Sylvia Wilson
Sylvia Wilson was for many years a well-known Glasgow-based accordion teacher who moved to Perth in the 1970s and taught for Bill Wilkie. She probably died in the 1980s.
She taught a number of prominent professionals. Seamus O'Sullivan started his accodion tuition with her and stayed for three years. I 'messaged' Alan Roy, now at Muir of Ord, but originally from Inchinnan and Donald Shaw (Cappercaillie) but I haven't heard from either of them. The Currie Brothers from Milngavie (Tom, Jim and Liam) stole the limelight for 20 years from the mid-70s. After Sylvia they went to John Huband as a sort of 'finishing school' for a few months but John always credited Sylvia with turning therm in to super players. Of course, like all private teachers, Sylvia had hundreds of unsung pupils over the years and one of the fullest accounts below is from Bill Stewart of Lanark (ex Glasgow). Unfortunately I've been unable to establish even the basics - date of birth and where born, date of death etc but let's call this a 'work in progress'.
Facebook & The Box and Fiddle are wonderful things and thus far we have the following :-
From the July 2020 issue of the B&F
Jimmy Gaitens - Memories of a Music Teacher by Louis Coia
A few years ago I had the idea of using the internet to see what if anything I could find out about my music teacher Jimmy Gaitens. I can remember calling at his house many years ago just to have a chat and do a bit of catching up. I was in my twenties by this time – yes, the story of me having been in Mozart’s class at school is completely unfounded. Anyway, his wife told me that he had died and I was so sorry to hear that this very talented and modest musician had passed away. His sight reading ability was awesome. After I had been taking lessons from him for two years or so he very kindly allowed me to bring music that I would like to play and if he thought the pieces suitable we would do them. Reading Rossini and Mozart overtures were to him like me just reading a book. What a talent!
Needless to say the cuttings I am sending you mention Jimmy somewhere in the text but they also give us a glimpse of the extent of his influence on other musicians and the accordion community, as it was then, in Scotland in particular and the UK in general. For example, Jimmy taught SYLVIA WILSON who went on to become BRITISH CHAMPION on TWO OCCASIONS. He was also a regular feature on BBC Radio Scotland on Saturday nights, long before bands started broadcasting. I remember him telling me that he used to make a lot of money playing on the Clyde steamers in the summer months. The boats were absolutely heaving with people in those days when a trip or a holiday ‘doon the watter’ was the only relief folk got from their demanding jobs. I also found the Scottish Service programme schedule for a Saturday night (way back then) quite interesting.
Seamus O'Sullivan
Sylvia taught me when I was young. I lived in the West End of Glasgow and she taught in her flat in White Street in Partick. I remember she would change the odd note in my handwritten sheet music and catch me out not following the music properly cos I mainly learned by ear!!!
Gary Blair
Sylvia was a great teacher and terrific player . I spoke to her a few times over the years.
Lesley Waddell
I got my first lessons from her in Perth (1979 - 1982), she had a studio near Wilkies Music Shop. She had a son called Jamie Penrice (I think), but I'm not sure of her marital status. I got lessons from her from age 6 - 9, but then I changed teacher to Peter Bruce. I don't know when she stopped teaching.
Neil Copland
I remember Sylvia had an accordion orchestra competing at Perth festival in the early 1980s when Mo and I had the Dundee accordion band/orchestra. She was at that time still teaching for Bill Wilkie, but I seem to recall that she had developed some problems, and training this orchestra of students was her attempt to deal with the demons. They were all younger players than we had in the Dundee band. I think she passed away not long after that.
Bill Stewart
I first went to violin lessons to a Miss Welsh in Clarkston but absolutely hated them. My father spotted an advert by Biggars, Sauchiehall Street who offered classes in accordion with Sylvia Wilson as teacher. These classes ran for about 6 weeks and were free if you bought an accordion at the end of it. On the last evening parents turned up and that was the first time I heard Sylvia play. I was sold on the accordion and so was my father and he bought a Hohner Royal (?) for me - still up in the loft with knackered bellows. I would have been about 13 or 14 then. From then on I went to Sylvia for lessons. She had her studio on Sauchiehall Street above Biggars music shop and across and up a bit from the cinema. She lived in Maryhill and was single then. I remember her as a bit of a chain smoker and remember her charm bracelets when she played and boy could she play. I think she stayed with her parents. I did not know too many of her other pupils but there are a few who were her ‘star pupils’. I got to know them a bit when I was invited to join her Accordion Band made up of her pupils. It was serious stuff, the band, where you played parts (e.g. La Traviata). I remember the Hone family from Castlemilk. The elder brother, who eventually joined the Navy, and sisters Marion (whom I secretly admired for her playing and good looks) and her younger sister I think her name was Janet Hone. All great players. Another pupil I remember was Mary Duff, also from Castlemilk, not quite as good a player as the Hones (who were exceptional) but still pretty good. Another pupil was Alison Logan who came from East Kilbride where I had just moved to from Busby. This was mid 60’s.
Sylvia liked good solid pieces, not necessarily Scottish music, although she would intersperse the odd dance selection in the pieces she set you. Also plenty of scales. Examples of her homework; Trieste Overture, Colonel Bogey, Gypsy Mood, Corrinne, Triumph March, Old Comrades, Scandinavian Suite, Can-can, Brazilia, Theme from the Threepenny Opera to name a few.
Her two real main events in the year were firstly the Edinburgh Scottish National Accordion Championships in the Assembly Rooms in George Street. This took place usually the last Saturday after the Glasgow Fair in August and her school were without doubt the chief “bummers”. I can remember a really good accordionist from the islands marking time with his feet on the wooden stage and the judge being very critical. She dominated the event with a bus load from Glasgow. The other event was the All-Scotland Championships in Perth (October?) but she had stiff competition from Wilkies who ran a music shop there. The first time I entered Edinburgh I had been on holiday for The Fair and had not practiced for the past 10 days. To everyone’s surprise I came away with a gold medal. (Lowest age group).
By then I was serving my apprenticeship and then off to university. This coincided with Sylvia intimating she was to get married and give up her extensive teaching in Glasgow. So this is when we parted, probably late 60’s. Do not think she played much in public but can’t be sure. Her teaching was extensive. Probably did not have much time for anything else. One point I do remember as I got older she used to spend quite a bit of the lesson time talking politics. A bit of a Red Clydesider.!
I did not appreciate at the time but realised how much her teaching stuck with me and how her influence still stays with me when I picked the box up a bit more seriously in later life.
A privilege to have known her and benefitted from her teachings.
Received later :-
Re the note I sent to you earlier on Sylvia Wilson. I had been hunting high and low for a press clipping I had kept of two of Sylvia’s star pupils during my time and eventually found it in an old box full of music. The girls were Marion Hone and Mary Duff.I think it might have been around 1963/1964. Not sure which paper it was in. Might have been the Citizen or the Evening Times but not sure. Both the girls are the ones I mention on my note so can put a young face to them.
Newspaper cutting from Bill Stewart of Lanark (see scan above) - transcription is as follows :-
ACCORDION GIRLS ARE TOPS - Castlemilk girls have won the two top awards in Scottish Accordion Championships. Collecting medals, trophies and certificates is nothing new to the girls - 13-year-old Mary Duff of 52 Castlemilk Drive, the South of Scotland Junior champion, and 16-year-old Marion Hone of 392 Ardencraig Road. Mary, a third-year pupil at Glenwood School has won 16 prizes in four years. She said "I got an accordion as a present one Christmas and I love playing it, especially at concerts. I think it is a wonderful instrument and I would like to teach others how to play it when I leave school. BEST SEASON This has been her best-ever season. She won four sections at the recent Edinburgh Championships. Marion, her brother David (13) and sister Janet (14) are all top players. There are four accordions in the house. "One is held in reserve", said Marion who wants to be a music teacher when she leave Holyrood School. Both Marion and Mary have the same ambition - to win the Briitish Open Championships in London.
Liam Currie
I had lessons for 5 years with Sylvia but these were now well over 40 years ago. I remember general things like Sylvia insisting most music was played accurately, slightly staccato, with a lot of expression. Also the melodies she chose for her pupils, which included popular accordion classics, French musettes, some traditional tunes and of course well-known classical music.
We lost contact with Sylvia when she moved to Perth around 1978 to teach at the Bill Wilkie's school of music. Around the same time we received further musical guidance from John Huband.
Sylvia Wilson had a son called James Penrice who played the accordion. I remember playing a few accordion duets with him in Sylvia's home back in the 1970s. I reckon 'Jamie' (as Sylvia called him) would today be in his mid-50s. Perhaps he can provide you with more information about Sylvia.
The following information may be helpful to you ...
Sylvia Wilson was All-Britain classical accordion champion in 1957 and 1958. She was 3rd in the World Accordion Championships. (I *think* Sylvia Wilson studied music in London, implied by the letters after her name but I can no longer remember what these were)
From the mid 1960s (perhaps much earlier) Sylvia Wilson taught music above Biggars Music shop in Sauchiehall Street. My brothers started lessons there in 1968
From 1973 to 1978, we all had accordion lessons at Sylvia's home in White Street, Partick, almost opposite the building where comedian Billy Connolly grew up on the same street. Sylvia was quite a character too, funny and at times larger than life. She clearly enjoyed teaching kids to play music and would greet them with a pat on the cheeks saying 'Hello Sunshine'.
In the early 1970s, Sylvia created an accordion orchestra for her pupils. Sylvia was particularly keen on competitions and wanted her pupils to enter these as motivation to practise. She arranged a coachtrip to the Perth festival each year.
In her prime Sylvia Wilson was a wonderful accordionist and teacher. Sylvia taught many people to play the accordion, some of them became professional musicians such as Donald Shaw (Capercaillie), Alan Roy, Isobel Hirst (The Clydesiders) and no doubt many more could be added to that list.
I asked Liam Currie another couple of questions and here is his interesting (and humourous) response - If I recall correctly Jim and Tom had lessons from John Huband for about 6 months, perhaps a bit longer. They were busy playing in theatre shows during these years so their lessons were not every week. However, I had a weekly lesson with John from around 1978 to 1980. Both Sylvia Wilson and John Huband were great. I feel indebted to them both. Yes, my brother Tom has so called 'perfect pitch' as did John Huband. It is common amongst those starting music at a very young age (4 or 5 years old). Tom would be the first to say it is not 'perfect' though. If one asks Tom to sing a particular pitch unexpectedly he could, for example, be a quarter tone out. I have 'imperfect pitch' which means I am always within several octaves of the correct note!
She taught a number of prominent professionals. Seamus O'Sullivan started his accodion tuition with her and stayed for three years. I 'messaged' Alan Roy, now at Muir of Ord, but originally from Inchinnan and Donald Shaw (Cappercaillie) but I haven't heard from either of them. The Currie Brothers from Milngavie (Tom, Jim and Liam) stole the limelight for 20 years from the mid-70s. After Sylvia they went to John Huband as a sort of 'finishing school' for a few months but John always credited Sylvia with turning therm in to super players. Of course, like all private teachers, Sylvia had hundreds of unsung pupils over the years and one of the fullest accounts below is from Bill Stewart of Lanark (ex Glasgow). Unfortunately I've been unable to establish even the basics - date of birth and where born, date of death etc but let's call this a 'work in progress'.
Facebook & The Box and Fiddle are wonderful things and thus far we have the following :-
From the July 2020 issue of the B&F
Jimmy Gaitens - Memories of a Music Teacher by Louis Coia
A few years ago I had the idea of using the internet to see what if anything I could find out about my music teacher Jimmy Gaitens. I can remember calling at his house many years ago just to have a chat and do a bit of catching up. I was in my twenties by this time – yes, the story of me having been in Mozart’s class at school is completely unfounded. Anyway, his wife told me that he had died and I was so sorry to hear that this very talented and modest musician had passed away. His sight reading ability was awesome. After I had been taking lessons from him for two years or so he very kindly allowed me to bring music that I would like to play and if he thought the pieces suitable we would do them. Reading Rossini and Mozart overtures were to him like me just reading a book. What a talent!
Needless to say the cuttings I am sending you mention Jimmy somewhere in the text but they also give us a glimpse of the extent of his influence on other musicians and the accordion community, as it was then, in Scotland in particular and the UK in general. For example, Jimmy taught SYLVIA WILSON who went on to become BRITISH CHAMPION on TWO OCCASIONS. He was also a regular feature on BBC Radio Scotland on Saturday nights, long before bands started broadcasting. I remember him telling me that he used to make a lot of money playing on the Clyde steamers in the summer months. The boats were absolutely heaving with people in those days when a trip or a holiday ‘doon the watter’ was the only relief folk got from their demanding jobs. I also found the Scottish Service programme schedule for a Saturday night (way back then) quite interesting.
Seamus O'Sullivan
Sylvia taught me when I was young. I lived in the West End of Glasgow and she taught in her flat in White Street in Partick. I remember she would change the odd note in my handwritten sheet music and catch me out not following the music properly cos I mainly learned by ear!!!
Gary Blair
Sylvia was a great teacher and terrific player . I spoke to her a few times over the years.
Lesley Waddell
I got my first lessons from her in Perth (1979 - 1982), she had a studio near Wilkies Music Shop. She had a son called Jamie Penrice (I think), but I'm not sure of her marital status. I got lessons from her from age 6 - 9, but then I changed teacher to Peter Bruce. I don't know when she stopped teaching.
Neil Copland
I remember Sylvia had an accordion orchestra competing at Perth festival in the early 1980s when Mo and I had the Dundee accordion band/orchestra. She was at that time still teaching for Bill Wilkie, but I seem to recall that she had developed some problems, and training this orchestra of students was her attempt to deal with the demons. They were all younger players than we had in the Dundee band. I think she passed away not long after that.
Bill Stewart
I first went to violin lessons to a Miss Welsh in Clarkston but absolutely hated them. My father spotted an advert by Biggars, Sauchiehall Street who offered classes in accordion with Sylvia Wilson as teacher. These classes ran for about 6 weeks and were free if you bought an accordion at the end of it. On the last evening parents turned up and that was the first time I heard Sylvia play. I was sold on the accordion and so was my father and he bought a Hohner Royal (?) for me - still up in the loft with knackered bellows. I would have been about 13 or 14 then. From then on I went to Sylvia for lessons. She had her studio on Sauchiehall Street above Biggars music shop and across and up a bit from the cinema. She lived in Maryhill and was single then. I remember her as a bit of a chain smoker and remember her charm bracelets when she played and boy could she play. I think she stayed with her parents. I did not know too many of her other pupils but there are a few who were her ‘star pupils’. I got to know them a bit when I was invited to join her Accordion Band made up of her pupils. It was serious stuff, the band, where you played parts (e.g. La Traviata). I remember the Hone family from Castlemilk. The elder brother, who eventually joined the Navy, and sisters Marion (whom I secretly admired for her playing and good looks) and her younger sister I think her name was Janet Hone. All great players. Another pupil I remember was Mary Duff, also from Castlemilk, not quite as good a player as the Hones (who were exceptional) but still pretty good. Another pupil was Alison Logan who came from East Kilbride where I had just moved to from Busby. This was mid 60’s.
Sylvia liked good solid pieces, not necessarily Scottish music, although she would intersperse the odd dance selection in the pieces she set you. Also plenty of scales. Examples of her homework; Trieste Overture, Colonel Bogey, Gypsy Mood, Corrinne, Triumph March, Old Comrades, Scandinavian Suite, Can-can, Brazilia, Theme from the Threepenny Opera to name a few.
Her two real main events in the year were firstly the Edinburgh Scottish National Accordion Championships in the Assembly Rooms in George Street. This took place usually the last Saturday after the Glasgow Fair in August and her school were without doubt the chief “bummers”. I can remember a really good accordionist from the islands marking time with his feet on the wooden stage and the judge being very critical. She dominated the event with a bus load from Glasgow. The other event was the All-Scotland Championships in Perth (October?) but she had stiff competition from Wilkies who ran a music shop there. The first time I entered Edinburgh I had been on holiday for The Fair and had not practiced for the past 10 days. To everyone’s surprise I came away with a gold medal. (Lowest age group).
By then I was serving my apprenticeship and then off to university. This coincided with Sylvia intimating she was to get married and give up her extensive teaching in Glasgow. So this is when we parted, probably late 60’s. Do not think she played much in public but can’t be sure. Her teaching was extensive. Probably did not have much time for anything else. One point I do remember as I got older she used to spend quite a bit of the lesson time talking politics. A bit of a Red Clydesider.!
I did not appreciate at the time but realised how much her teaching stuck with me and how her influence still stays with me when I picked the box up a bit more seriously in later life.
A privilege to have known her and benefitted from her teachings.
Received later :-
Re the note I sent to you earlier on Sylvia Wilson. I had been hunting high and low for a press clipping I had kept of two of Sylvia’s star pupils during my time and eventually found it in an old box full of music. The girls were Marion Hone and Mary Duff.I think it might have been around 1963/1964. Not sure which paper it was in. Might have been the Citizen or the Evening Times but not sure. Both the girls are the ones I mention on my note so can put a young face to them.
Newspaper cutting from Bill Stewart of Lanark (see scan above) - transcription is as follows :-
ACCORDION GIRLS ARE TOPS - Castlemilk girls have won the two top awards in Scottish Accordion Championships. Collecting medals, trophies and certificates is nothing new to the girls - 13-year-old Mary Duff of 52 Castlemilk Drive, the South of Scotland Junior champion, and 16-year-old Marion Hone of 392 Ardencraig Road. Mary, a third-year pupil at Glenwood School has won 16 prizes in four years. She said "I got an accordion as a present one Christmas and I love playing it, especially at concerts. I think it is a wonderful instrument and I would like to teach others how to play it when I leave school. BEST SEASON This has been her best-ever season. She won four sections at the recent Edinburgh Championships. Marion, her brother David (13) and sister Janet (14) are all top players. There are four accordions in the house. "One is held in reserve", said Marion who wants to be a music teacher when she leave Holyrood School. Both Marion and Mary have the same ambition - to win the Briitish Open Championships in London.
Liam Currie
I had lessons for 5 years with Sylvia but these were now well over 40 years ago. I remember general things like Sylvia insisting most music was played accurately, slightly staccato, with a lot of expression. Also the melodies she chose for her pupils, which included popular accordion classics, French musettes, some traditional tunes and of course well-known classical music.
We lost contact with Sylvia when she moved to Perth around 1978 to teach at the Bill Wilkie's school of music. Around the same time we received further musical guidance from John Huband.
Sylvia Wilson had a son called James Penrice who played the accordion. I remember playing a few accordion duets with him in Sylvia's home back in the 1970s. I reckon 'Jamie' (as Sylvia called him) would today be in his mid-50s. Perhaps he can provide you with more information about Sylvia.
The following information may be helpful to you ...
Sylvia Wilson was All-Britain classical accordion champion in 1957 and 1958. She was 3rd in the World Accordion Championships. (I *think* Sylvia Wilson studied music in London, implied by the letters after her name but I can no longer remember what these were)
From the mid 1960s (perhaps much earlier) Sylvia Wilson taught music above Biggars Music shop in Sauchiehall Street. My brothers started lessons there in 1968
From 1973 to 1978, we all had accordion lessons at Sylvia's home in White Street, Partick, almost opposite the building where comedian Billy Connolly grew up on the same street. Sylvia was quite a character too, funny and at times larger than life. She clearly enjoyed teaching kids to play music and would greet them with a pat on the cheeks saying 'Hello Sunshine'.
In the early 1970s, Sylvia created an accordion orchestra for her pupils. Sylvia was particularly keen on competitions and wanted her pupils to enter these as motivation to practise. She arranged a coachtrip to the Perth festival each year.
In her prime Sylvia Wilson was a wonderful accordionist and teacher. Sylvia taught many people to play the accordion, some of them became professional musicians such as Donald Shaw (Capercaillie), Alan Roy, Isobel Hirst (The Clydesiders) and no doubt many more could be added to that list.
I asked Liam Currie another couple of questions and here is his interesting (and humourous) response - If I recall correctly Jim and Tom had lessons from John Huband for about 6 months, perhaps a bit longer. They were busy playing in theatre shows during these years so their lessons were not every week. However, I had a weekly lesson with John from around 1978 to 1980. Both Sylvia Wilson and John Huband were great. I feel indebted to them both. Yes, my brother Tom has so called 'perfect pitch' as did John Huband. It is common amongst those starting music at a very young age (4 or 5 years old). Tom would be the first to say it is not 'perfect' though. If one asks Tom to sing a particular pitch unexpectedly he could, for example, be a quarter tone out. I have 'imperfect pitch' which means I am always within several octaves of the correct note!