Re: Tis the Season to Audition


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Posted by Dave Zerkel on December 31, 2002 at 09:21:46:

In Reply to: Tis the Season to Audition posted by Chuck Jackson on December 31, 2002 at 04:07:22:

Thanks, Chuck, for your note.

I can clearly see both sides of this argument. It is one of my great regrets in life that I did not finish my Education degree that I started at Peabody. When I left grad school half way through a degree and had no job prospects, playing or otherwise, this really hit home. I worked in a sheet metal shop for a very short time before I won the Field Band audition, but long enough to know that I had made a mistake in not graduating with an Ed degree.

I agree that it is important as humans to chase your dream: for me, doing so has been the fuel that makes my life run. But it is also important to be pragmatic. Does teaching music make a conscientious musician any less of a musician? No! Is a bad teacher likely to be ineffective because of the degree that they possess? No, again! What matters in both of these cases is the choice that someone made to live their life with integrity. That choice is within all of us and is the SINGLE determining factor in whether we can view our lives as "successful" or "not successful".

In my lifetime, "chasing my dream" has changed quite a bit as I trudge into mid-life. When I was in college, anything other than an orchestral career would have spelled failure. When I was in the band, my goal was to be out of the band (Another case of an attitude that I'd later regret). Since I've been teaching college, my goal has simply been to be the best musician that I can be and to strive to give my students everything that I can to help them succeed in their pursuits. Does that mean that I don't still have things that I want to achieve as a performer? Nope, I've got a list as long as my arm of things that I want to do better.

We all have this journey to take as musicians. Sometimes it matters less which path that we choose, as it does how well we travel on it. If you really love music, teaching it to others is not a compromise, but a way of keeping it alive in a cultural climate that could care less if it died. I can't think of a more honorable way to be an artist.

Sorry for the ramble!
DZ


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