Tech
I spent the majority of my time in the last week in the student theater for tech week for Footloose. This time, instead of being a board operator, I was the sound designer. There were only a few sound cues I needed to make for the show, but I was also keeping track of seven mics--two of which were shared between two people when one person needed to be mic'ed for one scene, and the other had a lot more stage time.
Last night we did strike. I actually made my job easier because I got bored and wanted to neaten the booth before the show, so I coiled or recoiled most of the cables that were everywhere and messy. This meant I didn't have to do some of it after the show. After the show I got to put away all the headsets people were using (stage-managers, orchestra conductor and light/sound folks communicate during show with them), plus the mics that the actors were using. Doing all this also meant I had a good excuse to not help with risers, which I suspect would have made me hurt if I had.
I'm a little surprised at my emotional response to knowing a particular kind of tech that takes special training. I am extremely proud that people kept coming to me with issues about anything to do with the sound system. A stage manager was trying to set up a headset backstage, but couldn't figure out why the XLR cable wasn't fitting into the output she had found. She asked me for help, and I went to check, found that it was the wrong place to plug in the cable, and showed her where the correct one was. I was extremely pleased not only that she came to me for help expecting that I would know what to do, but also that I was able to figure out what was wrong easily.
I have never before learned to specialize in a type of tech most people know nothing about. Sure, I can set up a computer and things that go to the computer such as a printer, but a lot of people in my generation can do that, too. It's like it has suddenly dawned on me that I not only can learn this stuff, but I can also apply it to possible future careers. I've always known I'm smart and capable, but for some reason I never thought that I should or could learn special tech skills. I think part of it may be that I've had my father encourage me to ask questions about all the things he's doing with his hands, and I suddenly actually want to learn these things.
I'm not sure if I'm making a whole lot of sense. I guess the tl;dr version would be that though I've known intellectually that I can learn anything I want to, it never really occurred to me that 'anything' could include technology in male-dominated* fields, and that I would like learning it. It's exciting to realize.
*For example: My sound design class has 20 people in it. FOUR of us are women; the professor, TAs, and all the other students are men. This is not a typical make-up of even music classes at Wes; if anything, there's usually a slight female majority.
Last night we did strike. I actually made my job easier because I got bored and wanted to neaten the booth before the show, so I coiled or recoiled most of the cables that were everywhere and messy. This meant I didn't have to do some of it after the show. After the show I got to put away all the headsets people were using (stage-managers, orchestra conductor and light/sound folks communicate during show with them), plus the mics that the actors were using. Doing all this also meant I had a good excuse to not help with risers, which I suspect would have made me hurt if I had.
I'm a little surprised at my emotional response to knowing a particular kind of tech that takes special training. I am extremely proud that people kept coming to me with issues about anything to do with the sound system. A stage manager was trying to set up a headset backstage, but couldn't figure out why the XLR cable wasn't fitting into the output she had found. She asked me for help, and I went to check, found that it was the wrong place to plug in the cable, and showed her where the correct one was. I was extremely pleased not only that she came to me for help expecting that I would know what to do, but also that I was able to figure out what was wrong easily.
I have never before learned to specialize in a type of tech most people know nothing about. Sure, I can set up a computer and things that go to the computer such as a printer, but a lot of people in my generation can do that, too. It's like it has suddenly dawned on me that I not only can learn this stuff, but I can also apply it to possible future careers. I've always known I'm smart and capable, but for some reason I never thought that I should or could learn special tech skills. I think part of it may be that I've had my father encourage me to ask questions about all the things he's doing with his hands, and I suddenly actually want to learn these things.
I'm not sure if I'm making a whole lot of sense. I guess the tl;dr version would be that though I've known intellectually that I can learn anything I want to, it never really occurred to me that 'anything' could include technology in male-dominated* fields, and that I would like learning it. It's exciting to realize.
*For example: My sound design class has 20 people in it. FOUR of us are women; the professor, TAs, and all the other students are men. This is not a typical make-up of even music classes at Wes; if anything, there's usually a slight female majority.