ABSTRACT
There is an intensifying drive to identify and address gender inequalities in the music industry, as well as wider society and culture; and the importance of studying gender, in vocational popular music courses particularly, has been highlighted by Whiteley, who argues it is crucial for students ‘entering the so-called “real world”’ of the commercial music industries (2015, p. 375). This chapter discusses the early stages of a research project exploring experiences, practices and challenges relating to gender and sexuality for young musicians, focusing on performers of popular music aged 18–25, in education, training or early career. The discussion in this chapter is based on data generated from a small-scale pilot study carried out in 2017 with young musicians who were either in their final year of, or recently graduated from, the industry-facing popular music degree course at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts. While a larger study aims to engage musicians of all gender identities, the focus in this chapter is on young female popular musicians specifically, and explores gender inequalities, norms and perceptions that continue to present challenges in relation to instruments and technologies, music-making and group dynamics, performance and songwriting, and persona and image. The chapter concludes that it is crucial to address these challenges to work towards greater gender equality in both vocational popular music higher education and the music industry.
