 After his military service in the old South African Defence Force, he joined the staff of Pretoria Boys High School, a prominent South African public school, where he is currently head of the Music Department and conductor of both the orchestra and Dixie Band.While he is a full-time teacher, he dedicates much of his time to composition.Van der Watt has also arranged a significant amount of traditional African music for choir as well as setting leading Afrikaans poetry to music, including the works of Antjie Krog and N.P.