Scotscores / Muriel Johnstone - Influences & Inspirations

There was no escaping from music in our house. My mother, Dorothy (Dodo) Johnstone, played piano and was a very enthusiastic music lover. The radio was on constantly and I remember vividly a wide range of musical experiences: from big bands to cathedral choirs; Scottish dance bands to symphony orchestras; oratorio to jazz. From an early age I was taken to live performances which always thrilled me.
I learned to dance to my mother's playing and by the age of ten had experienced Scottish Country Dancing to the live music of Jimmy Shand's Band, Newland's Band and George Fleming's Band. Influences, inspirations and support were all around me.

Harold Rigby was my first piano teacher - a strange little man, I thought. He was very short, wore a very long coat and a trilby hat, played the organ in the Regal cinema for the silent movies and had an alarming habit of gazing heavenwards through fluttering eyelashes when I made mistakes! Positively the best thing about going to Mr. Rigby's house was the stack of "Beano" and "Dandy" comics he kept under the chair in the hall where pupils waited for their lesson time - a great incentive never to be late!
This man gave me an excellent grounding in piano technique and theory of music and introduced me to the great composers. Two of his favourites remain favourites of mine - Bach and Haydn. I stayed with Mr. Rigby for eight years climbing through the Grade examinations but losing a little enthusiasm by the time I reached my teens.

At this stage a change in teacher proved to be the right move. Mr. James Tait was a young music teacher at my school and he also took private pupils. My grades and my enthusiasm for music improved rapidly. Mr. Tait also introduced me to accompanying - an art I enjoy above all.

After these major early influences, my formal music tuition continued at Edinburgh University's Reid School of Music where Colin Kingsley (Piano and Harmony), Kenneth Leighton (Counterpoint and Composition), and Peter Williams (Harpsichord and personal tutor for final year) were massive influences. During my University years John Ireland (friend, brilliant musician, brilliant mind) was a constant encouragement particularly in composition.

Throughout my life I have danced and have heard hundreds of Scottish dance musicians. At the Annual Ayrshire Music Festival, the official accompanist for the dance section was
Mrs. Florence Assur (known by her middle name - Muriel!) Her playing is indelibly imprinted on my mind. At the age of eleven, I thought I had never heard anything so wonderful to dance to - particularly her 'rolled' bass and her 'voicing' in the inner parts. My mother - an avid fan - tried to emulate her style, as did I. Forty years later I was to meet Stan Hamilton and discovered one of his earliest influences was the same Mrs. Assur!

Dance teachers, especially my first (and best), Anne Hughes, have inspired awareness and appreciation of the music and, of course, have been strong influences on my dancing (the second love of my life!). Here I include Miss Jean Milligan and great personal friends Alastair Aitkenhead, Anna Holden and Bill & Hope Little. The many great pianists at the RSCDS Summer Schools have added to the pool of styles and knowledge that I draw on. I'd like to mention particularly Susan Inglis of Edinburgh and Margaret (Peg) Rae of Castle Douglas who were generous in their sharing of tunes and stories.....!

I stumbled into Scottish Dance band playing!
In the dentist's chair in Norwich in 1976, my ears pricked up to the sound of Scottish music. My very chatty dentist, Mike Shaw, was (and is) an ardent lover of Scottish music and for some time played in the great days of the London-based band McBain's. After this initial one-sided conversation - my mouth being full of dental paraphernalia! - Mike introduced me to the music of many Scottish Dance Bands and greatly encouraged me to get into playing back-up piano. I remember lying on the floor at his house, with my ear pressed against a speaker, trying to pick up the nuances of great players like Ronnie Cooper and
Davie Flockhart. Mike also encouraged me to play without music and develop my aural skills.

So.........! When David Finlay 'forgot' to come back to the Younger Hall, St. Andrews for the second half of a Summer Dance, Bobby Crowe, lead accordion in the Olympians Band, persuaded me to have a go and fill in for David. The rest is history; the bug bit hard and soon I was to become the pianist in Bobby Crowe's own band. The line-up was Bobby (accordion), Jack Lindsay (fiddle), Colin Lander (drums) and me (piano). With only a change of fiddler (to Mel Wilson) this band stayed together for seven years during which time I learned so much about playing for Scottish Country Dancing, about the musicians past and present, about broadcasting and recording and about the whole scene. And the stories were many and hilarious! Bobby Crowe really understood what playing for Scottish Country Dancing was all about and was one of my major influences in this field. I learned what worked and how to do it but was also given the freedom to develop my own style of accompaniment.
Through Bobby, I met the legendary Angus Fitchet and ended up being part of his all-stars band for a few years. On a truly memorable trip to the Shetland Accordion & Fiddle Club with Bobby and Angus I devoured the wealth of music that went on through the wee small hours with Jim Halcrow, Willie Hunter and Violet Tulloch. Sadly, I never met Ronnie Cooper whose style appealed to me so much.

Influences & Inspirations continued...