Women Drum Judges?

[jinglealltheway]

I WAS WONDERING WHAT EVERYONE THOUGHT OF WOMEN DRUM JUDGING? DO YOU THINK WOMEN SHOULD BE JUDGING DRUMMING CONTEST?
I WENT TO A FEW POW-WOWS WHERE THERE WERE WOMEN JUDGING DRUMMING CONTEST. I PERSONALLY DON'T THINK THAT WOMEN SHOULD.
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
(I KNOW GATHERINGS LET WOMEN JUDGE)

[ndn_ave]

women dont have a good ear to hear good music?

[BEZHIG IKWE]

Deaf ear?

I hope that you are not saying that women are not capable of knkowing what makes a good drum. I have been asked to judge drum contests and feel that I understand what makes a good drum. My father was a singer and I grew up around the drum. I began dancing as a small child and I sing when the mood strikes me. I know when I hear a jammin' song.

[Roobz]

I was over at Mount Pleasant powwow a few years back and when it came time to pick judges one of them happened to be a woman. And a well known fancy shawl dancer at that. Obviously the committee felt she was "qualified" enough to judge the drums, probably since she's a good dancer and knows a good song when she hears one!

[Kiwehnzii]

Those goooood women dancers must know how to judge 'em!!!
They can sure jam to those songs. They don't appear to be tone-deaf.

Anyhow, singing contests are not exactly tradish, so, if there are women judges - what tradition are they breaking?

[Lapis Queen]

and you know what... I know some women who have a better ear than some men. I hate to say that, but I do. Some women know drum dynamics as well and as I bad as I hate to say it, better than some men. Women are as capable and it's not gender specific.

[Lil Stinker]

Yeah, right. Don't make us all laff, Lapis.

I agree that some women can judge singing contests but know better dynamics? There are very few women that could judge a contest. They have to be very good quality dancers who know the style of songs well. Annnnnd..... they would had have to grown up around the drum. Not just anybody who started powwowing 9-10 years ago.

[Lapis Queen]

The women I was referring to have grown up around the drum. I never said anybody. I understand it takes a certain ear but that ear is not just guy specific. And some guys that may be new to the drum. So that would be an instance where a cetain female may know it better. Ever thought about that. Not all men grew up around the drum. Have to play every scenario now don't you?

[Lapis Queen]

Oh and don't misread what I am saying. I am in no way saying that women or men are better. I am just saying that I do know of some instances where certain people have been around it longer will in deed know more. This can be male or female. Just becasue women can't actually drum doesn't mean they don't break it down and study it. That's what makes them such great dancers.

[Kiiwedinong]

I dont really know what to say about this one. One side of me thinks that women shouldnt judge drum contests, while another part of me says they should.
Women shouldnt judge because I personally think that they'd be judging solely on the basis of looks. I mean......they'd be like that "oh there so cute, I think I'll pick them for first." I'm also convinced that they'd pick only their favourite drums. Its like other lesser known drums dont have a chance at placing cuz they havent made it big yet. No matter how awesome they sound, they'd be a victim of favouritism.
On the other hand, women should judge. If it were a perfect world, they'd be impartial. I was raised to believe that women were as fair as they'd come. I just hope that this side of me prevails in the future. But for the mean time, I'd have to say women shouldnt judge drums.

[The Rock]

YIKES......better duck bro.....


:Shocked

[loves southern singn']

Don't women have to dance to the drums?
Don't women sing behind the drum sometimes?

If you've answered yes to either of these questions, then I ask you whats the problem with having women to judge drum competition? I have no problem with it. Now, settle down before you attempt to blast me. Hear me out! There is a little disclaimer to this statement. Granted, not every woman will know and understand the various dynamics that go on around a drum. But certainly, she would know some. Some women will know more than others. :Mad

For example, a friend of mine just recently started singing roughly a year ago. Since then, her confidence in her dance has improved tremendously to the point where she knows when to start dancing and when its a drums goof and not hers. She knows when the singing is flat or on beat. She also knows when the honor beats are off beat or too fast. She undstands all of this. The only thing she has not been able to pick up on are words in a word song, esp. when they are of a different native language.

Just food for thought! ;)
LSS

[Two-cents1]

For Ojibway Tribe

Okay, where do I start........there is so much to pick from in OT's post.......

First of all, there are a few of us women qualified to judge singing contests. There are a few of us that know to look for different singers taking the leads, can tell when they're together on their drumming or if some are off, if they can keep a solid steady beat, we can hear if someone doesn't know the songs, we can tell if all the singers are singing or if some are "lip-synching", I can even tell if a singer knows the words or is just fudging.....plus how hard it is to tell if they all stop at the same time? I also know to judge on how strong the singers voices are......if you have 12 singers and still sound weak in vocal strength and volume, you will have a hard time on my score card....that's just to name a few things that I take into consideration when judging. I've judged several singing contests, so someone must have confidence in my judging.......and since all the head drum judges that have asked me have been men, I figure they oughtta know if they ask a woman to judge if she's qualified or not.

Just a side note, since the women that are asked are usually older, we are well past the teeny-bopper phase that you think we are stuck in, and a singer's looks does not factor into my scoring.

[Two-cents1]

And another thing............

I forgot to add that I know alot of songs from dancing and from singing myself........so I can also tell when a drum group sings an older song wrong.

[saponigirl]

are you for real?

Ojibway Tribe,
Please tell me you were joking in your post. :Eyepopper PPPPPPPLLLLLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSEEE EE... tell me you were not serious. It really saddens me that you think women are that shallow...granted, some young chicks are, but if a woman is asked to judge a drum contest it is obviously because she knows what she is doing...not because she is looking for a new "baby daddy."