Retirement for Nigel Hildreth - but never from music

For the past 39 years, Mr Hildreth has taught music to thousands of youngsters.

He was recognised for his achievement in 2011, when he was awarded an MBE for services to education. But this summer, he will retire.

He will miss the students at Colchester Sixth Form College, the busy throng of teenagers which he describes as “invigorating”.

But he won’t miss the exams, the constant exams.

He said: “The pressure of examinations has been inordinate on youngsters.

“Exams are important, I understand that, but in the past ten years, exams have taken over everything.

“I think there are exams for the sake of exams and I want there also to be things which are broader and will provide lifelong learning.”

It was yet another configuration of exams which decided Mr Hildreth’s future.

Now 61, the father-of-three wants to go out while he is on top, while he is still embracing new music with enthusiasm.

Mr Hildreth’s love affair with music began when he was four.

His mother, Joan, a primary school teacher, gave him a recorder and the dye was cast.

“I played it well,” said Mr Hildreth, “and by the time I went to school, I could read music, too.

“I found I was a better player than my teachers.”

Piano followed and then, when he went to secondary school, he took up the violin.

At 14, he added the flute to his armoury and when he was 17, he swapped the violin for the viola, which he still plays.

He said: “I was not that wonderful.

“I was Grade 8 standard on the piano, violin, viola and flute by the time I left school, butIwas nothing exceptional. I was a competent player, butIknewIwould never become a professional performer.”

Mr Hildreth’s true gifts lay elsewhere.

He had a talent for composition and conducting – and for teaching others.

He explained: “I became interested in composing at school.

“I found it a really good opportunity to get out of some of the practice I should have been doing on the piano.

“My teacher would play my pieces and discuss them.”

So good were they, she performed his work at the Royal Festival Hall, in London.

Mr Hildreth took music, along with geography and German, at Sheffield University and then trained to be a teacher.

He shared a flat with John Hackett, the brother of Steve, who found fame as the lead guitarist with the rock band Genesis, and Mark Pulman who went on to teach members of the band, Arctic Monkeys.

Mr Hildreth worked in a comprehensive school in Sheffield before his wife, Wendy, who hailed from Essex, lured him down south. He never left.

He became a music teacher at Hedingham School, in Halstead, and formed the Hedingham Amateur Orchestra.

In 1981, he moved to Stanway School, in Colchester, as head of music. It was there he was to meet and teach his most famous students Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon, half of the Brit pop supergroup Blur.

Mr Hildreth said: “They were gifted musicians. Damon was a pianist and Graham wasasaxophonist in those days. Both wrote compositions and I encouraged that and their participation in productions.

“I like to think those productions gave them confidence and a feeling of performance.

“Damon’s first production was in my rock opera the Damnation of Jonathan Fist.

“He had a small chorus part, but eyes were trained on him. He had charisma.

“Graham was shy in those days, withdrawn, butareally accomplished musician.”

Mr Hildreth is clearly and understandably proud of the role he played in nurturing the early talent of these now international superstars.

He is still in touch with both and has enjoyed watching their careers flourish.

While at Stanway School, Mr Hildreth oversaw nine productions, ranging from Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat to the Bartered Bride, performed in association with the Royal Opera House, in London.

He also ran a choir and an orchestra at the school and founded Colne Valley Youth Orchestra, of which he has been the musical director for the past 34 years.

He said: “I really love all music.

and to see young people succeed in music, that is my priority.

“I think I have high expectations and high standards of performance.

“That can be difficult for youngsters at first butIthink they appreciate it in the end.

“I am not one of those soft-spoken, gentle teachers. My philosophy is, if you give them expectations, they will reach those expectations.

“Their achievement is important.”

The reorganisation of sixth form education in Colchester lead to the creation of Colchester Sixth Form College in 1987 where Mr Hildreth was taken on as the head of music and performing arts.

Over nearly 30 years he has continued to teach and to enrich students’ lives. His involvement with the college and the orchestra has lead to more than 30 trips abroad as well as residential courses.

Music is Mr Hildreth’s lifeblood and he has also served as chairman of the Colchester Art Centre Trust for the past 25 years, as well as ten years on the board of the Royal Academy of Dance, in London, and as chairman of the Colchester Youth Arts Partnership, which promotes the Colchester schools’ proms concert and the rock prom. These roles he will not be relinquishing as he retires from the college.

He said: “I have always had this idea you should contribute to society.

“When I retire,Iam not going to stop music making.

“I will continue to conduct the youth orchestra and to organise the schools’ prom concert, I will still be involved in the arts organisations in the town.”

A farewell concert is being organised at the college to mark Mr Hildreth’s retirement.

It will include performances by students and music created from the sounds of Mersea oysters linking with the Moot Hall organ.

Music, like time, moves on and Mr Hildreth has no problem with that.

He said: “I link music of all genres.

If it is good I will like it.”

! The concert is being held at Colchester Sixth Form College, on July 7, at 7.30pm.

Former staff and students are welcome.

For more information, contact the college on 01206 500700.