Panel Discussion: Women In Jazz--from Classroom To Careers at Montpelier Arts Center

This free panel discussion will explore the challenges faced by women seeking careers in jazz. Panel moderator Candy Shannon teaches audio classes at Howard University and directs the Tech Center in the School of Communications. As host and producer of WPFW’s “The Morning Brew–Friday Edition,” she will share her vast experience in TV and radio.

Laura Dreyer is also a panelist. She took up the saxophone without any significant female role models on the instrument. She broke into the San Francisco and New York music scenes at a time when there were very few female jazz instrumentalists, and she was often the only female member of the bands in which she played. Dreyer will talk about dealing with overt and covert discrimination as a female jazz performer. ...

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This free panel discussion will explore the challenges faced by women seeking careers in jazz. Panel moderator Candy Shannon teaches audio classes at Howard University and directs the Tech Center in the School of Communications. As host and producer of WPFW’s “The Morning Brew–Friday Edition,” she will share her vast experience in TV and radio.

Laura Dreyer is also a panelist. She took up the saxophone without any significant female role models on the instrument. She broke into the San Francisco and New York music scenes at a time when there were very few female jazz instrumentalists, and she was often the only female member of the bands in which she played. Dreyer will talk about dealing with overt and covert discrimination as a female jazz performer.

The third panelist is Shannon Gunn, leader of Shannon Gunn and the Bullettes, an all-women jazz orchestra based in the D.C. area. Gunn will focus on research about different learning styles between girls and boys and the differences between male and female patterns of development in the jazz profession.

The program is aimed at high school, college, and post-college women. Gifted young musicians from middle school may also wish to attend. Teachers of jazz will benefit from this discussion by learning different teaching and coaching techniques to help young women rise to their highest potential. Join Shannon, Dreyer, and Gunn for an informative and occasionally humorous program.

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