Posted by Dragomir on May 03, 2003 at 11:46:55:
In Reply to: too many ? posted by js on May 03, 2003 at 01:12:11:
Too many for what?
Are there too many English Lit majors? Black Studies majors? How about Art History?
The first thing is to define the product of a tuba program. If it's just someone who knows how to play the tuba, then we might as well convert the tuba studios into broom closets--there are cheaper ways to teach tuba playing. If, on the other hand, the product is The Compleat Musician, who happens to have an area of specialization in low brass, maybe not. Our kids can probably use more quality education in music and because some teacher has selected horn or tuba or bassoon or violin as his/her instrument of choice shouldn't count against them.
Now if, we're talking about producing the myopically specialized Tuba Expert, then we've set the bar too low. A Tuba Expert would know everything there is to know about the tuba--the history, literature, construction, theory of operation, etc. Question on the oral exams: "Mr. Jones, here is a Koffeeklatsch 403 CC tuba. I'm about to put a dent that's half a centimeter deep right here with this hammer. Please describe in detail the effects on intonation and playing characteristics that this dent will have."
To the best of my awareness, we're not producing any of the latter sort of people, so we must be producing some good musicians and teachers. Not a bad thing at all.
The danger in evaluating a university program comes when the time spent by students is viewed as the equivalent of taking courses at a trade school. Universities are not trade schools; they're places of higher learning.