Posted on 09/01/2025 5:55:59 PM PDT by nickcarraway
A new Berklee-sponsored study’s findings are ... not good.
Researcher Lara Pellegrinelli and students at The New School compiled data from more than 200 jazz education programs for the 2021-22 academic year. The study, which was published by the Berklee College of Music earlier this week, measures the imbalance of female-identified employment in higher education. The full report is available online.
The report — “Jazz Counts: Measuring the Jazz Faculty Gender Gap in Higher Education” — shows that out of more than 3,000 academic and staff positions, 15 percent were held by female-identified educators. That number decreased to eight percent for faculty focused on teaching an instrument, according to information from schools in 44 states and Washington, D.C.
“Until now, there has been almost no statistical data that allows us to measure the participation of female-identified artists in jazz,” said Pellegrinelli, who’s also reported on the music for a range of national outlets including JazzTimes. “I hope the leadership at institutions of higher learning will use the report to help create greater equity in the field.”
A few other notable pieces of information included in the study:
35 percent of schools have zero female-identified faculty members;
at institutions employing more than 30 faculty members, female-identified educators make up between six and 32 percent of staff;
13 percent of teachers are female-identified in composition, theory and improvisation courses, respectively; most female-identified faculty members hold adjunct positions.
Grammy-winning drummer Terri Lyne Carrington is the founder and artistic director of the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice, the academic program that sponsored Pellegrinelli’s research. The program explicitly explores how equity can be reached within the jazz world and how gender bias manifests within that ecosystem.
She told JazzTimes that the results weren’t a surprise.
“It’s been willful negligence because the culture needs transformation — both in the performance aspect as well as in jazz education,” Carrington said. “Everybody thought it was OK for some reason. This is what actually boggles me.”
Carrington added that there’s still more work to do, and intends for the study to be updated in the future.
“I don’t blame or judge people for not having thought [about the issue] earlier,” she said. “But you might stop to think: The music itself will not reach its greatest potential without more equity between the people that are creating it.” JT
Pay Taylor Swift to tell girls to play jazz?
First world problem.
L
Your read it too fast, not “female”, “” female-identified “”.
If you look her up on RateMyProfessor, almost every comment includes "Hates men."
A proper gender balance in jazz teachers is critical to the welfare of the country. (I think it was Benjamin Franklin who said that first.)
So hire more female jazz teachers. Or fire many male jazz teachers. Oh, wait. Maybe get some of the male teachers to identify as female. That will work, too.
I don’t care which option - or combination of options - is chosen. Just get ‘er done!
✅
Did you pass?
I wonder how many male jazz musicians didn't pursue a career in jazz because of their having her for a teacher.
My guess: zero.
Thankfully, she came along after I left. I would have transferred if I had to deal with her.
Oh - And I did have a 22 year professional career.
Just out of curiosity, what was the approximate breakdown of male/female students. Because what’s the point in having a teacher that hates a large portion of the class?
As a whole, the Music School was probably 60/40 male to female.
When I was in college (a long time ago) I took Jazz as an elective. Our lecturer was great Jazz drummer Kenny Clarke, who “lectured” by telling war stories from his years playing. It was fascinating. There were no “female identified” instructors. Our classroom instructor was Japanese, though, which was kind of an oddity - listening to him try to pronounce “Jelly Roll Morton” was special (and he joked about it). Having a female would not have enhanced the experience one bit. And I still like Jazz to this day.
Thanks for touching base. No here’s the interesting thing. Everything on the internet lives forever. So 20 years from now, someone is going to come across that quality image of yours, and believe it.
😀
“Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice”
Oh FFS. Some people just have to have something, anything, to complain about. And cash in on nonexistent problems.
This is so stupid.
” So 20 years from now, someone is going to come across that quality image of yours, and believe it.’
I will bet my firstborn AI will do exactly that.
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