Reflections on DMA Life One Year Post-Doc: Lessons I Learned during My Doctoral Process, Part I

This month marks one year since I graduated with my DMA in Collaborative Piano. The year has flown by! I am fully enjoying the post-doc life and not having to divide my time and energy between being a student and being a teacher. I am at least as busy as I was during my DMA, but it’s a different kind of busy. I love working. I love collaborating with students. I love teaching. I love everything about what I do these days. As time has passed, I have had the mental and emotional space to process the invaluable lessons I learned during the course of earning my doctorate.

Over the new few posts, I will be sharing these lessons with you. They aren’t in any particular order, and my experience isn’t reflective of all doctoral programs. Each program is unique. Each student is unique. I am simply sharing my story and the lessons I have learned. Feel free to use what resonates with you and leave the rest. Here we go!

1.     Pianistically, I was in bad shape. I had allowed several small bad habits to sneak into my playing, and they affected my technique and my overall efficiency as a pianist. For several years, I took as many gigs as I could get because gigs = money and I was a single mom. As my name and credibility became more well-known, I got more and more calls meaning there were times when I had more gigs than I could adequately prepare for. I don’t at all recommend this; but I did what I had to do to provide for my family, and I have no shame about that.

I had never been in the place before as a professional artist that I could really dig into one or two pieces at a time. I was learning multiple pieces as quickly as possible. This was beneficial in my DMA when I was playing for 15-20 students, and each had anywhere from 2-6 songs or works. I knew how to absorb music quickly. Now it was time for me to learn how to do so with correct technique and to fix all the bad habits I had picked up along the way.

 This required slower, more focused practice than I was used to. I am not good at slowing down, and I used to be the queen of multitasking. This is something I still struggle with, to be completely honest. And this was a conversation my teacher and I had often. I tend to get lost in the details and I’m easily distracted. Much of my practice time was spent reminding myself to slow down; and, really, slow practice is the best practice. I had preached this to my students for years, and now I was quite literally practicing it myself.

This slower pace in my practicing became a form of meditation. It helped me refine my focus on one idea at a time, a concept which benefitted my time spent studying for classes. I learned to be more present. I learned for the first time how to truly live in the moment. You can just imagine the ways this has impacted other areas of my life!

2.     There were so many times that I felt defeated and as though I was farther behind everyone else – especially the students who were coming straight out of elite Masters programs and those who were at least 20 years younger but already had more illustrious performing careers than I did. (My background is mostly in music education.) Talk about a genuine lesson in how comparison is the thief of joy!

Each of us in the collaborative program brought some unique skill. One classmate excelled at playing vocal music. Her demeanor was calm, and her tone was so lovely and supportive. Singers loved working with her.

Another classmate was an absolute rockstar at sight-reading and was able to absorb and interpret modern instrumental rep in a way that left me in awe.

Then there was my classmate and friend who played with an ease I had never seen before. She instinctually smiled when she played. Watching her perform was such a delight! She was the embodiment of graciousness and kindness and taught me how to kindly but firmly set boundaries around my time.

Instead of seeing my classmates as threats to my success, I did my best to see their strengths as ways I could learn from them. It was so interesting to me how we all came from different backgrounds and, although we all had varying strengths and weaknesses, these were often complimentary. Where one student was weak, another excelled. We were able to encourage each other and could be sounding boards for each other as we each navigated the doctoral process. There was room for us all within the studio; and as we have graduated and are finding jobs, we are seeing there is room for us all in the bigger, more expansive music world as well!

These lessons aren’t necessarily specific to the doctoral process. I love how life teaches you the lessons you need to learn no matter where you are. You just have to be open to learning!

Did either of these remind you of a similar experience in your own life? If so, I’d love to hear about it! Message me at https://www.christinamathis.com/contact and share your story! I hope to hear from you soon!