Blogtober 2014 Day 2

Read Day 1 here.

Eek, I had this scheduled to post automatically yesterday, and it didn't post!  :(  So here it is, a day late.  Day 3 and Day 4 will be posted tomorrow.  Sheesh, technology...

Day 2: Dream job when you were little/what is it now?

I always wanted to be a writer.  When I was in early elementary school I was homeschooled for a couple of years, and my mom made me keep a journal every day.  I had various prompts that I had to follow, but some days I could write whatever I wanted.  I loved to write and illustrate my own stories.  

When I was in middle school I was quite "emo."  I had a rough time of it at school, friends were not so nice to me, and I felt like "no one understood me."  Typical middle school stuff...  By that point my older sisters had all moved out and I finally got my own room.  I created a writing corner, complete with pillows and blankets, took my grandpa's old typewriter from the garage, and wrote poem after poem while sitting on the floor.  I was heavily inspired by E. E. Cummings.  I actually entered a couple of district-wide writing competitions and won second place for one of them.

Throughout high school I still kept journals, still enjoyed writing poems, but realized that maybe I wasn't as good as I thought I was, and maybe you can't make a living by being a poet...  At that time I was getting more involved with my music, I was playing violin in a really great orchestra, I started listening to operas for fun, and I decided I wanted to be a music teacher.

I went to college and studied music education and it was amazing and I loved every minute of it.  I especially loved conducting and music history.  When I was thinking about getting a Master's, I had a tough time with choosing between conducting and musicology.  I ultimately went with conducting because it is more hands on and interactive.  When I was in undergrad I had several professors who were very encouraging and supportive.  They told me I must get a doctorate and work at a university some day.  I wasn't really sure that I wanted to do that.  But now... now I wholeheartedly want to do that.  Now my ultimate goal is to get a doctorate and work at a university.

The thing I'm struggling with now is deciding if I want to eventually pursue a doctorate in conducting or in musicology.  Do I want to teach choirs and music education classes or do I want to teach music history?  If I had to make a split-second choir right now, I would choose musicology.  But my Master's is in conducting, so I'm not sure I'd even be accepted into a musicology program unless I get a second Master's...

Well anyway... that was a really long story.  In the end, I'm very happy with my current job.  The school is great, the students are great, and the salary and benefits are great.  It's not my ultimate dream job, but I'm happy to stay here for awhile.

What is your dream job?

Are you participating in #blogtober14?  If so, please leave your links so I can read them!

XO,

Julie