Debbie Mosson (flute)
At school, I started playing violin because the woodwind teacher was fully
booked. However, I kept at it with encouragement from various peripatetic
teachers and the school music department and joined the school orchestra, did O
grade music and even qualified for Glasgow schools summer orchestra one year.
I was able to switch to flute just before I left school. I spent some of my student
grant money on a flute and took lessons from a Mr Banks in Shawlands, who
suggested I join the YMCA Glasgow Wind Orchestra. This was a different sort of
ensemble playing and it took me a while to get used to it. From there I joined
various other wind bands and learned to play via individual lessons and much
practice. I also took up piccolo on the advice of an ex-military director of music
who conducted the YMCA band for a while and insisted on auditioning its players.
I also took part in various overseas trips, some more enjoyable than others.
The jump to orchestral playing happened when I was invited to the St James
Orchestra (now known as Paisley Sinfonia) to play 2
nd
flute & piccolo. I was
also asked to help out the GCO as an extra on various occasions. Eventually I
had been “helping” the GCO for a solid year and was urged to audition and
join. I still play with both GCO and Paisley Sinfonia and have played as an
extra with Glasgow Orchestral Society as well. I still have flute lessons and
have been working towards taking Trinity College grade exams.
Outside of playing, I work in an independent school dealing with school fees
and other financial matters, which has been useful training for becoming
Treasurer of the GCO!
The old GCO line-up!
Wendy Dougan (oboe)
My musical history started in primary school playing recorder, as I’m sure many others
did! I loved it I have to say. I also sang in various choirs. However, going to Bellahouston
Academy was where the serious stuff began! My first orchestral instrument was the
viola, and I despised it with a passion (sorry violas)!! I was then offered the French horn
but wasn’t even sure what that was, so I was just told to turn up for a lesson and I’d be
told what I was getting then.
This instrument turned out to be the oboe, and I took to it like the proverbial duck to
water! I also got piano lessons at school and sang in the school choir, something that was
obligatory in our school. I got some amazing opportunities in school as our school choir
was the forerunner of the SNO Junior Chorus, so we sang in various proms, including
Carmina Burana and Mahler Eight. I still remember jumping in fright when the SNO
Chorus started singing at our first rehearsal for Mahler Eight – the sound was massive! I
also played the recorder in an orchestral recording of Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells and
Hergest Ridge. The solo guitarist was Steve Hackett, who slouched onto the stage in
ripped denims, a denim jacket and a glittery beanie hat – a tad underdressed I suspect
for the neat and tidy members of the SNO!
The music department of the school was insistent that I applied to the RSAMD, something I wasn’t keen on as I suffered terribly with
nerves. I was offered a place but eventually turned it down to go to University instead. The school, very kindly, lent me an oboe when I left
until I was able to get one of my own which I did, thankfully in first year. I’m not sure I would still be playing if it weren’t for that kind
offer.
I went to Glasgow Uni in 1976 where I studied maths and music, and it was here that I first encountered the inimitable Dr Rycroft! I still
remember the disappointment I caused her with my essay on Haydn, but I still passed, Marjorie!
As well as playing in the University orchestra, I also played in
Glasgow Unitarian Orchestra which was an unbelievable training in
orchestral playing for me. Many of the “older” generation of
current professionals cut their teeth there – Willie Conway, Dougie
Boyd, David McLenaghan, Justine Watts and Jane Reid, to name but
a few, and it was also there that I first met my buddy Susie Gibson
(nee Milne) and the dashing Douglas Gibson. You can see how young
and stunning we looked at the time in the picture opposite!
Ladies, note the long dresses – very much the thing at that time!
Following university and college I began my career as a maths teacher in the East End of Glasgow. It was rough, but I loved it and loved the
kids, warts and all! Due to school closures I moved to the, supposedly, leafy suburbs of King’s Park where, after a few years, I was promoted
into Pastoral Care, amongst other things! I can remember when I first moved to KP saying that I enjoyed it so much that I could see myself
staying there for five years! Mmmm…..Five turned into twenty nine! I enjoyed most of my time there, but haven’t regretted taking early
retirement in 2016.
In terms of playing, I actually gave up for a couple of years not
long after I started teaching as nerves became too big a deal for
me, and had not been for Diane Levey’s relentless pushing at me to
join GCO I’m not sure I’d have ever gone back to it! This was in the
early to mid 80s, and I’ve never looked back!!! GCO has given me
some great opportunities to play pieces as I’d never have
encountered, some good (Scheherazade, Shostakovich 5 to name
but two) and some not so good (anyone remember the Stuart
Macrae commission?????), but one thing’s for sure, it’s a great
orchestra and hopefully it’ll not be long before we’re back doing
what we do best!
Outwith playing I have a lot of hobbies, including (slowly) working at getting back into running again after a knee injury, card
making,knitting and crocheting. I learned to crochet after retiring and am now an avid/ obsessive crocheter. My current projects include
baby blankets for the Gibson girls’ new arrivals to be!
I was born and brought up in the suburbs of Glasgow, in Cambuslang, and travelled all the way
to Glasgow University to study law! Actually, I did spend my 3rd year on Erasmus exchange
studying French law, in French, in the city of Clermont-Ferrand in the Auvergne region of
France, so I have ventured out a little bit in my formative years. After University I went on to
qualify first as a solicitor, and then after a couple of years, and a few more exams, I started my
pupillage to become an Advocate, the Scottish equivalent to a barrister. I didn’t go to University
thinking that’s how my legal career would go, but I was steered in that direction by my old boss
when I was a solicitor and I’m still doing it.
I was called to the Scottish Bar in 2008 and have been essentially a freelancer (all Advocates
are independent, sole practitioners) ever since. I specialise in employment law and am usually
to be found arguing cases in employment tribunals, but we all do some other more general
court and advice work as well.
David Hay (clarinet)
I started playing the clarinet through getting lessons in secondary school. I learned the recorder during
1st year, and then switched to clarinet in 2nd year. I was drawn to the creamy sound of the clarinet (when played well!) and found
that I enjoyed playing it. I did Standard Grade and Higher Music and whilst I kept playing after I left school I didn’t get any more
lessons and was a wind band player for many years.
I’m actually relatively new to orchestral playing. I decided I wanted to take my clarinet playing a bit more seriously 10 years ago,
bought my first ‘orchestral pair’ of instruments and really had a lot of lessons over several years that worked on changing my
technique, which had developed some pretty bad habits. My first orchestral concert was my first concert with GCO! I joined in
September 2011. I wouldn’t have had the nerve to have enquired but I had met our then-conductor Peter Jones at a party and he had
suggested trying out. I was struck by how the orchestra took the music seriously but was also extremely welcoming to me.
There were and are wonderful musicians in GCO, and whilst Peter at times could be a tough task master, I very much believe that
joining GCO was a key stage of developing my playing further. In chamber orchestra as a wind player you are so exposed, and even if
some of the parts are not as virtuosic as some of the bigger repertoire at times, they have big demands on the quality of sound that
you need to make, and on your intonation and blend with the other woodwinds. This has had a big influence on the sort of sound I try
to make. The first 2 or so years in GCO I still had a lot of learning to do about the basics of orchestral playing. I probably still do!
One thing that has also steadily happened is my
accumulation of instruments! I started with my pair, Bb and
A. I’d actually bought an Eb clarinet not long before I joined
GCO, and I think I’ve only ever played Eb in one rehearsal
with GCO, but I’ve played it in the wind band I still play in,
and sometimes I play it with GOS.
I have the world’s worst bass clarinet. Then I got a C
clarinet second hand, which is actually called for pretty
often in the music we play. Then I got a basset horn
(actually I’ve got two at the moment but that won’t be
forever!), and I treated myself to a new Eb clarinet at
Christmas time last year. It’s starting to get a challenge to
fit them all into my little flat!
It’s a real privilege to get to play some amazing repertoire with GCO. There are a lot of very memorable concerts. I think one of the early
concerts that sticks out in respect of my development as a player was when we did Beethoven 6, which I think was really the first BIG clarinet
part I had to play. The 60th anniversary Shostakovich 5 concert also holds a special place for me as I was chair of the orchestra then and it was
a huge work for us and a bit of a risk artistically and financially. I’ll also remember the sound of someone creaking open a door behind us in
the Bute Hall half way through Wendy’s solo in the 3rd movement. Fortunately, they realised they were somewhere they shouldn’t be and the
door creaked closed again!
I’ve also enjoyed greatly the occasions when I’ve played chamber music with my colleagues, and it’s great to be able to play clarinet duet
repertoire with Stephen. I also look forward to the memorable concerts still to come. I was looking forward to Tombeau de Couperin as it is
technically very challenging, but hopefully we will be back to that next summer.
Me with my Dad on the day I
was called to the Bar
Me on the old Bassett Horn
Every single one of these instruments
is……..ESSENTIAL!
Susan Gibson (bassoon)
GCO brought me back to orchestral playing after a gap of many years. As the result of a chance
encounter with Elspeth Munro, I agreed to plug a first bassoon gap for a term. In the course of that
term I rediscovered my love of orchestral playing, met old friends, made new ones, and renewed a
special friendship with Wendy Dougan, which dated back to the seventies and Glasgow Unitarian
Youth Orchestra (which was also where I first encountered a certain tall timpanist . . . and ours is
not the only marriage which owes its beginnings to a draughty old church in St Vincent Street!)
For the past seventeen years I have been lucky enough to spend Tuesday evenings with a great
bunch of people who have supported one another through thick and thin, through good times and
some very difficult times, and through concerts ranging from very good to truly spectacular. Even
our daughters are part of the GCO family – Clare (who took the wind playing path) has played
oboe with us, and Kara (who followed in her father’s footsteps) made an appearance in the
percussion section for a CLIC Sargent concert.
Now, much to our delight, our family is set to expand as Clare is expecting a baby in July
and Kara in September. (Hazel has already placed an order for a viola player……).
Both girls live in Edinburgh, so many trips along the M8 in store – but not on Tuesday
evenings!
Douglas Gibson (timpani)
I was born and brought up on Crow Road, just a stone’s throw from the church where we
now rehearse. My father was one of those lucky people who could sit down at a piano
and play any tune you wished, without the need for music – a gift that he failed to pass
on to me, sadly. My piano lesson experience took me as far as Grade 1, until I gave up on
the lessons and looked for something else to play. That turned out to be percussion –
firstly as a side drummer with the Boys’ Brigade pipe band and then at school with the
Allan Glen’s school orchestra.
I seemed to develop the knack of percussion playing quite easily and quickly, and in fact I
was one of the first pupils in Scotland to gain a Higher Music in Percussion, when that was
finally introduced in the late 1960s.
Playing at a Boys’ Brigade display where we
borrowed the Allan Glen’s school timpani -
hand-tuned in those days !
I was never much into pop music or dancing, and Allan Glen’s in those days was a boys-only school, so my opportunities to meet girls were
few and far between, that was until I found the Glasgow Unitarian Youth Orchestra – both an outlet for my timpani-playing skills and a
fount of young ladies to chat up! That was where I met a young bassoonist called Susan, of which more later.
I left school and went to Glasgow University to study science, eventually emerging with an honours degree in Physics, only to go back in
again to take on a PhD. Music was always there in the background, however, and by that time, I was playing with any group that would
have me – even the Glasgow Chamber Orchestra under its then conductor, Sam Bor (in the McLellan Galleries, I remember). I played in
the pit for musicals at the Kings Theatre, and I was lucky enough to get some dep work with the SNO. Two concerts stand out from that
time. The first was a UK premiere of a piece by Polish composer Penderecki, which involved 9 percussionists – I had to improvise on 5 wood
blocks at one point. The second was the infamous SNO Prom concert in the Kelvin Hall circus arena conducted by Alexander Gibson. It was
Mahler’s 2
nd
Symphony the “Resurrection”, and at the point when the off-stage brass was meant to come in, nothing happened – Gibson was
left to wave his arms to no avail. Were they still in the bar – who can say?
Sadly, my professional playing opportunities then took a back seat while I had to focus on earning a living. I started working as an engineer
with Barr & Stroud, the defence contractor based at that time at Anniesland Cross (where Morrisons now sits). My work took me all over the
world, as we demonstrated equipment to various armies, navies and air forces.
By that time, Susan and I were married, and we were lucky enough to have two lovely girls, Clare and then Kara. Both girls developed
their own musical talents – Clare on piano and oboe and Kara on piano and percussion (taking after her old man!). In fact, both briefly
played with the GCO, although these days they both prefer singing in a fantastic choir called the St Andrew Camerata, based in Edinburgh.
I’ve always been a church-goer, and by one of those accidents of fate, I agreed to deputise on the organ at our church one day, and ended
up as full-time organist and choirmaster, a job I have been doing now for over 20 years – still can’t master the pedals though! As well as
running the choir, I also set up a small music group for the youngsters in our church. ICHTHUS was open to anyone who played a musical
instrument. I would arrange hymns for whatever combination of players we could get. At its peak, the group had over 20 players,
including 5 flutes, 4 trombones and 3 bassoons - beat that GCO!
Both Clare and Kara are married now, and indeed are both
expecting their first child at the moment! (The second photo is
of our family, taken at Kara’s wedding in 2017).
For Susie and me, the GCO has long been a great source of
enjoyment, and each concert has been a pleasure and a thrill. I
was especially delighted last year when the GCO was finally able
to purchase rehearsal timpani. Having just one rehearsal prior
to a concert certainly focusses the mind but is definitely not
good for the nerves!
Sadly, rehearsals and concerts are now on hold for who knows
how long, and it is one of the things that we both miss the most
these days. Hopefully, we will get back to music-making
together sometime in the not too distant future. I can’t wait!
Lynne Bulmer (flute)
My musical life started on piano aged about 7, but I was frustrated because my hands were too small for all the big Romantic pieces I really
wanted to play! My mother was a pianist but it was my dad with his homemade ‘stereogram’ who really inspired me with the six Classical
orchestral LPs he would bring home from the library every week.
My first secondary school was given 2 flutes and I ended up with one of them aged about 12. My
parents divorced and I came back to Yorkshire minus the flute, but eventually got my own and started
concentrating on it. I played a lot throughout secondary school (including as soloist in a performance
of Bach’s Suite no. 2 in B minor complete with harpsichord continuo!) and took my Grade 8 at 16. I
also played in the Northern Area Schools Symphony Orchestra which I loved and was introduced to
some great repertoire there.
Having decided against music college as I didn’t believe I was good enough (or tough enough) to
become a professional player, I decided on a dual Music/English degree at Sheffield University, I’ve
never been sure if I made the ‘right’ decision, but loved my time in Sheffield music department so
much that after one year I swapped to a B Mus Hons degree and dumped English. I played in the
university orchestra, various ensembles and then in the Sheffield Chamber Orchestra for a number of
years after graduating.
With NASSO performing for the BBC
at York University in the 1970s
With my favourite tutor Dr Roger
Bullivant outside Sheffield City Hall after
BMus Hons graduation
After that, life became pretty messy and I ended up giving up the flute altogether for about 13 years.
After splitting up with my first husband and moving to Skipton, I needed to find some way of earning a
living that would fit with being a single parent and someone suggested I look for instrumental teaching
work in schools. I dug out my dusty old flute and booked some lessons with Stina Bisengaliev (Opera
North) to try to remember how to play. I took a post-G8 exam and got 3 jobs - working for North
Yorkshire as a peripatetic woodwind teacher, for Bradford CC as a peripatetic class recorder teacher
(needed ear plugs for that one!) and woodwind teacher for a private school in Ilkley, while also
teaching piano privately in the evenings – it was all pretty exhausting!
Life changed again after I got together with my second husband, and my daughter and I went up to
live with him and his 3 children in the West Highlands where he was working as a GP in a remote
village facing across the sea to Skye. I was offered the chance to teach flute once a week at Plockton
High School and did that for a number of years as well as some other private teaching. I was also
fortunate to play in ORCAL (Mahler 1, Rachmaninov 2 etc.) and to go on flute summer school courses
with David Nicholson – Mr Flute in Scotland. He was very encouraging about my playing and I ended
up studying successfully for the three AB Performance diplomas with him. This was no easy matter as
he lived a 4-hour drive away, but David and his wife kindly let me stay the night with them in
Auchtermuchty to make it possible. My accompanist for the diplomas was my husband’s cousin who is
a brilliant pianist/organist/accordionist, but he lives in Birmingham so that made it all even more
complicated. We love playing together and have done many performances over the years, despite the
distance.
View over to Skye from our house in the
Highlands (February 2004)
As our 4 children were growing up and I
had more time in the day, I also began
studying for a Masters in Music with the
OU – something I felt I could do while
living in a remote Highland village. It
ended up being pretty stressful with the
distances involved (trying to get hold of
books etc.) but I’m still proud I managed
to get through it in difficult
circumstances.
By around 2010 when the children were older, I’d really had enough of remote
living and was desperate to do more orchestral playing. My lovely husband
began looking at jobs further south and found one in Edinburgh. I resumed
private teaching work (flute and piano) and am thrilled to be living in
Edinburgh, but it is not an easy place for woodwind players (too many for too
few orchestras and no easy way into any of them), although I have played
several concerts with the Meadows CO over the years. In 2011, I heard about
Amicus Orchestra and auditioned for them successfully – I’ve played with them
ever since and am now on the committee. My most memorable performance
was with Amicus in 2018 when we played to a full house at the Leipzig
Gewandhaus with me ‘duetting’ with Maya Iwabuchi in Bruch’s Scottish Fantasy
– still seems like an amazing dream and I’ll treasure that always.
Graduation May 2006
MA in Music (dist)
With members of the Edinburgh Quartet
- Ullapool NYOS Variations course - August 2009
As soloist with Edinburgh
Chamber Orchestra
Rehearsing with Amicus in the
Gewandhaus – 2018
Amicus only meets for 2 or 3 intensive weekends a year for rehearsals/concerts and I have always hoped to find more regular orchestral playing as well,
so I was delighted to have been offered the opportunity to play with the GCO (even if it’s via Zoom at the moment!) after enjoying playing in two previous
GCO concerts. I can’t wait to do some ‘real’ playing with you all eventually and to get to know everyone properly!
Husband Simon with the
love of his life (and me)
Cycling in my Happy Place in
the French Pyrenees 2018
The GCO is a charity registered in Scotland No SC022256
