Blowing your own trumpet: exploring the gendered dynamics of self-promotion in the classical music profession

This chapter explores the gendered dynamics of self-promotion by drawing on 64 in-depth interviews with female, classically trained musicians in London and Berlin. As in other sectors in the cultural industries, the ability to self-promote is considered key to finding employment. However, many resea...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Sociological review (Keele) 2015-05, Vol.63 (S1), p.97-112
Main Author: Scharff, Christina
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Artists
Berlin Germany
Classical music
classical musicians
Conflict
Creative industries
discursive strategy
Employment
entrepreneur
Expectation
Expectations
Females
Gender
London, England
Music
Musicians
Musicians & conductors
Professions
Prostitution
self-promotion
Selfpromotion
Sexualization
United Kingdom
Women
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Summary:This chapter explores the gendered dynamics of self-promotion by drawing on 64 in-depth interviews with female, classically trained musicians in London and Berlin. As in other sectors in the cultural industries, the ability to self-promote is considered key to finding employment. However, many research participants were reluctant to engage in self-promotion. First, it was associated with pushy behaviour that conflicts with normative expectations that women are modest. Second, self-promotion was regarded as a commercial activity and positioned as unartistic. Taking into account that women have been constructed as the artist's Other, engagement in self-promotion may threaten their already tenuous status as artists. Lastly, the notion of selling yourself may evoke the spectre of prostitution due to the sexualization of female musicians and the fact that it is mainly women who sell their bodies. As I will show, these gendered dynamics do not mean that female musicians are unable to pursue self-promotion, but that they engage in a range of discursive strategies to negotiate and secure their identities as female artists.
ISSN:0038-0261
1467-954X
DOI:10.1111/1467-954X.12243