Daniel took a sip from his fresh cup of coffee as he sat at his desk and pulled up his university email account. He primarily taught music appreciation and vocal coaching at the university, and students were supposed to have sent in some essays for the former, with the deadline being only a day or so away. Looking over the list of received mail, he could tell some students still had to turn their essays in. Still, he wanted to get a head start and not fall behind – he was hoping to have them all read and graded before Christmas, though was unlikely to send out he grades until New Year’s, so as not to ruin the holiday.
Teaching was, perhaps, not the smartest move he’d made in his career. Having made a name for himself in the field of songwriting, he done some prominent work over the past several years but had decided he wanted to try something different. Back in his hometown, it didn’t take much to get the University to hire him. He’d only started recently, and while he enjoyed the idea of teaching, in practice it hadn’t worked out like he’d hoped. The majority of his classes, students were relatively average. There were of course, some that were hopeless. More rewarding, he had at least one student who showed some real promise, both in understanding and appreciating music and it’s history, as well as being able to perform.
The assignment itself had been simple enough – a modern genre of music (anything from the twentieth centrality to the present) that you enjoy, select an band, artist or musician who you feel best exemplifies your genre of choice, do a brief bio, and explain why you consider them likable (and preferably an influence).
Skimming through the essay titles, he could see a lot of the same – largely artists from North America or the UK, and hardly any explanations as to why they could be influences. Not that it was a requirement, but he had hopes at least some of his students would take the initiative. He spent his Friday and a goodly portion of his Saturday reviewing the essays, and marking the grades and any comments in his grade book. Despite the sameness of a lot of them, some were more well-written then others, and more than once he found examples of blatant copying or plagiarism.
Eventually, he got to his favorite student (though he was careful to never let on). She’d written about symphonic metal and it’s influences, and focused on the Finnish band Nightwish, going into detail about how they had formed and their rocky history with lead songstresses, emphasizing the one she felt helped the band the best, though they continued to produce music she enjoyed to both sing and listen to. It was an enjoyable read, if not quite written in the proper format. He was reluctant to mark her down for that, but as he didn’t want to show favoritism, so adjusted her grade accordingly.
I’ll have to see when she performs next. he thought. I rather enjoyed the last performance.
He leaned back, rubbing the bridge of his nose as he sighed. Maybe teaching was a bad idea. Still, he was hoping to find someone he could teach outside of the classroom setting. Someone to guide in their career. Admittedly, he was hoping that would happen with his favorite, Mandy Winchester. Time will tell, he supposed.