If music be...

Anybody else like watching Gavin Malone, the choir man? Gavin is one of my heroes. He's done a lot to encourage choirs in schools with no interest in singing, and in locations like army barracks, universities and the workplace and in towns where there's apparently no interest in music.

The thing about Gavin is he's a born teacher. He seeks out decent singers (they don't need to be trained or brilliant) and he gets them performing. He doesn't always go for the obvious recruits in a choir but he is prepared to work with anyone he thinks has a good voice. He does not accept poor performance. He corrects people if they make a mistake and they accept his corrections because they recognise he knows what he's talking about. He knows what makes a good performance and he demands high standards and gets them. He has a great 'ear' and a tremendous knowledge of what songs choirs should work on. He has done a lot to encourage a cappella singing.

Years after he started choirs off, they are still going. So music is still influencing people's lives long after Gavin has visited them.

Gavin is a brilliant teacher and for another teacher that's a pleasure to watch.

When I came back to Glasgow in the 80s after a long time in Islay, I found myself quite at sea, with a disaster of a department that was far from the kind of community school I was used to. The only advice I got was from a depute head who told me to 'copy' what another PT was doing. The PT in question ran a department of 3 teachers teaching S3-6 only, whereas I had 7 teachers teaching S1-S6 in 3 languages plus 2 foreign language assistants and 2 learning support teachers. But to save my sanity, I started to wander other areas of the school just looking and listening and found myself eventually in the Music Department.

I'm sorry if it sounds creepy but I used to hang about in corridors listening to music teachers who I now see showed the same characteristics as Gavin Malone. They were called Ena Millar and Jean Thompson. This is Ena, who died at the end of 2015.

A few years later, we all produced Oklahoma. We had a cast of thousands - well ,maybe hundreds.That was my idea: all kids should have the chance to appear in a school show. They won't remember the hours they spent in class doing Maths but they will remember being in a school show. Mrs T took it upon herself to instill discipline in these kids so they left the school show with at least a sense of rhythm. I can still see them marching round the school hall as Mrs T clapped out the beat. Backstage, Leslie O'Neill ran the props, lighting - everything technical - and on Friday night when the leading man couldn't go on because he'd lost his voice, Leslie went on in his part, steered by the elbow by a 4th year boy.

But Ena Millar pulled it all together. From day one, she knew what she wanted musically. She did not compromise. Kids rose to the level she wanted. She and Mrs T laughed a lot. It was a great show.

I am very grateful to have known them all : Ena, Jean and Leslie.