The writing was the easy part. The preparation was the most challenging mental activity that I have ever put myself through (besides trying to understand band fronts…jk, lol, move along). I will say this that pursuing this degree has disciplined my mind and has made me budget my time. If my mother reads this post, she would be the first to tell you – those are two things her second son was not good at growing up.

The following is some advice in preparation for anyone taking on a doctoral degree in any education discipline. If you are reading this, I hope you find it helpful, and I certainly wish you well along your journey.

1) You will not do this without the support of your family, friends, and faith. There will be times when your relationship with all three of them will be strained. Do not break your connection with any of them, because like Rocky’s trainer they will be the only ones in your corner at times saying “C’mon Champ, get back up!”

2) Don’t let your coursework sit abstractly by in the forms of papers, projects and presentations. The encouragement of one person in particular helped me to generate several articles published internationally, and a number of presentations at conferences and workshops. Removing that information from the academic context and putting into the context of your teaching allows for a number of interesting self-discoveries that enrich the process.

3) Critically reflect upon yourself, your teaching area, and how this process may change your perspective in the classroom. Again, the self-reflection process has led me through a number of questions about the very foundations of music education. I see some people writing and tweeting about music education, and I am concerned as they seem to have a pretty limited perspective that is full of absolutes. There are always at least two sides to every story, and I teach music with a much larger perspective in a much larger world with an even wider perspective. I don’t presume that the area which I can make better will fix the whole world, but my self-reflection tells me I can make the areas that I am concerned about better for students with whom I interact, teach, and lead.

4) Stay up on research in your field. It’s not always a very cost effective endeavor – we tend to gouge people to pay for research findings – but if we are going to bridge research to practice, somebody has to take the initiative. It might as well be the practitioner who has the most opportunities to make a difference in education. Related to that, pay attention to veins of research and the names that go with them. In preparation for my comprehensive exams an article in 2001 by Donald Hodges clarified a whole semester of course work for me in Music Psychology. The article connected three more names to related areas in Music Psychology, and each of those names connected to a research area which led me to 2 articles per area and suddenly neurons started firing at incredible rate (at least that’s what I think was happening, I have to go back and read to get you the specifics…).

5) Give yourself a good 6 months to prepare for your qualifying/candidacy exams. Even with a self-made weekly reading list of major topics in all my coursework and reading of related areas to my coursework in the 2nd Handbook of Research on Music Teaching and Learning, I still didn’t feel ready. I had to put a lot of things on the back burner to prepare myself adequately. With two weeks to go, I finally started to experience a “spinning” sensation as if all the information that lived in separate realms began to be dumped into a blender and the soft edges of those topics became blended together.

As I write on a Friday night after a football game, I am sure of several things:
1) My family still loves me and my kids remember my name.
2) I am probably going to reread this Saturday morning and change something (the title: original was called “Reflections on Candidacy Exams).
3) I will never be smarter in my time on this earth. But I always hope I keep a wide perspective, and keep on learning.

But we are lining up a series of great posts for the November carnival.  I can almost smell the funnel cake from here…

There is plenty of room for new posts as well as bringing back some old ones that have received attention.  So far I have really enjoyed reading a number of older submissions and reflecting upon my current perspective compared to the one I had reading it the first time.  It really is amazing how this campaign has taken off, continued to evolve, and is bringing some refreshing conversation to the perspective.

If you have not submitted before, never fear as this is easier that cleaning your band office coffee pot after a two week coffee hiatus….not there was mold growing mind you, just a penicilin experiment gone awry. The process is actually very easy.  You can find the Music Education Submittal Page by clicking on the following link: http://blogcarnival.com/bc/submit_4443.html. 

I am looking forward to hosting, so come one and all and step right up to the greatest show on earth!  And if you are able, I am really jonesing for some funnel cake…

First Suite in E-flat – Holst
Greensleeves – arr. Alfred Reed
Flourish for Glorious John – Vaughan Williams
The Pines of Rome – Ottorino Respighi
I Am – Andrew Boysen Jr.
O Magnum Mysterium – Lauridsen/arr. Reynolds
The Liberty Bell – John Philip Sousa
Lincolnshire Posy – Percy Grainger
Washington Post March- John P. Sousa
Dedicatory Overture- Clifton Williams
Allegro Animato- Frank Erickson
March to the Scaffold- Hector Berlioz (arr. Leidzen)
Shenandoah- Frank Ticheli
Incidental Suite- Clarke
Sleigh Ride-Leroy Anderson
Jupiter- Holst
Concerto For Orchestra-Bartók
Syphonic Metaporphosis- Paul Hindemith
Adagio for Strings- Barber
Irish Tune from County Derry – Grainger
Dusk – Whitacre
Blue Shades – Ticheli
Chester – Schumann
Robin Hood Prince of Thieves – Horner (arr. ?)
American Overture for Band Jenkins, Joseph W.
Russian Christmas Music – Alfred Reed
American Salute – Gould, Morton
March from 1941 – John WIlliams
Of Sailors and Whales – McBeth
Amazing Grace – Ticheli,
Loch Lomond – Ticheli
America the Beautiful – Carmen Dragon
Daphnis and Chloe – Ravel
Manhattan Beach March – Sousa
Variations on a Korean Folksong – Chance
Hands Across the Sea – Sousa
March of the Belgian Paratroopers – Leemans
Flourish for Wind Band – V. Williams
Overture for Winds – Charles Carter
Salvation is Created – Tschesnokov
Canterbury Chorale – Van der Roost
An American Elegy – Ticheli
Courtly Airs and Dances – Nelson
La Fiesta Mexicana – H. Owen Reed
Rushmore-Alfred Reed
Canzona-Peter Mennin
Abram’s Pursuit-David Holsinger
Pagent-Vincent Persichetti
American Patrol-FW Meachum (concert band, not jazz)
Shiny Stockings-Frank Foster (jazz band)
Switch In Time-Sammy Nestico (jazz band)
Symphony No. 1 – Lord of the Rings – de Meij
Gran Partita- Mozart
A Child’s Garden of Dreams – Maslanka
Armenian Dances – Reed

My sincere thanks and appreciation to Joe Pisano at Mustech.net who helped get this post out there and generate a significant amount of attention to it.  If you have not been keeping up with Joe – the man has been more than a little busy lately.  Get on over to the Music Educator Blogger campaign and you will have a little understanding why.  He has really opened so many doors and avenues for all of us and started a lot of people talking about music education in a productive matter.  While you are there, do some searching and buy the man a cup of coffee!!!

For the rest of you courageous directors who decided to risk your life in this little exercise, a humble thanks for joining in this conversation. If you haven’t decided to save anything yet, head back into the band room and make some choices (chances are the fire hasn’t got down burning up that alto clarinet yet, and besides we all know it will take twice as long to go burn through a bassoon). List the seven pieces you would save and contribute to a great resource list!