SE CHRONICLE 684

24 ST EDWARD’S CHRONICLE

‘You can only be as good as your last gig’

After 13 years in the role of Director of Music and the Arts, Alex Tester is preparing to take up a new role as Assistant Head Co-curriculum. We caught up on all things music and looked back over his tenure.

When did you join St Edwards? I started in 2009 as Director of Music. I didn’t have the arts brief then, I was working under Neville Creed who was Director of Cultural Activities having just moved up from Director of Music, so I was working with somebody who had had the post just before me. Beforehand, I had been Assistant Director of Music and an Assistant Housemaster at Uppingham and had got to the point where I had to decide to become a Housemaster or a Director of Music, you can’t do both. I decided to move on to the

music side because I thought it would be fun and suited my skills; music is what I have always done. Did you initially want to be a professional musician, or did you decide that teaching Music was something you wanted to do early on? Originally there were two pathways for me. I followed the teaching route because I thought it was very varied and exciting – different people every day. But otherwise I would have ended up in the theatre.

At Cambridge I was an Organ Scholar, so I worked with choirs and played the organ but I was also Musical Director of Footlights, so I got into theatre and enjoyed being a part of the theatre band. In the end, you get a much more varied life from being a teacher because in the theatre world you may be with the same show for a year. You’re doing it every night so it can take the fun out of it and become just a job rather than an exciting, creative thing. I never really looked back; I think teaching is a really wonderful profession.

‘You need to be driven to be the best you can be. That means taking every opportunity, taking every gig. You can only be as good as your last gig.’