The Brass Junkies 66: Joanna Hersey on the 25th Anniversary International Women's Brass Conference and Being a Woman in a Male-Dominated Brass World

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Without a doubt this is the most important conversation that we've had in 2.5 years of Brass Junkies interviews.

We were joined again by our dear friend Joanna Hersey who is currently the President of the International Women's Brass Conference. She spoke with us about their 25th anniversary conference which was held this summer at Rowan University.

She also went in depth about what it is like to be a woman in a male-dominated brass world. Probably my favorite part was when she offered some incredibly practical suggestions for how we can empower young women who play brass. This was a great conversation that both Lance and I loved being a part of. Enjoy!

From the show notes:

IWBC President Joanna Hersey joined Andrew & Lance in her second podcast to spend some more time talking about gender issues in brass playing. Fresh off the 25th Anniversary International Women’s Brass Conference, we spent a good amount of time talking about that tremendous organization, from the founding (by Susan Slaughter) in St. Louis in 1993 to the highly successful event in the summer of 2017 at Rowan University. We learned that while women represent 28% of the horn sections of major orchestras, they only appear in  3-5% in the other brass sections. We also fall on our swords and explain why we’ve sucked up to this point in booking women. 

Additionally, we’re trying out a new platform for recording the episodes and In a moment of weakness and lack of foresight, Andrew left Lance in charge of a set of sound effects which you may hear from time to time. To time.

The Brass Junkies 60: Joanna Hersey

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Joanna rocks! She is one of my favorite tuba players, can teach her tail off and is just one of the most energetic, positive people you'll ever meet. She is just an A+ human. I could interview her every week and never get bored.

From the show notes:

Joanna Hersey, President of the International Women’s Brass Conference and one half of the JAM Duo, joins Andrew & Lance in a fantastic and high energy conversation about taking risks and following your dreams.

Joanna is a very busy musician. In addition to the above, Joanna is Associate Professor of Tuba/Euphonium at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, Visiting Instructor of Tuba/Euphonium at East Carolina University and is a Yamaha and Parker Mouthpiece Performing Artist.

Formerly of the US Coast Guard Band, Joanna spoke with us from the Music For All Conference in Indianapolis. She talked about the importance of being quick and dealing with your “external shoulds,” and we had a frank discussion of sexism in the career field. 

We also had time to talk about the new JAM Duo CD which features Andrew and Lance! How could we not?