Rising Stars

VII - Perfect Imperfection

"You don't have to be perfect

every single day."

- Yeng Seraphine

November 13th, 2019

Professor Laurent's ruler slapped the side of her lectern, releasing a loud, cracking snap! Sera, who, since the midterm project had ended, had begun to sit next to me in class, let out a gasp at the sudden sound.

And upon realizing that her outburst was audible, Sera flushed and looked at me as I would do something to help her.

I shrugged. It wasn't like the class was paying attention to her. They had the professor to focus on.

"Now that I have everyone's attention, I would like to announce the final for this class." She cleared her throat. "Much like the midterm, the final will also be an EP project. However, instead of you choosing an EP concept, I will instead be assigning you one."

There were no groans, exclamations, or sounds of complaint.

It was nothing but pure silence.

I looked at Seraphine. Her mouth hung open in pure shock, and it seemed that everyone else wore the same expression as well. I could hardly believe it. Of all the teachers that would curb our creativity, of all the classes that would curb our creativity, Professor Laurent and Music Composition were the last two that I would have answered with.

For months, Professor Laurent had lauded the importance of creative freedom, collaboration, and so on and so forth. But now she was taking almost all of it away and assigning it to us as our final.

"Professor." Violet stood. "Did I hear that right?"

"Yes, Violet. I will be assigning you the concept for your EP."

"This isn't fair, Professor!"Following Violet's outburst, the class exploded into a ruckus of shouting, pointing, and complaining. It was hard to resist getting dragged in with the rest of them, for a moment I slowly began to rise out of my seat, but Seraphine grabbed the sleeve of my jacket and stopped me.

"No point in fighting against it when there's nothing we can do, right?" She asked.

"Right." I sighed. Professor Laurent was a stalwart woman, when she set her mind on something, there wasn't much to be done about changing her opinion. Thinking more positively, I continued. "We should just try and make the most out of whatever she assigns us, right?"

Seraphine smiled and nodded.

After a short while, Professor Laurent managed to calm the lecture hall back down. She sounded half-tempted to lecture us on things other than what we were supposed to learn that day. Curtly, she continued her lecture. "As I said: you will be assigned concepts for the final EP project. You have the option to continue working with the partner you had in the previous EP project, and if you wish to be assigned another partner, please let me know." She scanned the room for any dissenting gazes. "In addition to this EP project, you will also be assigned a small bit of research."

Professor Laurent grinned. "There will be a Music-Appreciation Festival in Venice Beach this upcoming weekend. It will be open from November 15th through the 22nd. I expect every group to go and make note of at least one genre of music at the festival, and attempt to make a song within that genre."

Seraphine and I shared an excited glance.

"The EP project will be due December 9th. Unlike the last project, the EP with the highest grade will not be released by UMG, but hopefully the fact that this is worth a quarter of your grade in this class still motivates you." Professor Laurent produced the same bowl that she used to draw names for the first EP project. "Seeing as we are all here today, I will draw concepts now. Please speak to me after class if you and your partner would like to work with different people."