A casual, but not so casual, interest of mine is to do academic music research. I was browsing the online library, as I do, and stumbled upon Dr. Robert Duke’s 2010 “Senior Researcher Award Acceptance Address” in the Journal of Research in Music Education (Vol. 58, No. 3 (October 2010)) pp. 208-218).

Beyond tackling the question of what makes research interesting in the first place, Dr. Duke gives advice to the young researcher. Here is what he advises…

1. Read, read, read (surround yourself by quality).
2. Write, write, write (creativity is a function of productivity).
3. Don’t mistake form for substance.
4. Talk to people all the time about your ideas and your work.
5. Find one or more research buddies.
6. Grow thicker skin.
7. Hang out with KIND, SMART, INTERESTING, INTERESTED people
8. Go to professional meetings where you are likely to learn something about what you are working on.
9. Write research that will be read with interest outside of music education.

What strikes me, is that whether I plan to go into research or not, this advice is applicable.

Do I want to become a violin soloist?

I need to read performance publications, take intelligent, written notes, play substantial works find performance buddies, grow thick skin, etc.

Do I want to become a Suzuki violin teacher?

I need to read well written journal articles from my predecessors, write about my process, don’t mistake a lesson taught for true learning, find colleagues forging the same path, grow ever thicker skin, and attend professional meetings where I am likely to learn.

Do I want to become a college professor?

Of course–do what he says!

Do I want to become a bicycle mechanic?

Read, write, find buddies, hang out with kind/smart/interesting/interested people, grow thick skin (literally).

I’m not really sure what I want to do after graduate school, which at the start of graduate school is kind of fun. I’m finishing off my first day of class with the feeling of being bathed in excellence. I want to keep tapping those sources of excellence: professors, classes, institutions, performances, recordings, research, peers.

They say that the human body replaces itself every 7 years. I want to use the next 2 to replace my current understanding of what it means to be a performer, a teacher, and generally a person. I want to change my understanding of the world intellectually, kinesthetically, and even emotionally.

I will be a different person by the time a leave Ithaca College with my graduate degree in Violin Performance and Suzuki Pedagogy.

If I use my time to read, write, do work of substance, talk about my ideas, find buddies, grow thick skin, hang out with cool people, learn from meetings, and do work that is interesting to others, then I think that change will be a dramatic, positive one.

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I wrote this on the first day of class in the fall of 2017.