When I was a student in Germany, lo! these many years ago, I learned a term of formal address: Herr Doktor Ober Unter Nummer Nix. I think of it often in these days -- who would have thought it would happen here -- when every other musician has a doctorate in something. But in what exactly?
Sound being remarkably complex, let alone instrumental technique, an honest pianist is at least 60 before he or she has a clue as to what is happening.
The real trouble with so many doctorates is that people listen to the degree not to the music. It is a way of shutting everybody up, of filtering out reactions.
More often than not the emperor is under-dressed, the Herr or Frau Doktor sporting a degree in 0000 cum laude. (Cum laude, pronounced ff.)
