The musical traditions of New Orleans are largely patriarchal. As the predominant sonic signifier of New Orleans, the brass band amplifies this gender bias more than any other musical tradition in the city. Brass band literature has thus far focused almost exclusively on black men and, partially due to the relative absence of women in brass bands, neglects to view gender as a category of analysis. This paper seeks to introduce gender as a key element to brass band research by studying the only current exception to male dominance in this musical genre, an all-female brass band called The Original Pinettes Brass Band. Drawing largely from ethnography and personal interviews with The Pinettes, I will argue that they subvert gender norms and enter male-gendered spaces by musically establishing a competitive advantage through (1) the introduction of female gendered songs into their repertoire and (2) the appropriation of canonical brass band songs with misogynistic lyrical content
