Eric Gilder (25 December 1911 – 1 June 2000) was an English teacher, conductor, composer and pianist. He was best known as the principal of the Eric Gilder School of Music.

Education

Gilder was a pupil at Henry Thornton School in

Clapham Clapham () is a district in south London, south west London, England, lying mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, but with some areas (including Clapham Common) extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. History Ea ...

from 1926 until 1931, and composed the original school song. He initially studied mathematics and physics, but in 1936 he gained a scholarship to the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music (RCM) is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including pe ...

where he studied under

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Ralph Vaughan Williams Ralph Vaughan Williams ( ; 12 October 1872– 26 August 1958) was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over ...

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and Sir

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. He continued there until interrupted by war service.

School of music

After World War II, Gilder worked variously as a pianist, conductor, broadcaster, and as principal of his own school of music. He began his career as a teacher at the Central School of Dance Music at 15

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in London. This was originally established in 1950 by jazz guitarist

Ivor Mairants Ivor Mairants (18 July 1908 – 20 February 1998) was a Polish jazz and classical guitarist, teacher and composer. With his wife Lily Schneider in 1958 he created the Ivor Mairants Musicentre, a specialist guitar store in London. Early years ...

, primarily for jazz, big band and popular music players. Mairants handed the school over to Gilder in 1960 and it became the Eric Gilder School of Music. By then its address was 195

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(original building has been demolished). Among the teaching staff at the school were

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, Kenny Baker,

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and

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, as well as Gilder himself. Gilder is remembered with gratitude by the poet and musician

Labi Siffre Claudius Afolabi "Labi" Siffre ( , born 25 June 1945) is a British singer, songwriter and poet. Siffre released six albums from 1970 to 1975 and four from 1988 to 1998. His compositions include " It Must Be Love", which reached number 14 on the ...

in his poem "education education education". Siffre studied at the Gilder school, as did Richard Wright of

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and (as a part-time student in the spring of 1963) the 15 year-old

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. The school attracted notable expatriate musicians from Africa and the Caribbean including Chris Ajilo, Ebo Taylor, (the

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

ian

afrobeat Afrobeat (also known as Afrofunk) is a West African music genre, fusing influences from Nigerian (such as Yoruba) and Ghanaian (such as highlife) music, with American funk, jazz, and soul influences. With a focus on chanted vocals, complex i ...

guitarist, composer and bandleader),

Mulatu Astatke Mulatu Astatke (; French pronunciation: Astatqé; born 19 December 1943) is an Ethiopian musician and arranger considered as the father of "Ethio-jazz". Born in Jimma, Mulatu was musically trained in London, New York City, and Boston where he ...

(considered the father of

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) and

Teddy Osei Francis Osei (17 December 1935 – 14 January 2025), known as Teddy Osei, was a Ghanaian musician who was a saxophone player, drummer and vocalist, and best known as the leader of the Afro-pop band Osibisa, founded in 1969. Born in Kumasi, Osei ...

(founder member of

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, a band that played a central role in developing a more international awareness of African music in the 1970s).

Conductor and composer

As a conductor, Gilder was an active choral director and arranger. In April 1951, he was appointed Musical Director of the 50-strong Ilford Girls' Choir and secured some high-profile bookings for them, including a live broadcast of

Variety Bandbox ''Variety Bandbox'' is a BBC Radio variety show transmitted initially in the General Forces Programme and then the Light Programme. Featuring a mixture of comic performances and music, the show helped to launch the careers of a number of leadi ...

on the

BBC Light Programme The BBC Light Programme was a national radio station which broadcast chiefly mainstream light entertainment and light music from 1945 until 1967, when it was replaced by BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 2. It opened on 29 July 1945, taking over the ...

, accompanying the young

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. However, something went wrong and he resigned from the post in April 1952. He also arranged choral parts for Geraldo and his Orchestra (as chorus master of "the Geraldo Glee Club") and appeared at the

Royal Festival Hall The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,700-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London, England. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge, in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is a G ...

in London as a conductor and pianist. As a composer, Gilder wrote orchestral, choral, theatre, and television music,

pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment, generally combining gender-crossing actors and topical humour with a story more or less based on a well-known fairy tale, fable or ...

music and lyrics, collaborating with the actor and writer John Crocker (1925–2015), as well as 200 songs (some with salon orchestra parts) and numerous solo piano pieces. Gilder also wrote plays, poetry, and fiction, and contributed to music periodicals.

Personal life

Gilder was married (on 23 December 1939) with two daughters, and lived in his later years at 21 Fieldend, Twickenham.

Selected works

Music

* ''Seascape'' for piano and orchestra (1939) * ''The Tide'' for soprano, baritone, chorus, organ, and orchestra (1945) * ''Christmas Sounds'' for soli, chorus, and orchestra (1950) * ''A Busy Song'': three-part song for soprano, mezzo, and alto with piano (words and music by Gilder) (published Curwen, 1951) * ''Gavotte'' for piano (published Noel Gay Music, 1951) * ''Hear Our Music'', choir and piano (published Manor Music Co, 1951) * ''I Will Wait'', song (words and music by Gilder) (published Manor Music Co, 1951) * ''Nursery Suite'' for orchestra (1953) * ''A Sea Suite'' for orchestra (1954) * ''La Contadina'' (The Little Match Girl), soli and light orchestra (published Ricordi, 1954) * ''Three Gifts'', soli and light orchestra (words and music by Gilder) (published, Ricordi, 1954) * ''A Processional Overture'' (1975) *Sonata for Violin and Piano (1979) * ''Three Pastorals'' for orchestra (1981) * ''Danse Fantastique'', piano duet * Many pantomime scores and lyrics in collaboration with John Crocker, still in use, including ''Aladdin, Puss in Boots'' and ''Red Riding Hood'' (1960s)

Author

* ''Troubled Waters'' (radio play, broadcast 17 July 1946, BBC Home Service) * ''Mister Potter's Play'' (radio play, broadcast 15 May 1948, BBC Home Service) * ''Dictionary of Composers and Their Music'' (with June G Port, 1978) * ''The Back Stairs'', short story (broadcast 18 June 1980)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gilder, Eric 1911 births 2000 deaths 20th-century British conductors (music) 20th-century British male musicians 20th-century British musicologists 20th-century British classical pianists 20th-century English composers Alumni of the Royal College of Music British male classical pianists British male conductors (music) British music educators English classical pianists English conductors (music) Music schools in England Place of birth missing