Musical legacy of talented man
Sad passing of John Walker
John Walker, who has died in Perth at the age of 89, had close links with the region and was founding chairman of the Dumfries and Galloway Arts Festival and a conductor of the Dumfries Choral Society.
He was also Principal Teacher of Music at Dumfries Academy between 1962 and 1987, and during those 25 years he was a prolific contributor to the musical life of the town and beyond.
Born and raised in Morningside, Edinburgh, where his father was one of the local butchers, he had attended George Heriot’s and started his church music career (as a choirboy) in St John’s, Princes Street.
He turned down an Edinburgh University organ scholarship in preference for a James Caird Travelling Scholarship, which took him to the Royal Academy of Music in London. There he studied under, amongst others, Sir William McKie, who had been director of music for the then Princess Elizabeth’s wedding and later the 1953 Coronation, and the outcome was a London University B.Mus and FRCO (Fellow of the Royal College of Organists).
Studies in London were followed by military service, mostly in Oldenburg, in the north of the then West Germany, where he managed to continue his organ scholarship, mixed with his other duties, and retained lifelong connections with the area.
His first job following a year at Moray House was at Kirkcudbright Academy where he met his wife, Shirley (Manson) – before returning to Edinburgh and a teaching post at his old school.
But, in 1962, a promoted post in Dumfries, in a newbuild music department, tempted him back down to the south west for the following 25 years, under the Rectorships of Albert Anderson, Bob McNay and Douglas Smith.
Working with assistants such as Jean Boardman (Mason), Bill Todd, Kathleen Picken and Nick Riley, he took a well-established school choir on to many good things, including several BBC Radio “New Sound” recordings, and contributions to a couple of LP’s on the EMI label. He also continued an aboveaverage rate of certificate presentations, supporting many pupils and FP’s into their own musical careers.
Many will remember the big glass-walled classroom overlooking the River Nith, where he would frequently distract himself and his classes with updates on the snow conditions on the Nithsdale hills, sightings of the goosanders on the river, and the training exploits of those very strong Academy rowing crews of the 60s, 70s and 80s.
He mixed and matched the genres and, back in the vinyl era, in the department record collection the likes of Tubular Bells and the Emerson Lake and Palmer version of Pictures at an Exhibition were intermingled with the standard classical works.
Outwith school he maintained his church organ interests with posts at St Ninian’s Episcopal Church in Castle-Douglas, under the Rev John Paul, and later at St Michael’s in Dumfries under the Rev John Pagan.
A grouping of local musicians – John, Geoff Davidson, John Burnett and Jean Mason – made frequent appearances on the music club scene round Scotland during the 1970’s as the Loreburn Ensemble.
Along with a combination of voices,flute, and guitar, this showcased John’s piano playing, which had always gone along side by side with his organ playing. He was also known (in the pre-electronic days) to lug around a German harpsichord he had by that time acquired.
John combined musical strengths with good administrative abilities, and his founding chairmanship of the Dumfries and Galloway Arts Festival, and the very strong steering groups and committees of that time, brought the new Festival, now in its 45th year, into being.
But probably his longestrunning contribution to the town’s music was his conductorship of the Dumfries Choral Society, which prospered under his leadership. The highlight, perhaps, being the formation in 1983 from the Choral and other groups in the south west and elsewhere, of the D&G Arts Festival Chorus for a gala performance of the Verdi Requiem, with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.
But the church organ remained his great passion and the unexpected emergence of job opportunities for organists and choirmasters with the Norwegian Lutheran Church led in 1988 to a surprise move to the rural community of Dale, in the Sogn og Fjordane area of west Norway, several hours north of Bergen.
By then entering his mid-fifties, this was a more relaxed lifestyle, enriched, also unexpectedly, by his and Shirley’s engagement, by the local authority, as curators of Lillingstonheim, a minor stately home on the south shore of the
Dalsfjord, where they combined their talents to refurbish a beautiful 19th century timber building – developing it as a hospitality centre and as a concert venue.
Their many Norwegian contacts were maintained long after their return to Scotland in 1994,with several musical trips to and fro.
Guided – as you might expect – by his aspirationtowards continuing his musical activities into retirement, he firstly took up the post of organistat Dunkeld Cathedral, and then latterly at St Mary’s Episcopal Church in Birnam.
These posts were his springboard back into life in the wider musical community, and he became afrequent accompanist for groups such as Chansons (the Perth Chamber Choir), the Perth Jambouree Choir, the Pitlochry Choral, the Alyth Choral Union and the Dunfermline Abbey Choir.
An on-off collaboration – Baroque and Blue – with Academy FP’s Nick Riley, Donald Scott and David Walker played in the southwest, in Norway and in Perthshire and elsewhere over a period of more than thirty-five years.
There was even a familybased ceilidh band – a new venture for him at the age of 77. He took on a succession of organ pupils of all ages and in particular supported the careers of young singers who, in the same way as those Dumfries Academy FP’s from years back, have paid fulsome tribute to his influence in their emerging careers.
Outwith music, John and Shirley shared a very keen interest in botany and gardening, practised to best extent in the gardens at Rosebank, Shawhead, and Lillingstonheim.
He was an avid reader, particularly of history. A keen hillwalker, he continued weekly trips up Birnam Glen and Birnam Hill into his eighties and never lost the desire to travel.
Shirley, his wife of 65 years, survives him. He was a loving and devoted father to Mandy and David, and leaves five grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.