Scholarship vs madness

[elspeth]

I bumped into a friend from university this week. She's just finishing writing her PhD and will graduate this summer. We both read physics at batchelor's level, then I get a job and a mortgage and she's still a student, just wondering about becoming a teacher after she gets her doctorate, in something to do with chemical engineering.

I very nearly stayed on at uni for a PhD myself, but they weren't offering the project I wanted to do the year I got my BSc, so I moved on... but, if money permitted, I'd love to go back to university. Maybe read an arts subject this time round. I rather fancy Latin and classical history and literature. It'd be completely irrelevant to my career, and I probably wouldn't use it to contribute anything to society. It certainly wouldn't make for good dinner-party conversation, although having a degree in physics I'm used to blank looks when I mention my education! But it'd make me happy.

Every year I look at the courses offered by the local further ed colleges and wonder about doing one... I did a photography course a few years ago and have never looked back. Maybe I will get my brain back in gear and go back to college this year. Learn something new and possibly pointless, just for the sake of finding out.

The reason I'm blithering about this here... I blithered about it a bit today to a couple of the people I work with and they seemed to think I was mad. Neither of them unintelligent people, but neither of them saw the point of learning for its own sake, they both thought people ought to learn in order to achieve a definite objective or tehre was no point expending the time, effort and money. I figured I might get a little more understanding on here, considering most of us are learning piano for no tangible reason except we want to and it makes us happy!

[quantum]

There is definitely an objective, and for you that would be enjoyment.  Don't let others put you down for doing what you want to do.  If you want that PhD, go get it and don't look back. 

Years from now others may say I got ____ degree to further my career and I only earned $$ amount.  You can then reply,  I got my PhD, and rejoiced in every moment I learned something new.  I did it because I have a thirst for knowledge, and am proud of having fulfilled my goal.  Who would be at a loss for conversation then 

[ted]

Elspeth, I am convinced that many, indeed most, people these days do not understand the drive to do anything for its own sake. They really don't, you know. While I have made sure I could support my wife and son and play my part as a responsible citizen, beyond that elementary concession I have done almost everything for its own sake. I differ from you in that going to university or courses doesn't suit me because the things I find of interest are not formally taught. However, this difference is cosmetic; the principle remains.

I get no end of criticism, sometimes quite sharp, to the effect of , "What are you going to do with your music ?" I am doing precisely what I need to do - to create it and play it - that is all there is to it. They have no conception of this drive and all reasoned argument is useless. The same thing has happened innumerable times when I get the urge to investigate a mathematical question, which areas have always been a source of intense amateur interest. I remember explaining to several friends about a surprising result I turned up and the answer was always a quizzical, "Why are you bothering to do that ? What use is it ?"

Probably no use at all, of course. My music is also perfectly useless. So what ? Most people seem to live their lives like characters in Coronation Street - eat, work, fight, propagate, have a few drinks and die - that isn't good enough for me.

[rc]

Well said, Ted!

Just recently I've decided I don't need any reason to study music.  I was spending a lot of thought concocting special reasons why I want to be good at piano, I mostly bought it...  But all that thought I gave to it didn't really do me any good, it didn't motivate me, so now I think it's best to admit I'm doint it 'just because'.  Though, I still hold the thought that it could develop into something useful.  At the very least, I try and spread the enjoyment of classical music at every opprotunity.  Perhaps someday as an old man my playing can inspire someone.

But I don't think developing your mind is just a fancy way of wasting time.  There is something to be gotten from learning something for it's own sake, I think we develop our characters this way, broaden our horizons, stretch our minds.  By becoming more educated people, we may accidentally enrich the lives around us from time to time.  I'm always learning new things, from friends who read books then talk to me about it, and I do the same for them.  Sometimes you never know what curiousity can develop into. 

A few weeks ago I was walking along and I suddenly remembered when I was a 14 year old metal-head, an older girl I knew tried telling me to give Beethoven a listen, naturally I ignored her, but then I wonder what made me decide to pick out a Beethoven CD at random one day when I was 19, which I liked so much I eventually decided to drop guitar and learn piano?  It's hard to say, maybe the subconscious remembered?

Although personally I'm too cheap to take a class when I'm curious about something - I buy a $10 library card and internet connection instead.

[pianistimo]

i liked the part 'no tangible reason except we want to and it makes us happy.

if you already have your 'career'- then this extra choice could be a vital part of a career change at a later point, too.  sometimes we get tired of doing the same things over and over.  doing something different makes us more energized at times.  and, there are different subcategories within every subject - so you have thousands of choices of stuff to do either for fun or for extra money.

for me, i have about three or four goals.  some of them are non-monetary - like playing the leroy anderson pc with a symphony.  there would not be that much money in it for me - but simply the enjoyment of playing it well.  and, i would like to make a CD with  my husband (who sings baritone).  we have about 100 songs - half church music - half secular - and we've never really bothered to record together. 

my other goals would include finishing a master's degree in piano performance so that if i wanted to teach - i could...at a more professional level.  i'd like to start with a community college setting and teach piano and theory and something else (maybe  music history).  i know right now i could handle keyboard I, II, III and IV.  they do class keyboard sometimes with about 10 students and midi keyboards.  that would be an easy class for me. 

now, if i got good enough to teach orchestration - i would feel like i made to the mountain peak of my realized goals - equalling the performance side.  it would allow me also to get into more arranging.  seems that the more you know -the more you can do with your career. 

and, if i had two lifetimes - i'd definately set my hand to conducting.  small at first.  church settings, then orchestral, and then, piano concerto conducting.  who better to conduct a piano concerto than someone who's played one.  who listens to the performer and lets them have a little bit of leeway to express their individual personalities. 

[wishful thinker]

Elspeth, any form of accomplishment is its own reward.  Ignore the naysayers (of whom I hope that you will find none here), it is not madness. 

Now, have you considered the Open University?  You can study anything from applied maths to Latin and Greek and music, and can structure your course exactly as you would wish.  It's too late to register for this year (which starts in February), though it might be something to consider for next.  www.open.ac.uk

 

[elspeth]

Oddly enough I was reading the OU website last night, having posted this... I just don't know if I can afford university at the moment. Will have to consider... Unfortunately, it'll end up being a choice been studying for another degree or going on a couple of photography trips I have pencilled in over the next two or three years. The budget won't stretch to both. It's a shame bettering your mind can be such an expensive pursuit...

It also occurred to me that it's a shame most educational establishments nowadays seem to gear their courses purely to getting a job at the end of the course. It of course must be a consideration, but it seems to me that even the institutions themselves often don't promote learning as a joy and an end in itself.

Pianistimo, I really hope you manage to play that concerto! You'll love it, and get hooked, you'll soon be choosing your second... I've only done it once but I'd love to again. I played Mozart's flute concerto no 2 while I was at uni with one of the orchestras there... it was a wonderful experience.

[Bob]

If it's what you really want, do it. 

I'd watch out for how the university gears things though.  If they gear courses for a particular path for their majors it might not be what you want.