Research runs in a circular motion

On May 9th, 1920 Le Bestiaire by Francis Poulenc was premiered at the Salle Gaveau concert hall in Paris.¹

100 years and 10 days later here I am writing about it.

This is a research blog. This is also a quarantine blog by default because today happens to be April 29th, marking my 6th week of being home due to COVID-19. This is also a reflection blog, because after forcing myself to look at my calendar, I realized I am about 2 weeks away from finishing my degree.

Like the excellent student I am, I began my research by doing a quick Google search. Much to my delight, the fifth search result down was a blog on the Musical Geography website where a prior student had posted about my same piece. The author of the post isn’t listed, but I know they wrote it in the fall of 2015. This blog post is a treasure trove of information to me, precisely because of the helpful works cited list at the end of the post. This is a component of blog post writing that I tend to dread the most, but usually ends up being the most useful. I also appreciated the direction that the author went in reflecting on how Poulenc’s new composition could be a manifestation of a new type of French identity, a similar trend I had been finding in my own research. Another exciting aspect of reading this blog post is that I can in turn cite it in my own paper, continuing a history of research that stretches from this student to me, and possibly on to the next student who takes this course.

Research, to me, has always been about creating a conversation with the past. Once I finally grasped the concept that everyone is just choosing their arguments and that its all about how you make your point, I began to look at history as much more flexible than before. In turn, peering back only 5 years into another student’s take on my research project has its own rewards. What has come out in the last 5 years that could develop this argument?

As I prepare to metaphorically leave St. Olaf, what will I leave behind? Will anyone find what I wrote and wonder what the hell was I thinking? I’d like to think I’m part of one big circle, drawing back and back again, each time getting a little closer to the truth.

Thought is like a little boat upon the sea

Everybody is a part of everything anyway

You can have everything if you let yourself be

–Donovan