Recently a Ph.D. in my field published a plea for help. I have since been horrified by the invective being hurled at this poor musicologist. Invective and “truth talk” with a shocking lack of solutions for the current “job catastrophe.”
Here’s an idea, GROW.
Stop spewing conservative rhetoric (cut, cut, cut…) and get back to some good ‘ole liberal spending and growth. Not enough jobs for musicology Ph.D.s? Why not make public school teaching certification part of a student’s coursework. I know I would have “ho hummed” at the idea while I was taking courses, but I would have done it and it would certainly help right now. Come on! The history, the theory, the languages, the writing, the arts and literature and all the other training that we need to know for this profession would make us welcome in a public school setting–at least until a T.T. job can be found. The teaching would improve our knowledge and increase the interest in the field–interest both in the form of students who will wish to major/minor in music as well as educated folks who might be able to understand the articles we publish.
Can you imagine? We could find our lost relavance in broader society, not by changing the conversation, but by educating the audience! Growth will not come easy, the math and science folks have all been very productive in taking over the high school curriculum (while the humanities have slept). Perhaps the AMERICAN MUSICOLOGICAL SOCIETY should take a little responsibility for this loss and advocate for its own future. People like music, always have and always will. However, whether we remain marginal or find a way to steer the mainstream towards us is our own decision. Our field is currently so diverse and interesting, and we have so many smart folks just dying to teach music–what a shame.
Instead, the response to the plea is… ”I hear a more than faint bit of entitlement, e.g., an earned degree from a very strong program with some grants, awards, papers and publications somehow “entitles” the holder of a PhD to a cushy position with a 6-figure salary at a top tier university.” Oh come on! a “cushy job?” I think he just wants a(ny) job that offers tenure in the future–that seems a fair thing to ask from a person with “some grants, awards, papers and publications.” It is quite disgusting–in fact embarrassing. One web savvy musicologist [WSM], who once characterized new musicology as “icky” and worse as “victim studies” has even surpassed that statement. Cautioning the author of the ariticle who fears he will never get a job: ”I fear, though, that the author [of the article] may have oonce [SIC] and for all made his own personal and professional situation irreparable in this country.” A visit to the author’s online C.V. quickly reveals that he is of Greek heritiage but with many years in the U.S. and WSM tells him if he doesn’t like it he can leave. A drowning man reaches out his hand and this guy pushes him under…and I thought Wozzeck had it bad. Blah.
Don’t wash your hands of the problem, try to do something about it. I certainly hope to if I ever get the chance. It is a shame Bulgakov wrote fiction and I am beginning to wonder about the increasing similarities between the MASSOLIT and a few of the characters in American Musicology.
In the meantime, as I am quite stressed about landing my next employment spot, I am going to ignore this trivia and keep pushing forward. At the top of the page you might notice that I’ve added some piping. This is plumbing that will, I hope, pump all this negative crap out of my life.
