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Re: Stravinsky for NYSSMA All-State

Author: ghuba
Date: 2006-01-15 23:50

I think that getting second opinions is a good idea. As a consultant in a non-music field, I am used to clients getting second opinions (or to expressing them themselves) and do not find this threatening.

Knowledge work -- whether it is music or medicine or architecture or software engineering or law or other professions -- usually involves professional judgments for which there are typically not a "correct" answer that all experts will agree with. [Does every famous and well-informed conductor ask you to play a passage the same way?] In perhaps the most critical of all knowledge fields -- medicine -- preferred and acceptable treatments are often decided by consensus panels that include many highly skilled physicians who look at enormous bodies of evidence, debate their differing views of scientific evidence and clinical cases, and reach a consensus about what should typically be done to treat a particular illness.

Functionally, many of the threads on this BB have inputs from many knowledge experts on the topic in question with the result that frequently a consensus is reached on at least some answer to the original question. Seeking a second opinion is more desirable than blindly following the original advice of one expert, and most experts are not threatened by this at all. Experts are usually quite aware of the topics for which there are many different opinions held by equally expert professionals and do not want to mislead their clients (or students or patients).

From the descriptions you have given of the teacher involved, he seems to be quite supportive of seeking other input. He is to be admired for this position.

George

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