talasiga wrote:...the linguistic gender point was just an aside
BECAUSE the rest of my post went on in a FRESH paragrpah to touch on the "sociology" of s1mon's post. Namely, I raised the evidence of BUddhist art in cave paintings in India
showing nubile maidens playing "SS" flutes.
Yeah, I understood that. I think what's been sort of lost in this whole discussion is the issue,
in Western society (for certainly in the OP it was a Westerner raising the issue being faced with experiences
within his own cultural norms - for he brought up no others, if I'm not mistaken), of men playing flutes and that being seen as somehow suspect, a nonmasculine choice of instrument. Thinking more on this, frankly I find phallic associations to be at best secondary (if that), usually played out in puerile jokes, but unless I'm utterly clueless, I don't think that's the primary point in the often-encountered idea that fluteplaying is a pursuit for those men who are probably windowdressers at least on the sly. No, I think it's something else: personally - and I realise that this is probably an opinion that may cast me in an unattractive light - I blame the Classical tradition and the French developments in the instrument, and the ethereally saccharine qualities of music that the modern flute seems to never, ever, escape. It's almost as if it's
supposed to be always glassy and lovely and darling. After all, in the Classical tradition the English developments fell out of favor for being too dark (and I would suggest by extension, gnarly, and by further extension, at least potentially "masculine"). It is primarily the English design that has carried over into the Irish tradition which enthusiastically adopted it precisely because its darker tone fit so well, and there are male - and female - players aplenty in the Gaelic tradition who like their flutes to bark and growl and bristle with overtones. Nothing precious about that sort of music, but it's also very much a minority flute tradition, so I think the general presumption of a pursuit of precious aesthetics is cast there as well but without thought despite the auditory evidence: all you need is a transverse tube, and the die is cast.
The Classical tradition in the West is the one that nonmusicians know best whether they realise it or not, all around. It only follows that the Classical flute tradition is going to be the reference point for most people.
Now before I get flamed for this, I have no distaste for the Classial tradition or for the French per se; I also know full well and firsthand that a good modern silver flute can do almost all that the simple-sytem flute can do, and in some things, more; and that a well-made "English" simple-system wooden flute can sound as precious as Croesus' undies if the player likes. But these flutes nevertheless have been assigned cultural norms, seldom crisscrossing them, and in the West the Classical flute tradition with its typical sound is by far the largest, eclipsing all. Thus my thoughts on the matter.
Okay, here goes nothing. *submit*
"If you take music out of this world, you will have nothing but a ball of fire." - Balochi musician
