Gifted musician and tutor, Lemuel Samuels, is a ‘Special Person’

Jun 15, 2014 News

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“I found teaching very, very rewarding and the most rewarding time was when a class was not doing too well, and I could move that class gradually and successfully from Point A to B.”

By Leon Suseran

Lemuel Alpheus Samuels is an educator and musician at heart. At age twelve, drawn by the sound of music from the

local Scots Church in his village, he left home without his mother’s permission to see where the sound was coming from, and later received a sound thrashing as punishment. From that day, music excited him in every way. He took it up as one of the loves of his life. He has given over forty years of service to the education sector, too, in Guyana in the capacities of teaching and as education officer.
He was born to farmers Cyril and Gwendolyn Samuels in the riverain community of Baracara, some forty-five miles up the Canje Creek. He grew up in both New Amsterdam and Baracara. He attended Miss Harte’s Nursery School at Pilot Street (a privately- operated school). He returned to Baracara to continue his primary education and did very well.
After writing his School-Leaving Exams, he began self-study at age 15, in correspondence studies. Relating the fun he had during childhood days living at the riverside, Samuels remembered going for swims on Saturday mornings and playing cricket as well as catching fish and birds. He was brought up in a very strict family.
“We had to go to church and make certain we had family devotions in the evenings, but I found it very, very rewarding, because being the eldest of nine children, I took on the role of mentor and they had to look up to me whenever my father left me in charge, due to him being away in the balata fields.”
“While at Baracara, I went to see a guy playing at the Scots Church, and my mother flogged me, but that did not deter me. I began to learn music from age 12, and how to play the keyboard, and I would play in church on Sunday mornings.
“It was not until later that I discovered that music enhances the learning abilities of students, because according to Psychologists, music develops the right side of the brain and because of that, your concentration span and appreciation for people and things…you develop that span, so your Math and English improve.”
“I was very much active in schools and my headmaster gave me leading roles,” he said.

Samuels relinquished the opportunity to become a nurse in New Amsterdam. He was not too keen about the idea though. He wrote the College of Preceptors (CP) Exams in 1959 and started to teach at the age of 17, after writing the Teachers’ Exams. His salary: $17 per month!
“I found teaching very, very rewarding and the most rewarding time was when a class was not doing too well, and I could move that class gradually and successfully from Point A to B. Teaching is a 24-hour job. You do not only teach in the classroom—you also teach how you go down the road and how you conduct yourselves.”
Samuels said he left Baracara to attend In-Service Teacher Training at the Teachers’ Training College in New Amsterdam. While there, he taught at Edinburgh Primary School under the headship of Mr. Edward Heyliger, one of his mentors. It was there where he gained valuable teaching skills. His other mentors were persons like Beryl Cumberbatch and Mrs. Neblett, among others of the In-Service training college.
He finished college in 1961 and registered with the Guyana School of Agriculture (GSA) where he pursued studies and graduated in 1975 with a Diploma in Agricultural Science. That same year, Samuels was among the first crop of educators to start working at the New Amsterdam Multilateral School (NAMS), as the premier secondary institution in Berbice opened its doors on that Monday morning of September 15, 1975.
“Multi was one of the masterpieces of Region Six—when that school opened, the weekend prior, the school was lit up and each corridor had a different light—and every floor had a fountain!”
He witnessed the grand opening, attended by then Minister of Education, Vincent Teekah, and Headmistress Joyce Thomas.
“There were six multilateral schools, and to me, NAMS took a high position

because of the headmistress it had—she was a disciplinarian!”
In 1991, Samuels had a very brief stint in the Guyana Defence Force, where he enlisted in the Cadet Officers’ Reserve Course Batch Number 6.
“It was very tough but the training was very rewarding—it moulded and shaped you.”
Samuels worked at NAMS as Head of the Agricultural Science Department until 1997. He was also involved in playing the piano during assembly and other school events. He nurtured his musical skills during those years. He was also acting Deputy-Headteacher for a while and was responsible for overseeing the distribution of school garments and materials for uniforms for school children in Region Six. He assisted, too, in distribution in 1995.
Mr. Samuels then had another calling in 1997: Education Officer in Region Five in the Technical Vocation arena. He then migrated out of Region Six. Woodwork, Home Economics and Agricultural Science all fell under his purview as he oversaw the work of teachers in those subject areas.
“We used to summon meetings every month, looking at the secondary aspects of education of all the schools from Rosignol right down to Bygeval,” he recalled. He was later appointed as Pre-Voc Education Officer in 2004 in Region Five. There was also a music group that met monthly in Region Five which met to discuss music and nurture musical talents and skills of persons, “so in the schools, they also helped to sensitize children along that line—basically we targeted the teachers”.

“Music was part of me because I used to make sure things go right.” Because he lived in Region Five during those years, he also played on Saturdays and Sundays at churches across the West Coast of Berbice.
He found those years, “very, very rewarding—it was the best years in my teaching career, because being away from the school setting, so to speak, in an advisory position, you see how teachers can react and see pitfalls—you had to guide them along—and we ensured that teachers, especially male teachers, were guided along.”
“As officers in Region Five, we had a good relationship with the headmasters,” he added.
Samuels related that he also had a vested interest in planning and coordinating the Region Five Schools’ Science Fairs, “especially in the secondary departments—there were some very, very interesting exhibits—I remembered the research on mango juice and its being able to do very good things.”
He returned to Region Six in 2004 and started to lecture Environmental Studies and Agricultural Science at the New Amsterdam Technical Institute (NATI). He is currently still at NATI.
During that period he also lectured Music to the First-year nursery teachers at the University of Guyana Berbice Campus (UGBC).
Samuels firmly believes music plays a pivotal role in schools and in the lives of children, as it can shape them to be better individuals and learners.
“Music is the pillar on which the other subjects fall…so when you do music, especially at a young age, it opens certain areas so they can see where they can go. Music is one subject that enhances a child’s ability in various subject areas.”
Three churches across Berbice are utilizing his musical and keyboard-playing skills, including Ebenezer Lutheran, Central Methodist and Ramdeholl Christian Church in New Amsterdam. His Sundays are spent going from church to church playing the keyboard during the Services.
“In the churches, you don’t have persons who can really play music—they play from ear- sound, so this is what I am trying to feed to the churches… every note and every dot has a meaning, so this is what I enjoy doing.”

Mr. Samuels was in high praise of the Ministry of Education for bringing back Music into the school system and offering Agricultural Science at the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE).
“Agricultural Science and Music—are two important parts of the curriculum, because Agriculture, just like Music, encompasses all of the subject areas!”
Today, he is also a music tutor. He prepares scores of students of all ages for the Associated Board Music Examination (ABME), a job he has been engaged in since 1978. Seventeen are preparing this year. His results are very, very good too.
“When you look back and see a child who never sat in front of a keyboard and at the end, they know what is a crotchet, etc. it brings joy,” he related.
“This ABME is a London-based board, so they (children) do the theory as well as the practical and I more or less target the churches and levels of age-groups. I find it very interesting teaching the smaller children….the small child will grow with it because their fingers would get accustomed to it, but I discovered that music is one of the things that will change a person.
“Any person who learns music will live a longer and more satisfying life, because music brings out something within you that will make you live longer—because when you have appreciation for beauty and nature, you know, your life becomes less stressful, and it’s something within you that will enhance your appearance and your approach to life generally.”
Looking back, Mr. Samuels reflects that he has found it all “very satisfying and interesting”. He credits his loving parents as well as God for direction and protection. His headmaster, too, he noted, used to pressure him to bring out the best in him, “because for gold to shine, it has to burn—burn to take out the rust and other impurities, so because of that I have to thank Mr. Williams, ‘Sir’ Ralph and Mr. David, all who fashioned me”.
For relaxation, other than listening to music and playing the keyboard, Mr. Samuels enjoys tending to his dogs and birds.
“Music is something to be done every day—either you play it or listen to it,” he said with a satisfied smile.
The motto our ‘Special Person’ lives by is: “Be the task great or small, do it well or not at all!”

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