Monday, 11 June 2012

So I suppose I have to say that I never did manage to keep up with this blog — not while I was doing my Masters degree. But, guess what! That degree is now past tense. I am therefore (and for the third time) starting over here — with a brand new title, and a fresh new focus.

But before I get to the "new blog order," I probably should at least briefly catch you up on the tornado that was my time at SDSU. When I last posted here, I had all but finished my first semester (Fall 2010). There are now three more completed semesters to at least gloss over.

Spring 2011 was (academically) my toughest semester, as I took the two core seminars — Music History and Music Theory — back to back. The schedule was just insane, with History class on Mondays from 7-10 pm and Theory on Tuesdays from 4-7 pm. In History seminar, we surveyed the music of the 19th century. The vast majority of our listening experiences were devoted to period instrument performances. The Theory seminar presented a compendium of techniques for reductive musical analysis, with special emphasis on esoteric methods applicable to 20th century music. I can easily say I never worked so hard in my life, as I still had repertoire to prepare for Piano Ensemble, Mixed Ensemble, Piano Forum (a weekly master class), Divisional Recital, and Jury.

Fall 2011 was supposed to be a bit easier academically, but it did not quite turn out that way. I had one more survey course, this time one devoted to Keyboard literature, and an interesting course that served as a professional orientation to careers in music. That load should have been a breeze, but Keyboard lit ended up being over two semesters worth of material compressed into one. (This is ultimately because of budget cuts that are now really limiting how often these literature surveys can be given.)

All this hard work really paid off, though. By Spring 2012, I had managed things so that I had nothing left to do toward my degree, but to put together, and give, my Graduate Recital. By the time that recital rolled around — May 4th, 2012 — I actually felt prepared to take the stage in a way, and to a degree, that I never had previously.

The new theme that this blog must now address is, basically, now what? I now have this Master of Music degree I worked so hard to get. What do I do now?

In posts to come I will begin to grapple with all this. No one — least of all me — can possibly know how things will turn out. Will I be able to build a music performance career, starting at age 55? I do know this much, though: I am already happier than I've been in years, and music is the reason why.