{"id":4905,"date":"2013-03-01T10:27:26","date_gmt":"2013-03-01T15:27:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/?p=4905"},"modified":"2022-11-22T09:04:55","modified_gmt":"2022-11-22T15:04:55","slug":"retirement-series-shufro-ready-for-next-chapter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/archives\/4905","title":{"rendered":"Retirement Series: Shufro ready for next chapter"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Claire DeRoin<\/strong>—<\/p>\n

\u201cThe word \u2018retirement\u2019 isn\u2019t in my vocabulary,\u201d Joe Shufro, assistant professor of music, said.<\/p>\n

Two music stands stand back to back in the middle of Prof. Shufro\u2019s office. A piece called \u201cChanson Triste\u201d is open on one of them. A grand piano sits in one corner of the room and a choir can be heard warming up from somewhere down the hallway. The office is the epitome of a music lover\u2019s work space.<\/p>\n

Shufro has taught in the music department at Morningside for 36 years, beginning in 1977.<\/p>\n

What classes did he teach during all those years? \u201cIt\u2019d probably be easier to tell you what I didn\u2019t <\/i>teach,\u201d Shufro laughed. Classes Shufro taught at Morningside include strings classes, orchestra, chamber music, music history, music literature, introduction to music, music history, three levels of music theory, and as of the past few years, a C&C section. \u201cI haven\u2019t been in the music education field and haven\u2019t taught instruments I can\u2019t play, but pretty much everything else,\u201d Shufro said. After a pause, he added, \u201cI\u2019m not a bass player, but I can teach it up to a certain level.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many of his students have gone on to have careers or \u201cheavy participation\u201d in music throughout their lives, whether they started in the youth orchestra programs or as college students.<\/p>\n

Kelsey Saboe, a Morningside graduate, had Professor Shufro for classes during her time on campus. \u201cI really liked in Music Theory when he would crack jokes. He was really funny during class.\u201d Saboe said. \u201cHe is intensely smart, but he didn\u2019t rub it in your face. He was closet genius!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI like everything I\u2019m doing and that\u2019s the fun thing,\u201d Shufro, a self-proclaimed person of multiple favorites, said. He counts conducting orchestra as one of his favorite activities at Morningside. He also mentioned played cello in the faculty trio, \u201cwhich has been on and off for many years,\u201d Shufro explained. \u201cI\u2019ve been in seven or eight reincarnations of that trio.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve also done electronic music,\u201d he added. \u201cI started the program way back twenty years ago.\u201d Music technology, a class in which students create original music on composing software, is a current electronic music class offered.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been interesting to see the changes over the years,\u201d Shufro said. \u201cTechnologically, especially. Mimeograph machines, typewriters, students don\u2019t even know what those are! Now we can do so many different things in the classroom, like having discussions over Google docs and bringing in so many different media to create a broader learning experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shufro has noticed a change in students, as well. \u201cThe Information Age has made reading a book and going into things in depth more difficult. Students want instant gratification.\u201d With a grin, Shufro added, \u201cBut the good old days weren\u2019t always as good as we remember them, and the frustrations we have now aren\u2019t always as bad as they seem.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today, retirement is on the horizon for Shufro. \u201cIt\u2019s a new phase, but I\u2019m not exactly sure what it\u2019s going to be. Definitely music and some other things. Something will turn up.\u201d He noted relocation as a possibility, but doesn\u2019t have any concrete plans yet.<\/p>\n

Does he wish he\u2019d have done anything differently during his time at Morningside? \u201cI\u2019d have tried to reorder my time more so there was more time for my own creative work on the cello and other things,\u201d Shufro answered. \u201cI wish I had been able to juggle so there was more time for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

While excited about what the future holds, Shufro is reluctant to leave Morningside behind. There is one thing he\u2019ll miss. \u201cPeople. Colleagues and students I\u2019ve worked with here.\u201d Shufro said quietly as a frown formed on his lips. \u201cIt\u2019s been hard to actually feel like separating myself from that. What a great bunch of good people.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Claire DeRoin— \u201cThe word \u2018retirement\u2019 isn\u2019t in my vocabulary,\u201d Joe Shufro, assistant professor of music, said. Two music stands stand back to back in the middle of Prof. Shufro\u2019s office. A piece called \u201cChanson Triste\u201d is open on one of them. A grand piano sits in one corner of the room and a choir…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":80,"featured_media":4906,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4287],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/80"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4905"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4905\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15045,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4905\/revisions\/15045"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}