am sorry to hear of the passing of Mr Abbey. I remember him well from Manning Grammar School on Gregory Boulevard where he taught music at GCE O and A Level.
Mr Abbey had the great advantage of possessing a sense of humour. His lessons were entirely free from the vitriol, chalk/book/chair throwing that was not uncommon in other classrooms.
He was always pleasant, easy to get along with, knew his subject already inside out and how to communicate it and if one didn't understand something, he was quite happy to explain it without throwing a hissy fit and storming out of the classroom in a cloud of steam, as poor teachers do when they're not up to the job or, more likely, don't understand it themselves!
Mr Abbey was always treated as the 'poor relation' in those days because music was not regarded as an 'academic subject' which meant there was never any funding coming his way for equipment such as a decent stereo, music scores or recordings. I know it irked him because he would often mutter about it but he still put in an awful lot of work to produce highly regarded musical performances for speech day and Christmas, etc. I know that many parents (including my own) only attended speech days to listen to his choir performing.
He was a very talented pianist and organist. I think he was fairly new at Manning when I arrived and he remained there for some considerable time after I left.
Mr Abbey was a devotee of J S Bach, whose music I have always loved, and reading of his demise made me think of Bach's last words to his wife: "Do not grieve, for I go to where Music is born!".
wrote
Report
Comments