As I look back at the various people who have influenced my life 2 teachers stand out, and for very different reasons. The first is Peter ‘Bongo’ Williams. Mr Williams ran the Brynhyfryd Junior School Band which met every Friday lunchtime to play songs by Ralph McTell or the Beatles. The guitar playing, leather jacket wearing young man who wasn’t really that much older than the pupils he taught who encouraged me to play and sing my own songs at every opportunity. If there was an Eisteddfod or Assembly he would push me to the front with my guitar and maybe a new song that I had written. He believed in everything I did and the older I get the more I thank him for his belief.
I won’t name the second teacher, but it was later in my academic career when I needed a specific grade to go to my first choice university. There was little leeway for mistakes as I need to achieve an A in his subject at A Level. At the end of one of my lessons I took him aside and explained my predicament. The conversation went something like this.
Me, ‘Sir I need to get an A in my exam’. There followed a slight pause before the teacher replied by laughing in my face. There then followed a second pause before once again he started to laugh. As far as I remember I never got a proper response but the feeling I got from hearing him laughing has stuck with me for nearly 50 years.
I have to say both teachers elicited a response from me. Mr ‘Bongo’ Williams made me believe in myself and gave me the confidence to literally reach for the stars. The second teacher made me feel determined to prove him wrong…which in the end I did. So does it matter how we treat people if the results are the same?
Next week I am looking forward to joining Cerdd NPT Music at St David’s in Neath for their annual concert. As well as hosting the event I will also get the chance to perform with various collections of singers and musicians from the senior ensembles.
Recording Shine Your Light with Cerdd NPT
It was last autumn that I approached Cerdd NPT asking if they might consider being part of the 2026 ‘Everyone Deserves A Christmas’ charity record. The enthusiasm from people like Paul Bewen-Chappell, who is the manager of the team, and from his team members was brilliant. They threw themselves into the project with the peripatetic teachers being joined by their students to make up the full orchestra. If I’m honest it was a little difficult to actually work out who were the teachers and who were the students as they mixed so well together. There was a lot of Peter ‘Bongo’ Williams type of encouragement in the room.
Of course it didn’t have to be that way. In the Oscar award winning film ‘Whiplash’ a young drummer is terrorised by his teacher at a prestigious Conservatoire. The teacher abuses his students both verbally and physically as he strives to get the best out of them. Later in the film he admits to the young drummer that he had been harsh but that he felt his methods were the best way to motivate his students. He even told the story about the legendary saxophonist Charlie Parker once had a cymbal thrown at him by the drummer who had been at the receiving end of Parker’s criticism. Hmmm…
Joe Webb at the Swansea Jazz Club
This week I was privileged to be at the Swansea Grand Arts Wing for a performance by the Joe Webb Trio. It was only a few weeks ago that I started chatting to Joe after being introduced to Joe by his step dad. Joe is a world class Jazz pianist from Bryncoch who was recently nominated for the Mercury Prize.
The show was hosted by Swansea Jazz Club, the UK’s longest running weekly Jazz Club. Dave Cottle has been programming events at the Jazz Club for over 30 years. His connection started back in 1975 when he started going along to the weekly sessions.
Dave Cottle with his brothers Laurence and Richard.
It was Dave who introduced Joe and his trio and who then sat back with a massive smile on his face enjoying the music. Towards the end of the evening Joe stared to thank the people in the room who had been so supportive. The one that stood out to me was his thanks to Dave Cottle. Dave had given Joe the chance to join in with the occasional Swansea Jazz Club Jam sessions and that had been a big part of Joe’s early jazz performance experience.
Just in case you didn’t know Dave is a wonderful all round musician, brilliant on both piano and trumpet. For some people being approached by a young whipper snapper could have been an opportunity to show Dave’s importance or musical superiority. Just like my ‘other’ teacher he could have simply laughed in Joe’s face. Now having got to know Joe a little over the past few weeks I don’t think it would have stopped Joe from becoming the player he has become but who knows.
Joe is just about to release a new album entitled ‘Neath Beat’. As he stood there telling us that his current tour will take him all over Europe before he joins the Jools Holland Autumn tour you could see the genuine thanks he gave to Dave. He also thanked Dave on behalf of all of the other young musicians who Dave had encouraged and supported overt the years. As Joe said, ‘When Dave calls we all come running’.
These are stories from the world of music, but I have a feeling that this probably works in all areas of life. You can crush with a word or in my case a laugh, but you can build a person and career and life long relationships with words and deeds of encouragement.
***UPDATE***
JOE WEBB JAZZ FM Instrumentalist of the Year