The Albury resident has been given an Order of Australia Medal for his service to music through education, playing, directing and composing.

“It’s absolutely delightful,” Mr Ross said.

“I’m so pleased that someone thought it was worth suggesting that what I have done over all these years added up to something.”

Mr Ross arrived in Albury in 1982 to become the director of the Murray Conservatorium of Music Choir.

He held that position for 14 years, overseeing countless students and the shift of the conservatorium from the corner of Olive and Guinea streets to the former telegraph building in Dean Street.

Over the same period he was a senior lecturer in music education at Charles Sturt University.

He has also been director of music at St Matthew’s Church Choir since 2009 after an earlier stint in the same position from 1991 to 2000.

“It gives me great pleasure to see the way you can help people to enjoy their music,” he said.

Growing up in Sydney and Newcastle, Mr Ross originally played the trumpet in a Salvation Army band.

He began his professional career teaching music to high school students and was then a music lecturer at the Goulburn College of Advanced Education from 1974 to 1991.