James Lobban was a remarkable man. Few people who met him, in whatever context, would ever forget the experience. There would be some aspect of his personality that would almost certainly linger in the memory.
Aberdeen Bach Choir members will remember him fondly for a combination of qualities that enabled him to produce concerts of a remarkably high standard year after year. In the process he built up not only a substantial choir but also a large, faithful audience to support it.
James Lobban had enormous energy. He constantly amazed us by the vigour he displayed every Tuesday evening after what had already been for him a long and tiring day of school teaching.
He won our admiration, support and loyalty to him and the choir by his total commitment to the task in hand, his meticulous preparation for each rehearsal, and his judicious planning of each term’s practice schedule. It was remarkable just how often James managed to ensure that the choir saved its best and gave of its best when it most mattered, on the night itself.
A fine singer himself, he was ‘a singer’s singer’. He understood singers, and could usually spot where any difficulties they had were stemming from, which was no mean feat given that there seemed to be no aspects of singing that posed any personal difficulties for him at all – he had perfect pitch and was a brilliant sight reader.
He demanded from the choir no less than he demanded of himself, which was everything: for him, our being amateurs was no reason for anything to be amateurish. Always very well organised, his rehearsals began bang on time and ended precisely on time, and nearly always with a carefully chosen piece that the choir could sing well, thereby sending everyone home confident and happy.
All of us owe a great deal to James. His imaginative programming ensured that we widened our musical experience, and his striving for excellence guaranteed that all of us took part in concerts which sometimes took us beyond the limits of what we had previously considered ourselves to be capable.
A rather shy and private man, his overall earnestness of purpose sometimes served to conceal from the less discerning a well developed sense of humour, and particularly a sense of the absurd. He also had a fine, dry wit.
At one rehearsal for instance, one choir member was bold enough to ask him “James! What key are we in at the moment?” “Do you mean the key you are in, or the key you’re supposed to be in?” said James. “The key we’re supposed to be in", replied the choir member. James replied "B minor”. He then paused momentarily before adding “which, on reflection, you may perhaps consider to be not all that remarkable!” The piece in question was Bach’s B Minor Mass.
James Lobban will be greatly missed.