The Beat of Her Own Drum

October 11, 2020 12:46 PM

"She was born in Mount Calvary, Wisconsin, in 1912, almost a full decade before women in America won the right to vote. A pioneering female drummer who banged down barriers for women in music at a time when they were mostly seen as a novelty, she landed on the cover of Billboard magazine in 1940 and even performed at President Harry Truman’s inauguration. And yet, her name is virtually unknown."

Frances Carroll & Her Coquettes Featuring Drummer Viola Smith

Interview (runs 47:34): Viola Smith for the Women of Rock Oral History Project

Open Culture (2019): Meet Viola Smith, the World’s Oldest Drummer: Her Career Started in the 1930s, and She’s Still Playing at 106

NAMM Oral History Spotlight: Viola Smith

posted by mandolin conspiracy (8 comments total)

Badass.
posted by Saxon Kane at 12:51 PM on October 11, 2020 [1 favorite]

Holy mackerel.
posted by Mogur at 1:34 PM on October 11, 2020 [1 favorite]

Thanks for the post. You can count me among the people who already knew about Viola Smith, but then, I’m a drummer as well as a part-time drum history buff.

I’d seen the clip that accompanied the article in your main link, and remember feeling a certain kinship due to the atrociously banged-up state of Viola’s cymbals. The kind of cheap, trashy cymbals that get all bent up, and have almost no sustain. I LOVE that kind of cymbal!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:14 PM on October 11, 2020 [2 favorites]

Interesting, I hadn't heard of her...

And yet, her name was virtually unknown

This phrase. Ugh. As someone who had to argue for years with my brothers, school mates, teachers and other male adults about the worthiness of women's endeavors despite there being few women's names in history to call on to prove my point, I am getting tired of hearing this phrase and others like it.. It's like a *golly gosh! we didn't know of her?!* as though it's a magical mysterious thing that a women who was exceptional at an activity that is dominated by men has her story silenced in the history of that thing. There's nothing magical or mysterious at all about the patriarchy silencing women's successes. The phrase should read: And like many talented women before and since, the recorders of history conspired to keep her virtually unrecognised.
posted by Thella at 3:03 AM on October 12, 2020 [5 favorites]

Awesome post!. I had seen the clip of The Coquettes (featured in the article) before, but never tried to follow up on them...I just enjoyed the performance. How very cool to find that Viola was the very impressive drummer, and that she's still around. Interesting too was that that Canyon Country was considered for her to settle down in, as it is where I grew up from 1970 to 1982, got involved in my junior high and high school band, and really developed my love for jazz music.
posted by Quasimike at 12:01 PM on October 12, 2020

Sad update to this post: Viola Smith passed away last night just short of her 108th birthday.

.
posted by turbowombat at 9:03 AM on October 23, 2020

Pioneering Drummer Viola Smith has died aged 107
posted by turbowombat at 9:05 AM on October 23, 2020

Sad update to this post: Viola Smith passed away last night just short of her 108th birthday.

Aw man.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 9:56 AM on October 31, 2020