Viola Smith: "America's Fastest Girl Drummer” | MIGHTY GAL on FACEBOOK

 Perhaps I should start a season on Drummers!

from 

A Mighty Girl 

Viola Smith, one of the world's first female professional drummers, was born today in 1912! Known early in her musical career as "America's fastest girl drummer," she died in 2020 at 107 years old and continued drumming even as a centenarian. This performance took place in 1939 with the Coquettes, an all-female orchestra; the featured number is called "Snake Charmer." 

Smith's love of music began at a young age. Her parents ran a dance hall in Mount Calvary, Wisconsin and she and her nine siblings all played instruments. By the age of 12, her father had arranged for her and her sisters to travel and tour as part of his band, the Schmitz Sisters Family Orchestra. Later renamed the Smith Sisters, their band became a favorite touring group and even shared a bill with the Andrews Sisters.

In the late 1930s, Smith and her sister Mildred formed their own all-girl band, the Coquettes. Smith became known for the novelty of being a “girl drummer” and was featured on the cover of Billboard Magazine in 1940. But Smith became dissatisfied with how women musicians were treated. “Before World War II there was great prejudice,” she said. “The men felt like: ‘Girl musicians, what are they doing on the road? It's a male job.’”

During the midst of WWII in 1942, she published an article in Down Beat Magazine titled “Give Girl Musicians A Break!” Smith says, “I was asked to write the article on behalf of the many capable girl musicians who were out of work.” In it, she wrote, “In these times of national emergency, many of the star instrumentalists of the big name bands are being drafted. Instead of replacing them with what may be mediocre talent, why not let some of the great girl musicians of the country take their place?” The article generated furious discussion about the prejudice against female musicians.

After the 1940s, Smith had a long and active career as a performer and teacher. She taught until she she was almost 100 years old and credited drumming, in part, for her long life: “I definitely think that the exercise involved in drumming contributes to longevity.

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