Recently I met with one of my former professors, a terrific mentor and now colleague. Addressing him by his first name is a bit surreal after many years of sitting in his classroom. The purpose of the meeting began rather selfishly:
- We both enjoy a good cup of coffee.
- I needed to retrieve my graded final paper in hopes of using it as a writing sample should I ever need to submit one.
- I am one of those academic types that actually enjoys research and I wanted to bounce around a few ideas.
Conversation led from one thing to another, from suggestions for expansion of that final research topic from a different perspective, to my family, my work at J.W. Pepper and the proverbial “so, now what?”
Does that question ever go away? His answer of course was one that I and many of you already know — no, it does not. No matter what the circumstance, our role simply changes. After more than one cup of great coffee, I came away with lots of other suggestions and advice as well!
That is the beautiful and lasting thing about teachers that have touched our lives — we never stop wanting their advice. Perhaps we can all do more to take on the role of giving good counsel to others in the field of music. I will start here with sharing this interesting article from the New York Times about openings at the nation’s major orchestras:
