It turned out that Lawrence had a scholarship that funded a second brief trip to France for me in December of 2023, which allowed me to spend a few days in the Paul Verlaine museum and Verlaine birth house, both in the Northeastern part of France; after that I went to the Morgan Library and Museum in New York City to look at the manuscript (a manuscript being the original piece of paper that something is handwritten on) of one of the Debussy songs I was analyzing. It was a really special opportunity.
In the fall of 2023, I was also thinking a lot about what would happen to me after I graduated from Lawrence. I was still planning to attempt a music career, which meant that I most likely needed to stay in music school for a few more years (it’s typical for Classical musicians to have at least a master’s degree in performance and/or teaching) to be able to get the kind of performing and teaching jobs that would eventually allow me to make a living as a musician. One of my advisors at Lawrence suggested I apply for a Fulbright to go back to France, which is a scholarship for researchers and artists funded by the US Department of State for travel and study abroad. I decided to apply, and proposed going back to Paris to enroll in the graduate music program at the École normale de musique de Paris-Cortot (the ENMP for short, a music school named after Alfred Cortot who was a very famous French pianist); after a months long application process that involved a LOT of writing, I found out that I got the scholarship!
That’s where I am now – studying piano for a year in Paris.
