Women in Contemporary UK Jazz: Artistic Voice, Gender and Professional Identity

十多年前，当我组建第一支乐队时，男女比例各占一半，这让我们在爵士乐坛上很少见。从那时起，我一直在英国爵士行业工作，我越来越意识到男女音乐家在知名度和机会上的差异。尽管取得了进步，但女性仍然是少数，在职业发展方面仍然面临障碍。有可能在现有研究的基础上，对英国的性别和爵士乐进行全面的调查。只要有可能，我的研究也会包括少数族裔性别。作为一名从业者，我对英国爵士乐有着个人的、广泛的看法。我有一群女同事，随着时间的推移，我了解她们的生活经历。我在签署Keychange Pledge （Raine 2019）的许多音乐节和场地演出，经常与女性艺术家一起演出，并参加了2017年的“Making the Changes”研讨会。作为一名演奏者、领导者和爵士集体成员，我与草根爵士有着密切的关系。我也是一名教育工作者和ABRSM考官。我的重点将是对女性的生活经历进行详细的研究，范围从目前正在接受教育的女性到30年前开始职业生涯的女性。我还将采取一种自我民族学的方法，从我的学生时代——当时我被从爵士钢琴课上赶了出来，取而代之的是低音提琴课——到我目前的职位，我在一个父权制的行业中开拓了一份综合职业。我非常渴望在肯特大学研究这个项目，因为导师在定性研究方法、性别研究和音乐心理学方面经验丰富。NYJC为实地考察提供了丰富的背景，并拥有贯穿几代人的指导链。对于最初的研究，我的反应是一种越来越强烈的赋权感和对21世纪英国爵士音乐家新理解的潜力的认识。

Over a decade ago when I formed my first band, its 50/50 gender balance made us a rarity on the jazz scene. Having continued to work in the UK jazz industry since then, I've become increasingly aware of the disparities in visibility and opportunity between male and female musicians. Despite progress, women are still a minority and continue to experience barriers to career progression.There is potential to build on existing research and provide a full-scale investigation relating to gender and jazz in the UK. Wherever possible, my research will also encompass minority genders.As a practitioner I have a personal and wide-ranging perspective on UK jazz. I have a network of female colleagues and have been privy to their lived experience over time. I have played at many of the festivals and venues that signed the Keychange Pledge (Raine 2019), often with female artists, and I participated in the 2017 'Making the Changes' symposium.I have a close relationship to grass roots jazz as a player, leader, and jazz collective member. I am also an educator and ABRSM examiner.My focus will be to produce detailed research on the lived experience of women, ranging from those currently in education to those who began their careers 30 years ago. I will also take an autoethnographic approach, drawing on experience from my schooldays - when I was steered away from jazz piano lessons and instead offered figured bass - to my current position having carved out a portfolio career whilst navigating a patriarchal industry. I am keen to research this project at Kent University as the supervisors are highly experienced in qualitative research methods, gender studies and music psychology. NYJC provides a rich range of contexts for fieldwork and has a mentorship strand running through generations.My response to initial research is one of a growing sense of empowerment and recognition of the potential for a new understanding of the 21st-century UK jazz musician.