Reflecting on the dissertation, Part 2

I did not complete my dissertation in the spring.  No excuses, it just didn't happen.  I put very little effort into it over the summer.  I could blame the dozen or so concert performances of which I was a part, as conductor or player, but--again--those would be excuses.  Thus, when I found myself again on the margins of the profession (as I was for two years: 2010-2012--pitiful that I did no work then either) I actually set out to complete it.

It's not as though the work hadn't been "cooking" in my brain for quite some time; no, quite the opposite.  I would scratch out some notes or sources on the computer--or the old fashioned way: on a legal pad--and then put things aside.  It was not until the summer performances were finished that I finally started in earnest, and by October 1--two weeks ahead of the graduate school's deadline--I had submitted at least a working draft to the members of my committee.  Now, some 10 days later I've received no comments.  Must be no news is good news.

I know that I can write, and have been fortunate enough to have some fine teachers who taught me to write well.  Of course, my high school Latin classes (my deepest thanks to Magistra Depue) along with a (much later) German reading class, were contributors to my acquired skills.  When one studies a language so steeped in proper grammar (of course grammar in vital in English expression) it becomes engrained.  I find myself correcting my own grammar even in emails or facebook messages, and yes, MS Word, sometimes I do mean to write in the passive voice!

Yet, the most important advice I received in this sprint to the finish is found in A Manual for Writers, 8th edition, by Kate Turabian and the team that has taken over her important work since her passing in 1987.  The writers note in the "overview" to part one "Research and Writing, from Planning to Production," "from the outset, you should try to write every day." I took this to heart, trying to assure myself that I could at least get five pages finished every day.  One week, I encountered nothing but setbacks.  As I tried to defend in writing my choice of methodology (of score study), I kept wandering off on a tangent.  As a result, Tuesday's work ended up in the trash file; same thing on Wednesday.  Finally, I simply had to make the conscious decision to just say what I did and how I did not and not compare my methodology to Munch, Furtwangler, Mitropoulos, or the giants in conducting's pantheon.

One always has to remember that the best dissertation is a completed one.  Now we'll see how the committee feels....