ok, u may have noticed i refer to my Clarinets as "she"'s this could be because us sailors call out bosts "she" its the done thing, so all my instruments are "she."



going one step further.... do any of u name instruments?

i have bertha the bass...
cecelia (cecil for short), is my C clarinet
clonkytonk, for my Bb
and my Eb is awaiting its christening...

maybe im just VERY sad.....

I don't name my clarinets - with 14 of them now I'd be getting them mixed up anyway - but they are definitely all male, in that I refer to each as 'him'!

Mine are all she's:

Claudia the clarinet
I used to have a clarinet called Esmerelda, but not sure who named her!
Fi-Fi the flute (one of my friends wanted it named after her!!)
My piano doesn't have a name for some reason!
Nothing to do with clarinets but:
My friend's tubas are mostly male, except one (they're not hers, but the bands she plays them in loan them to her)
There's one called baby harold which is allowed to go home
another called Humphrey
and another called Audrey, because she wanted to name using a girl's name!

My clarinet is called beebee because it's a b flat.

Linking off from this, do you think that certain instruments favour one gender more than the other? Like does a flute favour a female (I think it does) and a tuba favour a male (I think that does as well). Or is it just me?

i agree entirly, flutes are definatley female. tubas are male as are bassons, is that cos they sound deeper, or maybe its the tembre??!!

ive tried to put saxes in a gender, i thought the tenor sax was probably male, but the alto is probably a rather sassy female.... ah well any ideas?

funny how clarinets appear to be either. I love the name esmerelda. would you mind if i used that for my Eb? as shes definatley a girl and is awaiting a name?

I name things with girls names starting with A. My computer on the network is called Amelie, my bass guitar is Amanda, my guitar is Annabel.

I haven't named my clarinet yet, but maybe I'll break with tradition and use a different initial letter.

Mine's called Claribell...

My Piano's called Pianola, but it's not a pianola, 'tis just a piano. That's coz my mummy named it and she's a silly billy.

My violin's called Joseph.

That's a point. What gender is a violin or cello?

oooh, I don't think you can pigeonhole violins etc so easily... there's just SUCH a huge variation in colour and sound and feel... they are so different. I think even with, say, flutes, a really good instrument may have a personality that overrides the obivous choice of female that goes with the higher pitch and the timbre... say a platinum flute for instance that had a richer tone, that may end up being male... but with string instruments they are such individual animals even with just a reasonable instrument, say anything worth more than a few hundred pounds, whereas with a flute you aren't getting close to handmade and having such a strong personality till you're well over a thousand at the minimum, really.... for instance, the obvious higher=female and lower=male wouldn't work with a really sweet-voiced cello or a gravelly violin.

my flute's definitely a girl... a pretty one! my violin I think is a male... my piano, weirdly, I would say is female. my harp is definitely a girl!

QUOTE (Sam @ Jan 1 2005, 05:15 PM)

funny how clarinets appear to be either. I love the name esmerelda. would you mind if i used that for my Eb? as shes definatley a girl and is awaiting a name?

Feel free! I really wish I could remember who named her... I think it was either our old head of music or a cellist (is that right?) who left this year. Either way, both of them were insane!

I think my flute would be a girl. My friend thought her violin would be a girl and wanted to call it something beginning with H. My keyboard would be a boy, my digeridoo, I have no idea (and no I can't play it), pan pipes and piano female

My first clarinet was called Clarrie, I am still a bit reverential about my new(er) one and call it My Clarinet.
My oboe is called Bob and is male as it never does what I tell it to.
my piano (unsexed) is Baldwin because it is a Baldwin
and my violin is usually referred to as "that d'm'd thing"! But I think violins are female. Can't think why though!

QUOTE (Catrin @ Jan 2 2005, 09:49 PM)

But I think violins are female. Can't think why though!

See I think violins and loud instruments like brass are male! The rest are female, except maybe cellos, don't know what they are!

mine are called.... it

My clarinets are known as "the twins" - but they must be fraternal because one of them is slightly taller than the other! The bass clarinet doesn't have a nickname, but the piano is called "pananno" (don't ask).

Not sure about gender - it's feminine in French (la clarinette) but masculine in Spanish (el clarinete).

QUOTE (clarinetlover @ Jan 4 2005, 11:46 AM)

mine are called.... it

shhhhh they'll hear you! They have feelings!

QUOTE (Deborah @ Jan 4 2005, 01:06 PM)

My clarinets are known as "the twins" - but they must be fraternal because one of them is slightly taller than the other! The bass clarinet doesn't have a nickname, but the piano is called "pananno" (don't ask). Not sure about gender - it's feminine in French (la clarinette) but masculine in Spanish (el clarinete).

Feminine in german too: Die Klarinette (or eine klarinette in the indefinite article)

ps - pananno....a mispronunciation of piano when you were young?

Take care,
KK

QUOTE (elmo @ Jan 5 2005, 02:31 AM)

QUOTE (clarinetlover @ Jan 4 2005, 11:46 AM) mine are called.... it  :D shhhhh they'll hear you! They have feelings!

Komakino - not quite! Pananno actually stems from a holiday in Vienna a couple of years ago, wandering around deliberately mispronouncing words for comic effect after an evening sampling the local falling-over-juice, wandering past a piano showroom, and "pananno" was born.

Didn't buy from that showroom though, as I couldn't afford the excess baggage, or the thought of getting a piano home from Heathrow on public transport!!!

QUOTE (elmo @ Jan 4 2005, 06:31 PM)

QUOTE (clarinetlover @ Jan 4 2005, 11:46 AM) mine are called.... it  :D shhhhh they'll hear you! They have feelings!

hee lol elmo! its ok they are nowhere near me! they are 3miles away in a box!

That's alright then!

Yehudi Menuhin says in his violin guide that the violin is female because of the range of notes, and that accordingly women view it as an extension of their own voice, whereas men view it as a female partner's voice, to be coaxed from the instrument (not sure where gay violinists would fit in there). He followed this view to the extent of kissing his violin on the scroll each time he put it away.

I can't help feeling this thinking might be unnecessarily restrictive - what if a woman wants to coax notes from her violin?

Also - does this make a viola male? what about a cello or a double bass?

My violin's definitely male... it just is. I can see his point, but I don't think you can be that general with violins... they have too much character.

Err
Well, my friend Hannah called my clarinet "Claramaphone" (i have no idea why) and my bass clarinet is know as The Beast. (and occasionaly as the Midget, because a boy in my class is convinced that i bring a midget to school every thursday! LOL! )
I think that big brass intruments are probably male, and also the trumpet, coz its big, loud and generally sounds terrible, at least in my band, where the brass section currently sucks!
I reckon stringed instruments are probable female, apart from the double bass, which seems more male.
PS This conversation is weird.
PPS And I thought I was sad!

TigerLily - having seen a case full of clarinet in pieces, some of the boys at my school convinced themselves it was actually a rocket launcher!

QUOTE (Deborah @ Jan 11 2005, 08:03 PM)

TigerLily - having seen a case full of clarinet in pieces, some of the boys at my school convinced themselves it was actually a rocket launcher!

My alto sax is called Joey and my tenor is called Rocky, my violin had a name but i forgot it, and my tenor horn is called Toby, all male!

QUOTE (Katet @ Jan 11 2005, 03:37 PM)

My alto sax is called Joey and my tenor is called Rocky, my violin had a name but i forgot it, and my tenor horn is called Toby, all male!

right ok Kate.........

wanna name mine for me?!!!

MY bassoon dosent have a name, but if it did, it would be boris

QUOTE (clarinetlover @ Jan 12 2005, 09:11 PM)

QUOTE (Katet @ Jan 11 2005, 03:37 PM) My alto sax is called Joey and my tenor is called Rocky, my violin had a name but i forgot it, and my tenor horn is called Toby, all male! right ok Kate......... wanna name mine for me?!!!

And mine.

I was toying with the name Eggbert but its not a very good name for a sax really is it (or a human for that matter)

PS. sorry to every one out there who is called eggbert