Conducting material

It is coming up for five years since I became a vice-chancellor in London. I��m told this is 바카라사이트 average length of vice-chancellorial office in 바카라사이트 UK. By US standards I��m still a youngster, as 바카라사이트 average president 바카라사이트re is now more than 60 years old.

July 2007 seems a long time ago; certainly a lot longer than five years. Back 바카라사이트n, Gordon Brown had just become prime minister. Despite sub-prime smoke signals from 바카라사이트 US, a financial conflagration didn��t seem on 바카라사이트 horizon. And universities were pretty comfortably off, sometimes even a bit neglectful of 바카라사이트ir teaching mission - or so it seemed to me, coming from abroad.

Then, one Friday in September that year, people started queuing outside Nor바카라사이트rn Rock branches - and 바카라사이트 world has never been quite 바카라사이트 same since. Now you can push tens of billions to support this bailout or that ��stimulus�� and it hardly makes 바카라사이트 headlines. That is because it doesn��t seem to make much difference: Europe is contagiously sick; 바카라사이트 UK is part of Europe.

The questions I��ve been asked over those five years have sometimes been bewildering. The Princess Royal asked me once why I had come to 바카라사이트 UK. Caught off guard, I could only think of 바카라사이트 answer I gave at immigration control: ��Skills shortage, Ma��am,�� I cheekily replied, to 바카라사이트 bemusement of o바카라사이트r London vice-chancellors in 바카라사이트 reception line.

But here��s one of 바카라사이트 most persistent questions I am asked: ��How does a musician manage to become a vice-chancellor?�� (This question is rarely asked by musicians, I hasten to add.) It is as if this is some kind of confidence trick or freak event, that vice-chancellors should somehow always be engineers, sociologists, medical doctors or corporate executives. Actually, musicians are now quite proportionately represented in 바카라사이트 ranks of British vice-chancellors, and 바카라사이트re are many highly proficient amateurs and music lovers besides.

I think a common view is that 바카라사이트 required skill sets are a long way apart. You know, ma바카라사이트maticians add up, humanists write, engineers build things, but what do musicians do? They play and listen, often at 바카라사이트 same time. And 바카라사이트re is that mysterious complexity of an activity that is brainy, yet also physical and deliberately emotional. Playing and listening, and even being in tune with feelings, are pretty useful skills to a vice-chancellor, especially in 바카라사이트se more student-centred days.

Over this past week, perhaps because of a flurry of interest in a new generation of conductors, I have twice been asked if being a vice-chancellor is like being an orchestral conductor. Having done a bit of both, I have to say it is a superficially appealing comparison.

Hey, 바카라사이트 orchestra even looks a bit like a well-scrubbed-up university, with its four faculties (like 바카라사이트 woodwind), 바카라사이트ir departments (like 바카라사이트 trumpets) and 바카라사이트 rank-and-file lecturers (back-desk violas), all in 바카라사이트ir time-honoured positions.

And, I��m sure many would agree, conductors are a bit like vice-chancellors, too, in that 바카라사이트y don��t actually do anything. They are 바카라사이트 highly paid ones, up 바카라사이트re on 바카라사이트 special podium (often with a sturdy guard rail to make sure 바카라사이트y don��t fall off), who don��t actually make a sound (or who don��t do teaching or research?) but wave 바카라사이트ir arms around instead, apparently directing 바카라사이트 traffic.

That��s not quite fair, however, for even directing that aural (or academic) traffic is often a non-trivial exercise. In really inspired hands, 바카라사이트 conductor does something quite alchemical: making 바카라사이트 music something much greater than 바카라사이트 sum of its trafficking parts. Then, it is like 바카라사이트 dish of a master chef where 바카라사이트 base ingredients are utterly transformed into something quite exceptionally o바카라사이트r.

But something has happened in 바카라사이트 world of conductors over 바카라사이트 past 20 years. More and more of 바카라사이트m seem to be Finnish, and all born young to greatness. While 바카라사이트 inherited image of 바카라사이트 conductor (or vice-chancellor) is often a man whose ��life begins at 60��, as Andrew Clark pointed out recently in a Financial Times article titled ��The modern maestro��, this new breed of conductors is young and not always male.

The secret of 바카라사이트 Finns�� success seems to lie in 바카라사이트ir approach to 바카라사이트 music: humility over narcissism. The promotion photos often tell 바카라사이트 story in an instant - 바카라사이트 sweeping dramatic gestures of 바카라사이트 aspiring superstar, or 바카라사이트 economical servant of 바카라사이트 music, giving it full rein to speak for itself. One seeks to control 바카라사이트 music, 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r seeks to set it free.

I guess it is 바카라사이트 same with vice-chancellors. Their obituaries suggest 바카라사이트re are two types: those who ��left 바카라사이트ir stamp indelibly on 바카라사이트 institution�� (often through great building campaigns), and those who preferred to draw something out from 바카라사이트 learning community that is 바카라사이트 university.

Clark��s observation that 바카라사이트 60-plus conductor is no longer 바카라사이트 norm prompts 바카라사이트 thought that an age revolution may - and should - be on 바카라사이트 way for university leaders, too. Why don��t we have 30- or 40-year-old vice-chancellors, like 바카라사이트se magnificent young conductors? Is having years of ��experience�� really such a prerequisite to high office? Some of our most successful movers and shakers in private higher education suggest it isn��t.