Personal Statement

. I have two equally compelling reasons why I choose to pursue my PhD in music theory at Columbia University. The first reason is about my intention to pursue a PhD in music theory itself. As I mention in my personal statement, the need to pursue my education until a PhD level came up as a result of my aim to enhance my music teaching ability in order to be a better teacher. In addition to that, I felt that I had something to say about the music, therefore, doing research and publishing my writings are my personal plan in the future. With my scholarly writings, I hope I could contribute a little to the music world. All of these would not possible without acquiring a higher education first, which is a PhD program. The second reason is about

I found out that the organization of the elements of music, especially the pitch organization, was fascinating. As I kept learning, I discovered many compelling subjects in a piece of music. From that moment, my subject interest in music theory has been evolving depending on the music I was studying or the article I was reading. As a result, I currently do not have a fixed research interest that I plan to pursue once I became a student of Columbia University. Furthermore, my meager knowledge of music theory does not allow me to declare my research interest. Therefore, I am extremely thrilled and enthusiastic about the future research topics I will have at Columbia

Recently, I was fortunate enough to become one of the piano teachers in an after school enrichment program at the Devotion Elementary School, Brookline MA. On that account, I hope that the music theory department at Columbia University would accommodate my passion in teaching by a graduate teaching assistantship