Music theory with Dr. Linton.

I think I'm going to like Mondays.

Music Mondays is what I should call them this semester, I think. All I have the first day of the work week is music theory and choir. Two hours in class. That's it. And one of them is super simple. All I do is sit there and sing. Oh frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!

I think the best part of my day was music theory. I have my original theory professor again this semester.

I didn't realize how much I missed Dr. Linton. The minute class commenced was like drawing in a breath of fresh air. A lot of students around MTSU can't stand the man, but I think that's just because they loathe the subject and he doesn't let people slip by.

But he's a treasure trove of information; indeed about music, but also about a million other topics. The basis of the structure of university education is certainly something he advocates, that is studying more than just your chosen field, which is why we get to experience the joys of general education classes. He believes in being a well-rounded, much-learned individual.

And he's funny! In his own quirky, refined professor, music nerd, super smart person kind of way. He even wears suspenders. If I were a man, teaching at a university, I would wear suspenders.

He posted our syllabus online yesterday for us to have this morning. Before I even made it to class today, reading it last night started reminding me why I love this guy. There's a section in it that I think gives a good glimpse into his personality, and perfectly demonstrates why I think he's so great:

"The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools...is insisting that instructors include in the syllabi "learning outcomes," and that these "outcomes" must be "measurable." Such a notion displays a profound ignorance of what it means to be an educated human being in love with learning and, at best, should be greeted with patronizing amusement. I wonder how the members of the SACS would suggest Socrates, or Zoroaster, or Moses, or Augustine, or Abelard, or Peter Drucker might calculate the love of learning exemplified by their students? Socrates to Plato: 'This afternoon I score you at a 73.4% knowledge on the meaning of life, rather better than yesterday when you only got a 68.4, but do try to do a little better so that you can score at least a 82%, no grad school will accept you with a score lower than that.'"

Once he explains the method of grading that he has been forced to institute he ends the section with this, in bold print:

"But the purpose of this course is to teach students (student, from the Latin "studeo", "to be eager for") about great music so that they might develop a deep and abiding love of it, and for that there is no test but living itself."

Here, here.

It also didn't hurt that we spent the greater portion of today's class watching portions of My Fair Lady. There are worse ways to spend class time.