Back in the 90s I retired from my career as a concert guitarist because it became clear that I just could not break through to the next level (at least not in the Canadian concert scene) and I went back to school as a doctoral candidate in musicology. This was a very positive and enjoyable time for me because it got me back in touch with a lot of intellectual skills that I had been neglecting. Working as a concert soloist means that you spend a remarkable amount of time every day in fairly repetitive technical exercises.
Applying for the program I dug out an old paper I had done on the lute fantasia and brushed up on some theory and history. I was accepted into the program, but, as I had not done an honours undergraduate degree, with the proviso that I do two seminars in music theory. It turned out that these two courses, one on fugue and the other on form-functional analysis of non-classical theme types, were two of the most enjoyable and meaty of all the ones I took. There was one on Shostakovich symphonies that enriches my life to this day and other interesting ones on 20th century theory and analysis, research methods, opera comedy, Dufay, American experimental music and so on. For me it was an enormously productive time.
But.
Ironically, the program was also beneficial economically! As my concert career wound down, with fewer lucrative engagements, I filled in the gap by teaching privately as well as at a two-year college and university. I didn't have a lot of students, but it kept my head above water. Once I started the doctoral program I kept most of that teaching and added on teaching jobs that came with the doctoral program. I taught basic music theory to non-music majors and music appreciation to a huge class. Great fun. And it meant that my income actually increased! Now, compare this to the incredibly sad story of this woman:
While Maria's undergraduate education, which she completed in 2001, was funded through scholarships and Pell grants, she knew more advanced degrees would give her a leg up in university teaching — especially as a woman in the industry. So she pursued a master's degree and a PhD, the latter of which took seven years to complete.
It was not a decision she took lightly, and at the time she believed the commitment would be worth it. Maria, who requested her last name be withheld for privacy reasons, extensively researched the program, and its statistics for employment post-graduation looked promising. However, she was unable to land a full-time university job after graduation in 2014 and found herself unable to afford her student-loan payments.
Now, at 48 years old, Maria's student-loan balance is $430,000 — all from her advanced degrees, per documents reviewed by Insider.
In the whole article there are no indications of what field she did her doctorate in, but could it have been less commercially feasible than one in musicology?
After completing all my seminars for the degree, there remained the comprehensive exams and the dissertation. These could take a few more years. A few big changes happened around then. I got married and my mother passed away, both of which caused me to re-evaluate my life path. I decided to drop the PhD program and I moved to Mexico, where I still live.
The doctoral program I was in was a very humane one: if you were accepted they automatically defrayed your tuition and gave you teaching jobs, so it was quite reasonable to put yourself through grad school without assistance. I neither applied for nor received any student aid.
So what is happening now in higher education, especially in the US? It seems to me to be an enormous scam that is ruining many people's lives, like this young woman's. Sure, you could criticize her for choosing a field unlikely to lead to lucrative employment. But even so, the costs of her education, and the relentless addition of interest when she could not make payments are horrific! This isn't higher education, this is a confidence game. And notice how I have made no criticism of any of the content of programs at university these days, though one certainly could.
So why did I drop out of grad school? I realized that I really was not too sure I wanted to spend the next twenty years of my life on campus. After all, I had spent the last twenty years teaching guitar at university and conservatory and it might be time to try something else. In retrospect, I think it was a good decision. While I miss the collegiality of university life, there are some trends these days that I am glad to be away from. And I recall an envious glint in the eye of the chair of the theory department when I told him I was moving to Mexico...
Here is some music by the Mexican composer Silvestre Revueltas:
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