Goal Setting

I met with my graduate advisor today. She is really a wonderful person, a thoughtful professor, a caring guider, and enthusiastic encourager. We sat down and I asked her questions about the next step in regards to the rest of my tenure in my masters program and about my next school. I hope to do this with my conducting teacher as well.

First, we talked about potential DMA schools. I have to start doing preliminary research on that. I like my program now, but I don't want to be in California for my DMA (and John prefers to try out a different area as well). In a year from now, all my applications for my DMA program will have to be done. It's a little surreal to think about.

The biggest question was: "what can I do now to make me a better DMA candidate?" All other questions were off shoots of that. What skills do I need to develop as a musician and as a person? Can I get something published? How do I go about doing that? Can I present something? I would love to write a reflection or lightly researched paper about Choral Conducting Curriculum. What other topics should I be thinking about? What are my strengths?

I also asked her to give me feedback as a student and as a leader. I am very focused and while many of my fellow students are excellent and intelligent musicians, I find that I am much more intense than many of them. At times I find it difficult to balance. I desire good, thoughtful conversations on my craft (conducting and educating). However, I also do not want to put off any of my fellow students. The teacher in me wants to provoke them into these conversations by asking questions and sitting back, even if I think I have a good answer. :-) It was great to get her reassurance that yes, she sees (and appreciates) my focus. She said that, while my school is a great school, there are other schools in which I might have peers that are a little more intensely engaged.

I want to set goals for this semester. Measurable goals. For all the years I had to set measurable goals for teaching my classes and ensembles, I am now struggling with creating goals and measuring progress for myself. Other than "e-mail professors less, which includes creating succinct e-mails", I don't know how to set reasonable goals. Here are a few of my ideas: Learn 1/3 of the songs in my Michael Steinberg Choral Masterworks book; Talk to my conducting teacher about what is on the aural exam at the end of my program (is it based on the Steinberg book?); Transcribe the Strozzi Madrigal; Research/write something for publication and/or presentation (that is way too broad write now); and I need at least one goal for my conducting- but what? Here my teacher will be very helpful.

I have been talking to John about meeting with my teacher and setting goals for myself the past couple of weeks. And now that I have written it in my blog, I have to follow up by setting goals. And maybe even talking about their progress.