My uncle Saad Mahmood Hikmat, who has died aged 79, played a pivotal role in musical education in Iraq and Jordan.
Saad worked as a sound engineer in Iraqi TV and radio and helped establish reputable recording studios in Baghdad. From 1960, he worked as a music teacher in the Institute of Hope, for children with sensory impairments, and developed many innovative ways to teach and communicate with the students.
Perhaps the project closest to his heart was the music and ballet school established in Baghdad in 1968. Saad was a key member of its staff and played a major role in directing the school. Its students remember him fondly, and his three children and four of his nieces and nephews are graduates of this school.
Saad was the fourth of six children of Mahmood Jasim Hikmat and Kadria Raoof Al-Attar. He was born in Baghdad, where his father worked for the Iraqi government. From a young age, Saad showed a talent for music and playing the accordion, in which he was encouraged by his father.
Following high school education, he was admitted to the Institute of Fine Arts (later the Academy of Fine Arts) in Baghdad in 1952. He studied music with western and Iraqi teachers (including Julien Hertz and Beatrice Ohanessian), and graduated as an accomplished pianist, accordion player and piano tuner. He further developed his talents by travelling to Italy, Greece, Poland and the former USSR.
Saad loved jazz. When Duke Ellington visited Baghdad in the 1960s, Saad met him, tuned his piano and privately played a few jazz pieces for him. The Duke was impressed. Saad’s compositions, which included songs, school marches and a ballet, had the flavour of western music.
He felt all music should be taught on a sound, academic basis and that eastern/Iraqi music should be properly documented. He did not like to perform in public, but never hesitated if it was in a good cause. Once, he played Bach to accompany a church choir in Baghdad after being approached by the priest.
In 2003 he moved from Iraq to Amman, Jordan. There, he taught music privately and volunteered to teach in the Institute of Light for visually impaired children.
He is survived by his wife, Rasmiya Mohammad Ali, a social worker, whom he married in 1968, and their sons, Basheer and Omar, and daughter, Fatima.
