Girl Drummers

If there is any musical instrument that seems to be the most gender unbalanced, it has to be the drum set. When you look at singers, guitarists, piano players, and bass players, there is always an even mix of males and females who play each of these instruments. When it comes to drums, however, it is almost shocking to find a girl who plays. Why is this?

In the Popular Music major at USC, there are multiple males and females at each instrument except for one- you guessed it. In fact, out of the 15 drummers in the program, not one is female.

Are drums considered a manly instrument? How so? At what point in the instruments evolution did it become exclusive for men? Sure, there have been a fair share of crazy party-boy drug addicts who have held down the drum throne at some point or another (RIP Keith Moon and John Bonham), but there have been plenty of successful female drummers as well, such as Sheila E., Cindy Blackman, and Meg White. Yet, it is still rare to see many younger girls picking up the instrument.

Tena Clark is a famous songwriter/producer/composer who got her start as a drummer. She explains that her original goal as a drummer was to not be labeled as "good...for a girl," but thought of on the same level as her male peers.

It will be interesting to see how the gender constraints of the drum set will change as the years go on.