My school recently held its 119th commencement. There was a processional and a recessional, and several hundred students were awarded bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees and diplomas. The school also awarded several honorary doctorates to people whose work in the arts has made an impact.
It was the speeches about the honorees that prompted the topic of this article. We heard a summary of each person’s life and career in the arts, and their accomplishments were mind-boggling. How could any one person do what these people had done? Well, those achievements did not happen overnight, and that is the point of commencing.
I frequently hear concerns about how (and whether) a student who goes to college will make a living after college. Why spend time in college when you can just start working and earning money right after high school? Why take on debt if it doesn’t result in a Job (with a capital “J”) the moment you walk out with your degree?
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The answer is that when you finish your degree you are commencing your career—not finishing it. You spend time in college in order to acquire the skills you need to have the career you want. If your career peaks as soon as you finish your studies, you are going to need another career!
So how does a career happen? The simplest answer is that it happens step by step, moment by moment, by our own choices and by what we encounter in life. C.S. Lewis wrote, “I thought we went along paths—but it seems there are no paths. The going itself is the path.” From this moment onward, you go, you commence, you create your path. Every moment is a commencement.
One of the honorees at our commencement was a well-known musician. In describing her career, it was noted that she started out as a pianist. As different opportunities came along, she said, “I guess I’ll have to learn X”—learn to compose, learn to conduct, always learning the next thing. Her plan was to go study in Paris; her reality was embracing opportunities in the U.S. about which she could be passionate. Looking back, she has had an amazing career. But when she was young and starting out, she didn’t plan for her career to look the way it does now. Rather, it was a matter of following her passion and doing, always doing. (This recipient of an honorary doctorate was Tania León. There is a wonderful interview with her conducted by NPR producer Tom Huizenga that can be found here: https://www.npr.org/2022/12/02/1139948319/the-unplanned-unstoppable-career-of-composer-tania-leon.)
What does this mean for you? First, have goals. Second, remain open to opportunities. Third, when things don’t work out the way you want—when goals are not achieved or opportunities are not the ones you wanted—know that you have a choice. You can hold onto your goals and continue to strive toward them, or you can adapt to the opportunities that are now presented to you and grant yourself the freedom to create new goals. You will find that life provides plenty of chances to do both.
I know a musician whose first job after college was in a foreign country. His second job was in a small regional orchestra in the U.S. He spent years in that regional orchestra, performing, practicing, and taking auditions. When he finally won an audition, it was a principal position in one of the top five symphony orchestras in the U.S. He stuck with his goal and never gave up.
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I also know my own story. I had a position in a small-ish symphony orchestra, but I wanted a position in a top symphony orchestra. While I took many auditions and learned from each one of them, ultimately my orchestra folded and I found myself working at a personal injury law firm. (I know—a far cry from a musical career!) When the opportunity came, I went into arts administration and today I work at The Juilliard School. It is clear to me now that everything I lived through up to this point has prepared me to be the administrator that I am today. But I also know that I did not plan to be an administrator, and it took a long time for me to realize that this is where I was meant to be.
You are commencing. You are not finished; you are only beginning. Remain wide-eyed with wonder at what you can do, and never cease learning. When you feel stuck, move in a new direction. Forty or fifty or seventy years from now, you will look back and see the path. What then? You keep going. As Richard Bach said, “Here is a test to find whether your mission on earth is finished: If you’re alive, it isn’t.”
Bio:
Kathleen Tesar, BM, MM, EdD, is the Associate Dean for Enrollment Management at The Juilliard School. A former professional violinist, she was previously the Associate Dean at the Colburn School Conservatory of Music in Los Angeles, and Director of Admissions at the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester. She presents frequently on topics related to performing arts admission, and is co-author of College Prep for Musicians (Bosler, Greene, Tesar).
