[CAUT] CAUT credential vs. academic program?

Paul T Williams pwilliams4 at unlnotes.unl.edu
Thu Nov 1 15:12:00 MST 2007


Jeff,

Since we don't have a time machine to test that, then yes, it is 
"impossible to measure"  How do you know what to do if the pianist says " 
it's difficult to control the pedaling during the pianissimo section of 
the development in the second movement" or "the presto section of so and 
so's piece is nearly impossible to acheive"? This kind of musical 
knowledge is crucial to make the artist happy. Some musicians attempt to 
put things in layman's terms, but many don't. They do a lot of assuming 
that we understand their speak. On the other side, some musicians try to 
understand our lingo and many do, but most don't.  The more education on 
both sides of the coin, the better the end result will be.

At the very least, we should understand musical nomenclature even if we 
can only play chopsticks. Diversity of learning involves both education 
and life experiences. Where do you/we draw the line?  There is no 
"formula" to do this...  Do you want a clear-cut solution? That too, is 
"impossible". What is your "perfect solution" , then?  There is none, but 
we have to start with something. If an RPT/ CAUT is to be something "more 
desireable" than an RPT status, then different standards should be 
established. So, how would you determine what that is? Or, should we just 
go with the status-quo for universities to mearly know that RPT's have 
reached a great level of piano technology and leave the education learned 
elsewhere by the wayside?
Paul





Jeff Tanner <jtanner at mozart.sc.edu> 
Sent by: caut-bounces at ptg.org
10/31/2007 01:11 PM
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College and University Technicians <caut at ptg.org>


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Re: [CAUT] CAUT credential vs. academic program?







On Oct 31, 2007, at 8:42 AM, Paul T Williams wrote:

 It's nice to know what they're talking about, but you can't "require" 
such a diversity of learning for being a CAUT.  It just helps a bunch. 

I think whether it helps a bunch is dependent on who thinks so.  How would 
you know how much it has helped since you have the education?  It is 
impossible to measure that versus how much you could have learned without 
pursuing the formal education the "establishment" requires.

Yes, I'm like you.  I had several majors, beginning with Information 
Technology, General Business, Risk Management and Choral Education, 
studying voice and being actively involved in several performing ensembles 
and other performing opportunities from the 1st day of classes my freshman 
year before I finished with the Business degree.  Yes.  I was taking major 
level voice instruction and representing the school at state wide 
competitions and other events as a Business major.

But to say it "helps a bunch" is difficult to measure.

We are machine technicians.  What we actually do has little to do with 
music, whether we want to admit it or not.  Music can be created when we 
are finished, but it is not necessary to know much about music to do high 
level piano work.  It seems that persons with high levels of musicianship 
and musical training tend to pursue our craft, and also tend to be the 
ones who pursue CAUT work.  But I believe it is possible to do very high 
level work in our field without much musical knowledge.

Jeff


Jeff Tanner, RPT
University of South Carolina



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