[Dixielandjazz] Salute to the Tuba Playeers

[Dan Augustine]

Folks--
     Well.  What can i say?  I was one of them.
     You'll notice that i wasn't (ahem) actually WORKING as a 
tuba-player.  No indeed, i couldn't get a job teaching tuba and music 
theory (my 1979 Ph.D. was in music theory, not tuba), so i became a 
computer jock and retired from it four years ago.  NOW i'm back in 
music, playing in over five bands and getting my old 
brass-arrangements finally published.
     Lisa and i worked as computer programmers at the University of 
Texas in the 1980s.  Way to go, Lisa, getting your letter published 
in the _New York Times_!  See you in October.

     Dan

c: Lisa, interested others
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>From: Stephen G Barbone <barbonestreet at earthlink.net>
>Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2008 12:55:44 -0400
>Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Salute to the Tuba Playeers
>Cc: Dixieland Jazz Mailing List <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
>
>List Mate John McClernan pointed to the following letter to the NY 
>Times about creative right brain activities. The last paragraph 
>salutes the tuba players.
>
>Cheers,
>
>Steve Barbone
>
>www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband
>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>To the Editor:
>
>Re "Let Computers Compute. It's the Age of the Right Brain." 
>(Unboxed, April 6):
>
>Making computers work, however, is also right-brain creative 
>activity. A software developer, for example, must talk to customers 
>to understand the software's desired behavior, then come up with the 
>best design to meet different and often conflicting requirements: 
>efficiency, performance, stability, usability, ease of maintenance 
>and so on. It's an art and a craft.
>
>When I started as a software developer in the early '80s, I worked 
>on a team with three Ph.D.'s in music - all tuba players! Most good 
>professionals I've known over the years - programmers, database 
>administrators, testers, system administrators - are also 
>accomplished artists, musicians and/or writers.
>
>Lisa Crispin
>
>Castle Rock, Colo., April 7

-- 
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**  Dan Augustine  --  Austin, Texas  --  ds.augustine at mail.utexas.edu 
**    "The tuba is the certainly the most intestinal of instruments, 
**     the very lower bowel of music." --  Peter De Vries            
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