A 2008 study in British primary schools showed that boys were afraid to learn the flute and harp вЂ“ instruments perceived to be вЂgirlyвЂ™ вЂ“ for risk of bullying.

The harp in particular has suffered more than any other instrument. TVвЂ™s been playing this trick for years вЂ“ just think of all the вЂmasculineвЂ™ and вЂfeminineвЂ™ sounds that exist in cartoons: gentle harp glissandi to accompany a characterвЂ™s death plodding tuba lines for the overweight man. It seems unfortunate that one of the strongest links I can find between classical music and popular culture is their musical stereotyping. If you had to paint a musical picture of ethereal spirits, weвЂ™re hardly going to trot out the tuba, are we? How does he depict these? Harp and flute, of course. Along the way, the river flows past a peasant wedding, then into the forest, where we encounter water nymphs frolicking in the moonlight. Many of us will be familiar with SmetanaвЂ™s Ma Vlast, in particular Vltava, the tone poem that depicts the river of the same name trickling from a spring until it crashes triumphantly into the river Elbe. So why do more girls play the harp, and how did it end up like that in the first place? Right through the pop world to the lands of orchestras and opera, gender bias occurs more often than people wish to admit. Credit: is, unfortunately, no stranger to sexism.

Black female harp players