[CAUT] U. of Northern Iowa position

[Susan Kline]

>The experience of working toward mastery
>of an instrument, of attempting public performance, even at a fairly
>basic level, is invaluable in coming to some sort of empathy.

I admit that a masters in cello performance is just about the
most useless degree one could imagine, but the experience of performing
in public, even a little, helps a lot when tuning for concerts and
dealing with artists.

After earning a degree or two, a music department seems like a
familiar place to hang out. Everything slips into place in a way
which it doesn't when I work with jazz musicians ... though they're
very nice about it. It seems a novelty for them that someone would
stay on hand and touch up the tuning between sets.

All in all, I think study is time well spent, though awfully costly
these days. The costs of higher education, like health care, are right
out of hand. I hope something happens about that soon. It's not a
good thing for a society, to turn its brightest young people into indentured
servants.

As for the U. of Northern Iowa, it seemed like an awfully long list
of duties and responsibilities to load on someone for a part-time job.
But then most CAUT job descriptions sound that way to me. Sometimes I'm
glad I'm 64, and don't need to look for such a place. One wonders how
institutions are going to fill our shoes, as more of us reach
retirement age.

Susan Kline