Contrabass Conversations

Today’s episode is a rebroadcast of a conversation with Megan McDevitt about bass, gender, and women in the bass world, plus a live recording of her Bass and Gender talk from ISB 2017.

Megan McDevitt has been covering a topic that is of critical importance: The Bass and Gender.  She presented a session on it at the 2017 International Society of Bassists Convention, and she had a session scheduled for the 2018 Golden Gate Bass Camp as well.

Megan and I dig into femininity, masculinity, and the bass, and a whole variety of topics are covered through this conversational journey.  Thank you so much to Megan for enthusiastically covering this topic—I really hope you enjoy this episode and find it valuable food for thought!

Be sure to check out Megan’s Bass and Gender slides here.

Bass and Gender Talk

Megan also shares her thoughts on why she has been motivated to dig into this topic and also details about the specific audience for this talk.

She writes:

This talk is very similar to the one I have given at the ISB Convention, College Music Society Convention, and Atlantic Music Festival. In all of those settings, most of the audience was made up of professional musicians and college students. With an audience of people with world (and music world) experience, the discussion seemed to give clarity and understanding to their personal history. Many told me they found it helpful and illuminating.

But, for the Golden Gate Bass Camp version of it, most of the people in the room were high school and even middle school girls. I had considered adapting it, but ultimately made the decision that they needed to hear the truth. For this group, what I seemed to do was bring an ominous dark cloud over their future hopes. It was actually heart-breaking.

You can hear me start to discover this as I muddle through to the end of the talk. At the very end, a young lady asks me “how often” I experience discrimination or micro-aggressions and in the long pause I take before I answer I’m asking myself, “do I tell her the truth and wipe that look of hope from her face? Or do I sugar coat it, only for her to discover it on her own later?” I decided on truth. I’m not sure what the effects of my talk will be on these young women.

At best, they will be informed and prepared to face a world that won’t always take them seriously. Or, they may quit the bass because they don’t feel equipped to handle the gender dynamics. The latter possibility has bothered me for weeks. But, ultimately, I do think it is better to be over-informed than under-informed. I think I would have had an easier time if I had understood as a teenager some of the things I understand now. Hopefully, this will be true for them. And even more hopefully, maybe the world will have changed enough that their stories will be different.

Thanks for everything you are doing, Megan—you’re an inspiration!

Listen to Contrabass Conversations with our free app for iOS, Android, and Kindle!

Contrabass Conversations is sponsored by:

D’Addario Strings

This episode is brought to you by D’Addario Strings! Check out their Zyex strings, which are synthetic core strings that produce an extremely warm, rich sound. Get the sound and feel of gut strings with more evenness, projection and stability than real gut.

Upton Bass String Instrument Company

Upton’s Karr Model Upton Double Bass represents an evolution of our popular first Karr model, refined and enhanced with further input from Gary Karr. Since its introduction, the Karr Model with its combination of comfort and tone has gained a loyal following with jazz and roots players. The slim, long “Karr neck” has even become a favorite of crossover electric players.

Steve Swan String Bass

Steve Swan String Bass features the West Coast’s largest selection of double basses between Los Angeles and Canada.  Located in Burlingame, just south of San Francisco, their large retail showroom holds about 70 basses on display. Their new basses all feature professional setups and come with a cover at no additional cost. Used and consignment instruments receive any needed repairs and upgrades before getting a display position on the sales floor.

Kolstein Music

The Samuel Kolstein Violin Shop was founded by Samuel Kolstein in 1943 as a Violin and Bow making establishment in Brooklyn, New York. Now on Long Island, over 60 years later, Kolstein’s has built a proud reputation for quality, craftsmanship and expertise in both the manufacture and repair of a whole range of stringed instruments, and has expanded to a staff of twelve experts in restoration, marketing and production.

The Bass Violin Shop

The Bass Violin Shop offers the Southeast’s largest inventory of laminate, hybrid and carved double basses. Whether you are in search of the best entry-level laminate, or a fine pedigree instrument, there is always a unique selection ready for you to try. Trade-ins and consignments welcome!

A440 Violin Shop

An institution in the Roscoe Village neighborhood for over 20 years, A440‘s commitment to fairness and value means that we have many satisfied customers from the local, national, and international string playing communities. Our clients include major symphony orchestras, professional orchestra and chamber music players, aspiring students, amateur adult players, all kinds of fiddlers, jazz and commercial musicians, university music departments, and public schools.

Contrabass Conversations production team:

• Jason Heath, host
• Michael Cooper and Steve Hinchey, audio editing
• Mitch Moehring, audio engineer
• Trevor Jones, publication and promotion
• Krista Kopper, archival and cataloging

Subscribe to the podcast to get these interviews delivered to you automatically!