Posted by Joe S. on June 08, 2000 at 21:10:43:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: No college? posted by Rick Denney on June 08, 2000 at 13:15:13:
I discussed a trombone player, a buddy of mine in high school, who went straight into the Continental Army Band when he graduated from high school. I discussed him because of his current highly technical job as Superintendant of three power plants his role in designing one plant and totally overhauling another (including ALL of the newly computer-controlled electronics in the control room), and his lack of ANY formal education.
Now, I would like to mention ANOTHER high school buddy - I will name him: Jesse Allen. He was a tuba player who went STRAIGHT out of high school into the base band at Ft. Campbell, Kentucky. Six months later, they transferred him up to the D.C. Army Band (Sean's "Pershing's Own). NO formal education beyond high school and NO TUBA LESSONS OR OTHER MUSIC LESSONS - EVER. He just dragged his 36K home EVERY DAY and PRACTICED for a few hours each day from seventh through twelfth grade - etude books that he found on the rack at the local music store. Currently, he is a technical statistician with a manufacturer of commercial machinery...no college AFTER the D.C. Army Band, either.
Another in our group of four or five band buddies went on to be the Valedictorian one year at the University of Memphis (admittedly not Yale, but still...).
Yet another tuba player from my high school attended at the local university for a couple of years, became bored, and auditioned for the Army. They immediately put him in one of the bands in Germany, doubling on tuba and electric bass.
I could name some others. I attended a high school in the middle of a dumb redneck ("white trash" OK?) neighborhood. Our band director was a "nice guy" but wasn't interested in seeing what he could achieve in his job. I REALLY am convinced, from my life experience, that achievement, ability, and self-insistance on excellence are related 99% to the HEARTINESS OF THE PURSUIT and about 1% to those who might be around to offer guidance. I know that "99%" of YOU disagree with this ratio, but I MUST base MY beliefs on what I have witnessed. Our little group of friends, I guess, just "corporately" decided that "we" were not settling for what life dealt us, and that mediocrity is too tragic, considering the limited time available.
Your university's or music conservatory's GREATEST value is that it is a venue to treat others with kindness, to impress others with your ability and social/intellectual maturity and morality, and to hope that positive aspects of your reputation become widely-known and hopefully influence others.