Posted by Rick Denney on February 02, 2004 at 17:37:20:
In Reply to: serious question posted by on February 02, 2004 at 15:33:33:
Speaking as a hobbyist, forums like these give people like me voice far beyond what we probably deserve. For the folks to hang out in forums like these, that's probably just fine, and enough pros seem to enjoy the banter to at least want to watch from a safe distance. But there is no peer review here. Everyone can comment, but there's no authoritative means of separating the wheat from the chaff, and everyone is one their own.
TubaEuph is a little more disciplined, and also serves a different role, being an email list instead of a web-based forum. It sees less action, but the action it sees is often a little more carefully presented. It requires people to sign their posts, and to be accountable for what they say. (As I understand it, TubaEuph is not sponsored by ITEA though it has origins there, and it has no more connection these days to ITEA than does Tubenet: Lots of people who use these forums are ITEA members, that's all.)
I participate in both forums, in different ways because of their different formats. There are strengths and weaknesses to each, and they complement each other.
The Army Conference is a blessing, to be sure. I for one am extremely grateful to live near it. If I had to travel to attend, it would be more difficult for me to participate. ITEC was relatively nearby this last year, but it was at a time when I had a professional conflict and could not attend. Attending the Army conference has a rhythm--I can mark off the weekend every year. ITEC requires more luck, but if I were in the profession it would take a higher priority. The last one I've been able to attend was way back in 1986 when it was in the city where I lived (Austin).
In my own profession, we have two conferences a year. One is always in Washington, and always in January (one or two weeks before the tuba conference). It's an easy scheduling target and I haven't missed one of these meetings since 1984. The other one is in the middle of the year (they've been as early as July and as late as October), and always in a different city. I make it to about two-thirds of these conferences, and always see different people. One is scholarly, the other is oriented to practice. One attracts a lot of policy people, the other is more social. They complement each other. I suspect that ITEC and the Army Conference equally serve different audiences in different ways, even though lots of folks attend both.
I think it is better to say that the world of tuba playing is large and diverse enough to support both conferences and both kinds of forums. We are lucky to have people willing to volunteer their time to make them happen.
Rick "who used to attend music education conferences just to try out tubas" Denney