| 1.10.08 |
| Pigeonholed |
I spend all of my academic time on music. All of it. When I'm not listening to a mozart piano sonata or a motet by Guillaume DuFay, I'm analyzing a Brahms intermezzo or correcting music theory homework. Granted, I'm studying very diverse aspects of music at the same time (analysis of music from the Classical/Romantic era, pre-Baroque motets, and analysis of post-tonal music after 1900). However, I'm not studying English literature. I'm not studying math. I'm not learning a language. I'm not in a science class. I am exclusively in the music department. I don't even know where other departments are on campus. All my friends are music majors.
Since lately I've been spending so much time learning a lot of stuff about one subject, I've been feeling a bit... pigeonholed. Even within the music department I feel pigeonholed. I want to learn about anatomy and Japanese and American history and British literature and anthropology, but my degree doesn't allow for that sort of diversification. I only have room for music theory classes, with the exception of two classes in an "outside field," and usually people just choose another area of music. What if I want to be a Jane-of-all-trades? What if I don't want to end up an expert in music theory but no nothing about choral conducting or jazz or French poetry?
I know I can't know everything, but is it wrong to want to know a little about a lot of things?Labels: Music, school |
written by Ruthie @ 10:17 AM  |
|
| 3 thoughts: |
-
NALA! Guess what I found myself explaining to someone today?? SKIRT OVER PANTS DAY!!!! Oh, how I miss it! It just made me think of you, is all. Love you!!
-
I wondered when you would feel this. That with the Master's program, you would not be taking "liberal arts" courses and may be...bored. Start reading on the stuff you want to learn. Actually, you are not the only one. Your mother IS a Jane-of-all-trades, but don't you want to be a Master of at least ONE?
-
I agree with you, having now been through 5 years of grad school...because of InterVarsity ministry, I do get to meet people from other departments, but if I want to learn something in-depth, it's to the library I go (that is, if there is free time to do that!). It's the nature of the beast, and your window of study will get only smaller and smaller as the PhD wears on. The last 3 years after my classes were done, I've focused on 15 amino acids of one protein important for one function in the heart. Talk about pigeonholing!
|
| |
| << Home |
| |
|
|
Name: Ruthie
NALA! Guess what I found myself explaining to someone today?? SKIRT OVER PANTS DAY!!!! Oh, how I miss it! It just made me think of you, is all. Love you!!