If during a Sunday walk you happen to wander past Paisley Abbey, you are likely to hear, extending beyond its walls, the serene voices of the choir accompanied by the organ, played by Prof George McPhee MBE.
A virtuoso organist, McPhee has developed a level of expertise no one else can claim after more than six decades of playing the French-made organ. Familiar with both the space and the instrument, he brings them together to produce a sound of exceptional quality. It’s a spectacle not to be missed. Those who know him and have watched him play often say he becomes one with the organ.
At only 25, in 1963, he was appointed the director of music and given creative freedom over the repertoire and the choir. Seen as a “whippersnapper”, McPhee says that his new ideas weren’t particularly liked. Thanks to his new ideas, however, the choir grew in recognition and got involved in exciting musical projects. A series of recordings with Paisley-born tenor Kenneth McKellar opened the door to all future recordings and broadcasts.
McPhee would not settle for the traditions. “He was not stuck to the Baroque era, and he made them sing modern stuff as well,” says Clotilde Raydon, mother of one of Paisley Abbey’s choristers as well as a self-taught organist. “He would play the same hymn, but he would tweak it, and it would be very modern.”
Raydon sees freedom in McPhee’s approach to music, a quality she compares to that of the Baroque musicians who would show “less reliance on the written music” and who would improvise. “That total freedom comes from hours, hours of practice and discipline,” says Raydon.
McPhee’s accomplishments, including MBE for his services to church music in Scotland, came through hard work, commitment, and discipline, all that he would expect from the choristers. Aged between 7 and 18, choristers would need to attend weekly rehearsals on Tuesdays and Thursdays before joining the adult choir for Friday’s practice and Sunday’s service.
These may at times have been overwhelming for the young singers, but as years passed, they learned to appreciate it. “I miss the routine and just seeing everyone doing their music,” says Mollie Kyle, a former Paisley Abbey chorister who currently studies music at Bath Spa University.
Raydon, whose daughter sang in the choir around the same time as Kyle, says: “It’s really the discipline that makes you blossom. Being strict about yourself and committing to something. Commit no matter what.”
Teaching music was a big part of McPhee’s career, and he loved working with the kids. For McPhee, says Flora Ritchie, a former head chorister, the education never stops. “He doesn’t stop caring about genuinely fostering a love for music, and not just choral music.”
Both Ritchie and Kyle reflect on how McPhee would support them by suggesting songs for the exams and competitions they took part in. Ritchie says that it wasn’t just about the rehearsal; he was always around, with his teaching and encouragement continuing well beyond the scheduled sessions.
One of the most memorable moments for Kyle was winter of 2019 when she got asked by Dr McPhee to sing at the Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow for a charity called CLIC Sargent. She sang there with Jamie MacDougall, an accomplished Scottish tenor. “[It was] so surreal just to have any opportunities like that, it just blew me away because I was only 14 at the time in front of 2,000 people,” said Kyle.
For the choristers, time spent with McPhee was always educational and special. He cared about his students, recognised their potential, and created opportunities that suited their abilities. They would not only sing at the Sunday service but also at concerts in which they would be joined by a variety of orchestras.
The concert that Ritchie remembers as the most special is the one that didn’t take place. It was 2020, still before lockdown, when “nobody had any idea what was going to happen,” recalls Ritchie. Choristers were rehearsing for the upcoming JS Bach Mass in B minor concert when Dr McPhee said that they not going to be able to perform it. We started singing the entirety of that piece in one go, and I always think of it as sort of like when the musician played for the Titanic as it was going down. That this was sort of like a performance for us, and it was quite special,” says Ritchie.
Music is not just about delivering perfect sound, and for the choristers, it was about community, the time they sang and laughed together. “I think one of the things that I find invaluable beyond the music itself, is the people that you meet through this music, and friendships that are formed because of it,” says Ritchie.
COVID-19 brought changes to the Paisley Abbey choir. According to Raydon, it has become increasingly difficult over time to find children willing to commit to the discipline, especially as choir singing is no longer seen as particularly prestigious.
There are currently no choristers, and the adult choir has 20 members. McPhee considers a smaller choir to be better, “more transparent,” and better suited for the repertoire they sing. Although he misses teaching choristers, and believes the choir would still benefit from a few more voices. He hopes that they will “get it going again.”
Unknowingly, McPhee said goodbye to the young choristers by getting them to sing his favourite composer, Bach. It was a shared moment, like the time when they all went to Millport on the island of Great Cumbrae, and he would outcycle them, or when he would win whenever they went out bowling in Glasgow.
Bach’s music is ever-present throughout McPhee’s life. “You keep coming back to Bach because everything is there somehow,” he says.
Hi, I’m Julia Braun Raven, a second-year Journalism, Media & Creative Writing student. I’m co-Editor-in-Chief and Features Editor, and I love creating stories that matter to students, inspiring them, supporting what they’re passionate about, and celebrating their achievements. I’m especially interested in arts, culture, and student life, and I enjoy bringing energy, curiosity, and a love of storytelling to every piece I work on.
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