There was a student who came late, who missed a third of the classes, who was mostly on Facebook even when he was in class, who handed in assignments late whose instrument was bass.
I knew some of the students came from difficult places, many of them did not have parents positioned to help as much as they did where I came from, many were holding minimum wage jobs simultaneously. Tried to keep my judgements in check. When the year ended his final mark was a C, that was that.
Next year I worked with an ensemble of 7 students comprised of 4 singers, a drummer, and two guitarists. He was one of the singers. I was surprised because last year he was a bass player not a singer. I assumed his contribution wouldn’t be too hot, might hold us back. True to the year before, in class he was often distracted online and late.
Tried to organize things so that each member contributed one song of their own and when we worked on his it was an improvised uncomplicated ditty with an A part and a B part. At one point while encouraging the other singers to add background vocals he chimed in and told one of them to sing F# and not F. I became sarcastic – Oh you have perfect pitch? Yes I do he said nonchalantly. I played a random note on the piano he couldn’t see. What’s that then? Eb he said without looking up. It was Eb. I was even more taken aback when he started singing, he was a fucking amazing singer.