Posted by Anthony on April 02, 2003 at 23:28:01:
In Reply to: Grad Assist. vs Paying for school posted by Mark on April 02, 2003 at 00:24:40:
There are plenty of great schools with great tuba teachers with TA positions available. The way I see it, if you can't get one of those positions, you're not ready for grad school. Some people will be perfectly content paying for a piece of paper from a diploma mill- but those with real drive and talent shouldn't have any problem getting a TA position anywhere they want. I'm sure there are exceptions, but with all the options out there, I don't think there's any reason a talented musician should have to pay for their master's degree.
I think that TAing is especially important for someone in the educational field. Even if you feel short-changed on the performance end, you can take all the money you saved and go buy a dozen "artist-diplomas" from the master-teacher of your choice. (by "buy" I don't mean to imply that there will be no effort involved).
fwiw
Anthony