The Abbey Music department is very fortunate to be supported by a vastly experienced team of peripatetic teachers.

In this feature, we get to know one of them a little better:

Name: Angela Good

What instrument(s) do you teach?
Singing and Piano

When did you discover your love
of music?
I don’t remember not loving music. I sang before I could talk! I joined every choir I could and in the 80’s some were awful!

What advice would you give to young musicians?
To play and sing music that you connect to well. To practise little and often and always try and improve something before you stop.

What is your favourite piece of music and why?
Too many.. most operas, particularly Verdi and Puccini – but Brahm’s 2nd Piano Concerto was my A’ level set work and we were taken to London (from Leeds) to the Royal Festival Hall to watch it being played with Daniel Barenboim as the soloist. I still listen to it with real enjoyment and the comfort of familiarity.

What is your funniest musical moment?
I spent many years in Leeds Youth Opera as a teenager in Leeds. There were always funny moments as we rehearsed hard weekly for two shows a year, doing some really big operas such as Carmen and Nabucco; laughing so hard on the coach back from one opera that was put on in a stately home somewhere in Yorkshire is one memory that sticks in my mind, but I can’t remember what we were laughing about. Meeting like-minded, music loving friends at that age was truly liberating.

What is your most memorable musical moment?
Singing the role of Violetta in La Traviata. A role that requires at least 3 different fachs (the term for your voice type), and getting to die at the end. A good, overly dramatic death scene is always enjoyable to play.

If you could meet any composer from any point in time, who would it be and why?
I would be in awe meeting any famous composer, but I would like to meet Muzio Clementi as he happens to be my daughter’s best friend’s 6 x Great Grandfather which is mind blowing.