Terry Teachout writes about the oath he took, among other things. It reminded me of what I signed when I took on my job at a particular university. I, too, swore an oath that I would “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic…”. I kind of laughed when I signed it, though. I’ll fight to the death with my music, I suppose.
Oh! But I do have reed knives and razor blades, so maybe I can truly do some damage! (I can damage with music too, yes? Just some bad intonation and a rotten reed should do the trick.)
His blog also reminds me, too, of the ever-so-brief time I was able to spend in a poetry workshop with Dana Gioia. I always wished I had been able to somehow do something with music and poetry but aside from the Christmas programs I used to do it never happened. At one point I was hoping to get to another workshop and see what Mr. Gioia could offer with this idea. Then we lost touch and now I’m too embarrassed to bother him, as he is a very important person and I’m a lowly oboist. Sigh. (Hmmm. Why do the words “lowly” and “oboist” seem to go so well together, I wonder!)
Anyway, I envy Mr. Teachout his position. But only in a healthy-envy sort of way! 🙂
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