Each generation has to learn anew, as we long-term teachers know only too well. Thus we answer the same basic questions over and over again as one generation gives way to the next.
It’s a music theory class! So why are you going to count off for spelling and grammar?
I’m going to count off for it because the big bad world out there counts off for it, my dear. Just because you play the flute or the bass fiddle or sing tenor, you cannot present yourself as an ill-educated boob without paying a penalty. Nor should you even consider the possibility of coming up short in the protocol department. You’re a performer, after all. You know better than to show up for a concert with a pair of sneakers sticking out from beneath your black pants. At least you’re supposed to know better. You know better than to mouth off to the people who are paying you to perform. At least you’re supposed to know better. And so on and so forth: you know the drill about what’s acceptable and what isn’t. What to wear, when to arrive, how to comport yourself. You learn the ropes. Otherwise, may fortune smile upon your new career of selling parakeets at Sammy’s Pet World.
You can argue until you’re blue in the face that only the quality of your playing matters, not whether your hair is combed or your socks match or you’re wearing a clean shirt. In a perfect world that would be true. But we’re not living in a perfect world, and in our real-life and imperfect world people hire musicians and attend recitals for a lot of reasons, not all of them aesthetic or musical. We all live under a cultural contract that binds us to this all-important provision: Do not cause offense.
Thus writing analysis papers for theory class. Of course I care about the content of your paper. But I also care that it is properly written. For that matter, I care that it is properly typeset, using an attractive and readable font, positioned on the page with proper margins, its musical examples clearly labelled, any citations properly made and footnoted. All part and parcel of honoring the contract between you and your listeners. Rage against it all you want. But two and two make four, and the contract reads: Do not cause offense.