Master prize winner looks at the role of gender in conductors' education

Conductors who are women are still in the minority internationally, despite various programs and equality measures. In a qualitative study based on interviews with female professional conductors and informed by feminist theory, this year's master's prize winner, Hannah Howard Andresen (STK), shows that this will not change until we delve deeper into the root of the problem and open up to new ways of thinking about the role of the orchestral conductor.

In her thesis, Andresen argues that equality measures cannot be effective until we address the close connection between the supremacy of the conductor’s role and the understandings of authority and genius associated with the conductor’s body—which is a gendered body.

This approach is original, and the thesis engages with the few PhD dissertations that have explored similar topics. Existing research has largely focused on statistics and discrimination issues without addressing the more fundamental assumptions in understandings of art, genius, and musical leadership. By using gender theory to analyze the problem, Andresen's thesis thus fills a significant gap in the field.

In the jury's justification for the award, they emphasize that the work includes both a strong theoretical-philosophical basis and very competent empirical work based on interviews and qualitative methods. The interview material helps to expand the empirical field of gender research, both nationally and internationally.

Inspired by her own experiences

When choosing a topic for her master's thesis, Andresen was motivated by her background as a conductor:

– My passion to examine conducting studies from a gender theory perspective was awakened when I studied conducting myself and felt a strong need for change. There was very little research on conducting from a gender perspective, especially regarding the actual education that conductors receive. This gap in the research became an important motivation for me in choosing my thesis topic, she explains.

Andresen completed a master's degree in conducting while simultaneously pursuing her master's degree at STK. While it was challenging to juggle these different tasks, she discovered that the theoretical, practical, and artistic elements could complement each other:

– Studying scores, feminist theory, and doing interviews felt like completely different processes at the start, but eventually, everything became very interconnected for me. It was a very transcendent experience to feel how the subjects were related to one another.

Interviews that made an impression

The thesis's empirical material is based on ten semi-structured interviews with professional conductors who are women. Andresen worked with this material using thematic analysis.

– I selected themes to examine how the conductors experienced, understood, and were affected by Western music history's standard repertoire in their education, objectification and harassment in educational settings, and finally how body language and communication were perceived by instructors.

Andresen says that the interviews made a strong impression on her:

– The interviews I did with the conductors have had a deeply moving impact on me, both personally and academically. The meetings, where I spoke with them face-to-face, have had a lasting effect on me.

While Andresen's background as a conductor was advantageous in the interview settings, it also posed challenges:

– On the one hand, we shared a strong common language, which was a great strength, but on the other hand, it was also very challenging during the writing process to remain conscious that I could not be overly influenced by my own experiences.

The importance of a theoretical approach

The use of theory was crucial in the thesis to balance Andresen's own closeness to the topic:

– All the experiences that the conductors talked about were analyzed through the perspectives of theorists, she explains.

Regarding the choice of theorists, Andresen’s studies at the Center for Gender Research played a key role:

– The choice of theoretical framework was largely shaped by the courses Feminist Theory and Feminist Thought in Historical Perspective, which were both taught by Professor Tove Pettersen (STK). It was here that I was introduced to the theories I used in the thesis.

Andresen used a combination of structuralist and existentialist gender theory, post-structuralist and queer theory, psychoanalytic feminist theory, and ecofeminist theory. Central theorists in the thesis include Simone de Beauvoir, Julia Kristeva, Luce Irigaray, Val Plumwood, Linda Nochlin, Susan McClary, and Marcia Citron.

– Since little research has been done on conductor education, I wanted to connect theory from philosophy, art history, musicology, and cultural research to build a strong foundation in this field, Andresen explains.

An internalized music culture

Working with this methodological approach and these theoretical perspectives, Andresen discovered that female conductors experience objectification and othering during their education. The mechanisms that create this experience are complex, and she notes that the women often found themselves in a situation that felt ambiguous and for which they had no language:

– They sense that something is wrong, but don't know what.

Some of the challenges revealed in the thesis involve music history and the choice of repertoire. The music introduced to students during their studies was exclusively written by white, Western men. Through interviews and theoretical analysis, the thesis shows that this reproduces and naturalizes ideas about the male genius.

– Several informants are not aware of the issues related to the canon. This indicates that female conducting students have also internalized this music culture to such an extent that they do not question it, she explains.

The thesis shows that when the informants explore the world and their situation as conducting students, it is not with their own eyes but through a male gaze. They learn a narrative that reinforces gender hierarchies and glorification of the man. This perpetuates myths such as "there were never any female composers" or "what they wrote wasn’t any good." When students learn what it means to be a "conductor," they learn to uphold the patriarchy and the ideas around genius that are central to the Western music history tradition.

Objectification, the significance of the body, and lack of solidarity

The informants also report condescending attitudes and harassment in educational settings. Several describe demeaning behaviour from male instructors. This means that students have to sort through feedback themselves, because they never know if the feedback is due to their gender or something they can actually change in their conducting.

The thesis reveals that several informants feel misunderstood when they conduct and communicate with their bodies as women. When they make a movement, it is perceived differently than if a male body made the “same” movement in conducting, due to bias in how the conducting body is perceived externally. Many informants believe that instructors are not aware of this bias.

Since authority is often associated with the male body, some female students are also encouraged to change their tone and expression to gain respect from the orchestra. The feeling of being "outside the box" makes the women feel they must work harder and be more professional than their male counterparts to be taken seriously.

When there have been initiatives to change the situation for female students, Andresen concludes that there has been a lack of solidarity and support from both men and women in educational institutions. This lack of solidarity shows that there is a lack of desire to challenge the existing system. As women begin to gain more opportunities and rights in the conducting world, steps are taken to ensure that the culture is still adapted to men.

Paths to change

Andresen's thesis not only highlights problems but also solutions. As the challenges she outlines are interconnected, she emphasizes the need to address the underlying understandings that are at the heart of the problem.

The thesis concludes that music institutions offering conducting programs must think critically about both the canon and teaching.

Andresen is especially concerned with incidents that occur in teaching situations:

– Conducting programs must change the extreme objectification of women and address the lack of pedagogical skills among some male instructors. This includes feedback that female students receive about their bodies and communication in front of an orchestra.

The conductors Andresen interviewed want an education that emphasizes leadership based on deeper human communication. The experiences and reflections of the informants thus open up new ways of understanding leadership.

– By promoting a more inclusive and equitable learning environment in conducting, opportunities can also be created for the conductors of the future, she asserts.

– The question is whether the educational institutions are actually open to change.

A conductor with research ambitions

Having finished her master's degree in Gender Studies, Andresen now leads a busy life as a conductor:

– I am currently pursuing a master's degree in Music Performance and Orchestra Conducting at ZHdK Zürcher Hochschule der Künste. Additionally, I have just been appointed as a recipient of the Danish Art Foundation's career program "The Young Artistic Elite" and am part of the Taki Alsop Conducting Fellowship. As part of these programs, I follow conductor Marin Alsop. This semester, I will travel with her to Vienna, Berlin, and Poland. I am also part of the Nordic Conductors Forum program, which is part of Talent Norway.

Nevertheless, her studies at STK have increased her interest in pursuing research:

– I am now working on my proposal for a PhD project. Writing the master's thesis was a fantastic experience, and I wish to continue with research.