What impressed me then and now is that his comment arose from the moment, from listening to the music, not from any lesson plan. Either he had mellowed or I had gained confidence, but he did not unnerve me anymore. I did well in the class, and he wrote a very complimentary note by my grade on the sheet posted outside his door. It is a great feeling to be praised by someone you respect. It is that he was the most worldly and sophisticated man I had ever met.
All faculties are quirky.
Here, for example, are some of the more memorable teachers that I had. In a biology class one day, Prof. Elmer Herber threw a live frog at me just prior to his gassing the critter so we could dissect it. The class laughed. I tried to. Prof. Donald Flaherty, another nice man, paced before the class as he breathlessly commented on the Constitution.