Greetings from Rome!

 

Just over four hours ago, I disembarked from the airplane which carried me from New York to Italy, and over the course of the nearly nine hour flight I had an opportunity to organize some of my most recent thoughts in preparation of writing them down.

 

Okay, right now I have to shout out one word:  “Whoopee!!”  Why, might you ask?  Simply put, I have finished the last of my schooling for the trombone.  On May 26, 2006, I graduated from the Juilliard School having earned my Master of Music; with it, I closed the formal education chapter in my life (at least on trombone).  

 

I say whoopee both from satisfaction in earning my degree, and in the amount of time I have cleared out from my schedule beginning next year.  This year was heavily balanced towards the work aspect of my life, and I am looking forward (and have already begun to enjoy) a life balanced less heavily in work, more heavily in non-work areas – particularly family time.

 

However, I must not neglect to mention that had I known beforehand how much time schooling would require of me, I would make the same decision I did (to return and finish the degree which I started) ten times out of ten.  There are two reasons for this.  First, had I not finished out when I had the opportunity, I could end out my career having left a major undertaking unfinished.  I would have been the proverbial home fixer-upper who begins a job, such as patching a hole in the wall, then works on it until it’s almost done (perhaps it needs to be sanded once again and given a second coat of joint compound; perhaps it just needs to be painted) before losing interest and going on to something new.  And when I consider that Juilliard is right across from my job is seemed foolish not to pursue as the very least the possibility of returning.

 

Secondly, there are career possibilities which might surface in the unforeseeable future.  I really enjoy teaching.  And someday, perhaps when I have finished my time in an orchestral setting, I would like to teach in a college environment.  While most performance oriented schools might look at one’s life experience as an important – perhaps the important – factor, some smaller schools or universities might prefer, even require, a candidate to have a college degree at the graduate level in order to be considered.  J.S. Bach himself, certainly amongst the leaders in the history of Western music as a performer, composer and pedagogue, was the third candidate considered for the prestigious position which he eventually held in Leipzig, simply because he was not educated in a university.  Of course, he turned out pretty well without a degree, but you see my point…

 

But finally, one really must also consider all the advantages and benefits one gets from a formal education, especially when a greatest amount of effort is made to learn.  My first time around in school, my focus was to win a job.  Hence I spent little time on my musical education.  Therefore, much of what I learned up until about three years ago came from on the job training.  While this information is invaluable, it is also highly specialized:  orchestral music of the early Romantic period and beyond.  Music with trombones.  Loud music.  Etc., etc., etc.

 

In my return to school, I re-familiarized myself with aspects of music I hadn’t considered in years:  theory, a comprehensive history of the development of Western music, and specialized studies in subjects I might not get exposure to otherwise (Medieval and Renaissance music, Schenkerian Analysis, and a History of Jazz are just a few).

 

I’m not saying that one is deficient as a musician without knowledge of these aspects.  I do feel, however, that having a broader exposure of music in general leads to a better appreciation of music in general.  The more you know about what flavors various ingredients add to various dishes, the more you appreciate the unique talents of a chef.  If one has little knowledge of cooking outside of, say, pastries, one isn’t a deficient eater of main courses.  One just has a better appreciation for the main course when one understands how to distinguish flavors.

 

So, what can I say to anyone who has enough interest in the trombone to read this blog?  If you are a student, while your focus ought to be, and needs to be, improving on your instrument, don’t completely neglect your studies.  As a brass player, there’s a limited amount of time we can spend playing our instruments, anyway.  In those times when you’re allowing your face to recover from a grueling workout, spend some time exercising your skills at music in general.

 

For those who have already left school, I would like to point out that at the beginning of this post, I said that I closed the chapter of formal education in my life.  The implication is clear:  that we are all always students of music.  And the second we stop looking at things that way – the second we’ve decided that either we’ve figured it all out, or we don’t need to know any more – is the second we should put down the instrument and do something else.  There is always more to discover, more to learn, whether in your specific field or in the field of music at large.