Re: Kol Isha/tzniut applied to instrumentalists?

[Jordan Hirsch <trombaedu...>]

It comes up very rarely. Usually it is an issue in Chasidic catering halls, but
not at standard Orthodox weddings, even ones with a lot of black hats.
Generally, there are almost no women playing in dance bands in the orthodox
market, although quite a few play violin, harp, etc. in the part of the band
playing the listening music.
one of the most popular players in the black hat market is a female violinist
who does play with the band for the whole job, so i guess it is not as big a
deal.


Jordan





Sandra Layman wrote:

> Before we completely wrap the kol ishah issue up (ha! when have we ever?),
> I'd like to ask about a tangent that I don't believe has been discussed on
> this list -- KI (or a related interpretation of tzniut - modesty) as applied
> to the playing or visibility of female instrumentalists.
>
> Some time ago I played (violin) at a frum wedding. (If it's relevant, one of
> the couple was Ashkenazi and one Sephardi.) I was one of a couple of local
> musicians hired to play together with four musicians associated with a big
> NYC-area Orthodox wedding band who were flown into town.
>
> It happened that I was the only woman in the band. I did no singing, and I
> was covered from neck to foot. (I usually am, by the way, as I hate to
> frighten small children at my age. ;o)
>
> At a point when the violin wasn't needed, I happened to be hanging out near
> the bandstand holding my fiddle case. A very nice couple came up to me, and
> the woman said something complimentary about my playing and then said, "But
> how do you get away with it?" At first I thought that was just a
> rhetorically complimentary question, something like "where'dya get those
> peepers?" But it turned out that she was seriously wondering how a woman
> "got away with" playing with the band.
>
> I had never heard before that an *instrumentalist's* "voice" (or presence?)
> might be an issue, so I filed this experience away with a question mark.
>
> However, a few months ago I read a remark made by Alicia Svigals:
>
> from: http://www.thejewishweek.com/bottom/specialcontent.php3?artid=623
> <<as a female musician, I have to contend with kol isha, which has
> occasionally meant playing on the other side of a mechitza from the rest of
> the band, a bit of a musical challenge. >>
>
> OK, so maybe this isn't so much of a kol isha issue as an interpretation of
> tzniut in general. In what community might a "mixed" band be seen as a
> problem, even where the woman isn't singing, and what is the halachic
> interpretation invoked there?
>
> Have any other female instrumentalists out there encountered this attitude
> or situation? (Oh, and is there something about a fiddle that's more
> "provocative" than other instruments?)
>
> Thanks.
>
> Sandra
> www.sandralayman.com
>

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