Academia - in and out

[McNeilTom@aol.com]

Hi, John Minor -

In answer to your question: Things are GREAT out of academia.  If you'd asked
me a year ago, I could never have imagined being out, nor being happier out
than in.  I was having a very fulfilling career at SUNY Fredonia, a large and
very good undergraduate music school (not Banff - ?).  Some minor
frustrations, but mostly very self-actualizing.  I very much enjoyed my
colleagues, the students, the performances and preparing pianos for them, the
teaching, the research, and more.  I was frustrated by administrative red
tape (to the max in SUNY), severe budget constraints, and a few other things.

My move was not precipitated by any dissatisfaction there.  My wife Gail and
I had agreed some time ago that if we were to move again, it should be in
pursuit of her career.  (We had moved to Fredonia in pursuit of mine.)  She
was Assistant Director of the Michael G. Rockefeller Arts Center, one of four
major performing arts centers in SUNY.  We decided to leave SUNY when she was
asked to take the position of Executive Director of the Barre (Vermont) Opera
House.  The move is a career step up for her, being captain of her own ship.
 She is finding it very fulfilling and challenging, and has no regrets in
leaving the beaurocracy of SUNY behind
..
I find it very exciting being once again in private enterprise.  Business is
very good.  I feel very much appreciated and that I'm doing a great deal of
good.  We have an interesting collection of fine pianists hereabouts who have
fled the urban rat race, and I seem to be serving most of them.  We also have
Adamant Music School, a summer resident camp/conservatory specializing in
piano.  It attracts about 35-40 pianists each summer from all over the world;
Adamant is a well-kept secret it seems, part of its rustic charm.  I live in
a gorgeous part of the world and am spending more time with my family, a Very
Good Thing.  And there is a lot of variety to my work, everything from
rebuilding S&S concert grands to consultations on squares that have lived
half a century in a dairy barn.  I do quite a bit of driving, covering about
100-mile radius.  (100 miles on Vermont's mountainous roads usually
translates to 2.5 hours.  And I get to enjoy the scenerey, same as if I had
come on an expensive tour bus from New Jersey!)

My income is down from my university salary, and no fringe benefits.  But I
think I will catch up to my former level before too long.

In short, I couldn't be happier than I am right now!

This is a protracted answer to your brief question, but I've decided to post
it on the 'net for the benefit of others who have been asking the same
question, perhaps considering a move.

- Tom McNeil -
Vermont Piano Restorations