Bass and Gender Talk

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

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!