Bruce Archibald calls time on illustrious teaching career

Bruce grew up in the south of England and made the switch to Australia in 1987 at the persuasion of his late wife, Julie, at the age of 27.

He landed at Mooroopna High School in his first year in the country, and quickly took a liking to the Goulburn Valley and its surrounds.

“There’s quite a thriving music scene in Shepp, from pretty early on it seemed like a nice place to stay,” Bruce said.

“My late wife, Julie, was very keen on moving to Australia, we had a holiday in Perth in 1985 to check it out and we liked it.

“She was very keen to move over and had friends who worked in the Australian embassy in London, so she was exposed to Australians and a sort of tempting description of the Australian lifestyle.

“She suggested it to me, I was quite open to the idea but it was really her initiative, for which I’m grateful.”

An avid ‘muso’ in his youth, Bruce took up the trumpet in high school but later gravitated to percussion and predominantly the drum kit — the instrument he would play throughout his salad days.

“I started playing the trumpet in Year 7, by the end of Year 10 I switched to percussion because I liked the drums; I didn’t mind the trumpet but the music I was listening to often didn’t have trumpet but it did have drums — it seemed like a natural progression,” Bruce said.

“I played in bands in the UK before emigrating and have been involved in a number of bands over here.

“I went off to university with the intention of joining a jazz rock band, but there was a punk band in Sunderland in the north of England, they were going to make a record, they had a roadie and they were doing gigs and were much more organised, so I joined them.

“We had a couple of records played on national radio in the UK, which was pretty cool; there was no Spotify in those days, so radio was it.

“It was kicking off in the late ’70s in the punk scene; it was fun for a bit, but after a year or so of that I moved on to more soul and soul rock bands and things like that, it was probably the more enduring style that I liked.”

There are few within the local music scene that have not, in one way or another, been influenced by Bruce’s teaching.

After finding his feet at Mooroopna High School in the late 1980s, the percussion teacher went on to enjoy stints at Wanganui, Shepparton High, Kyabram, Goulburn Valley Grammar School and Greater Shepparton Secondary College.

Bruce taught classroom music at Year 8, 9 and 10 level, and amid his teaching pursuits finds time for composition, with one of his percussion pieces now on the VCE Music group performance list.

He said his deep love of music and an angry trumpet teacher in high school had initially inspired him to take on the career he has enjoyed for so long.

“I always loved music — listening and playing — I wanted to pass that on to other people and help them along their journey,” Bruce said.

“When I learned the trumpet I had quite a grumpy, bad-tempered trumpet teacher. I thought there’s got to be a way to teach music without being grumpy — I tried to put that into effect and be a bit more encouraging than Mr Jones was back in the day.

“I’m proud of all of my students who have had a go.

“Some of them have gone on to VCE and others have gone on to other things, hopefully they got something out of it.

“A sense of rhythm and timing that will stay with them for a life — I’ve tried to pass that on and a love of music and an appreciation of different styles.”

Although coming to the decision to call time on his teaching career hadn’t been an easy one, Bruce said it had come at the right time.

He finished his final year at Goulburn Valley Grammar in 2022, and went out on a high note after seeing the youngest of his four children, and his last crop of students, through their final year of schooling.

“My youngest daughter, Djembe, left school at the end of last year,” Bruce said.

“I’m getting into my 60s now and I had a lot of good students in the year level that just left at Grammar and Greater Shepparton Secondary College,” he said.

“Having seen them through to finish Year 12, it felt like a good time to call it a day and let someone younger have a go at the job.”

Although his teaching days are now behind him, Bruce remains entrenched in Shepparton’s music scene, and will take to the stage again next month with the Shepparton Jazz Orchestra.

The group will perform at the Aussie Hotel on Sunday, March 5.