Now i see more numbers. Anecdotal only. My point is -- Who cares. I would like to think that we are beyond all of that. But as an Anthropology major, these preferences and prejudices are slow to end. Consider Symphonic conductors. Very few women and slow to change. I remember living in Denver in the 70s and the guest conductor was Antonia Louisa Brico. How many remember can you remember?

Rapier232

@Kehaulani said in Playing Like A Girl:
. I never had a fight as an adult.

I had lots. But that happens when you’re a cop for 30 years. Especially in the UK, where we don’t have guns.

Having taken Judo when young, and then Karate for 4 years, I found the best defensive moves were from Akido. Which was easy to learn and remember without hours of practice.

@Rapier232 said in Playing Like A Girl:

But that happens when you’re a cop for 30 years.

First and foremost, thank you for your service!
I see a small fraction of what the Orlando cops have to put up with and if I had a magic wand, all cops would be paid a lot more and their benefits and retirement would never be an issue. My hats off to the people that take up a profession that includes keeping human garbage out of my house. I'll check out Aikido, Thanks!

N1684T

Lots of girl trumpet players in my Jr High band. Main reason i switched from Trombone;) Went to High School in neighboring town there were only a few. But they were great players.

Sean Hannity brags often about his "ninja training" which he has been into for over 5 years.

@N1684T said in Playing Like A Girl:

"ninja training"

Its true! He's studying with Raphael and Michelangelo. The other two turtles are on sabbatical.

N1684T

You must be a right wing nutjob;)

flugelgirl

It’ll be nice one day when there aren’t any more conversations like this when people will have realized that gender has NO impact on the ability to play an instrument.
As far as discrimination, I didn’t experience much growing up. A lot of women around my age did, however, and were not allowed to or were discouraged from playing jazz, especially. I never really felt the need to be a feminist until the last few years as the political climate changed. I do play in an all female big band, but because I like playing with them, not because I don’t have other places to play. That group blends much better than some others I play with, and plays an artier selection of music - most of it quite challenging. I serve the same function in that band as I do in others as soloist and relief lead. SWOJO sponsors a yearly Jazz program for school age girls which I have been a coach for, and I’ve also been a featured guest artist for the MPMEA all-girls Jazz program. I would love to say that discrimination no longer exists, but just last year we had a student in one of the programs that was told by her band director(from Alabama) that “girls don’t play drum set, they play mallets”. Our exceptional drummers got her started on set and she’s improving every day! I’ll be happy when we can stop talking about female musicians and just talk about musicians - gender should never be the primary descriptor.

@N1684T said in Playing Like A Girl:

You must be a right wing nutjob;)

Nope, not even close. Just a fan of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

@flugelgirl said in Playing Like A Girl:

It’ll be nice one day when there aren’t any more conversations like this when people will have realized that gender has NO impact on the ability to play an instrument.

But until that day, society should shine a light on the darkness of gender discrimination or any type of discrimination because if nothing is said, then nothing will be done and if nothing is done then it doesn't change. I applaud that you helped the girl who wanted to play drums. We live in a very graceless age and that makes it tough to stand up against discrimination but as a society, stand we must.

ROWUK

Laurie Frink
Liesel Whitaker
Ingrid Jensen
Valaida Snow
Bria Skonberg
Kiku Collins

Let‘s not talk about gender, rather what makes any particular player special. This is my second shortlist. Any ideas why I listed these people?

@ROWUK said in Playing Like A Girl:

Any ideas why I listed these people?

No