William Moodie, Glasgow Teacher

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay

I was surprised, last night, to realise that I hadn’t blogged about William Moodie on this blog. The explanation turns out to be very simple: I blogged about him on Whittaker Live, the library blog that I ran for a couple of decades before I retired from the Whittaker Library at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Click here to read all about him!

Why He Matters

  • He was a music teacher at Glasgow Normal School – the forerunner of Jordanhill Teacher Training College.
  • He did the first service of song for Wee Davie, a moral tale by a Glasgow minister, Revd. Norman McLeod – and this ‘service of song’ was Bayley & Ferguson’s first known music publication.
  • Services of song were often accompanied by magic lantern show. You could argue that this was early ‘audiovisual’ media – projected pictures to watch whilst a story was read and hymns or songs were sung.

Meanwhile, back in the Whittaker Library – a Catalogue Entry

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay

One day, when I’ve retired from librarianship, all that will be left to show for my 36 years here will be the books and music on the shelves – and their catalogue records. Naturally, I made sure RCS has a copy of Mozart Allan and Jack Fletcher’s The Glories of Scotland in Picture and Song. Click on the title to see how I’ve catalogued it!

I think you’ll agree I’ve managed to insert enough hints as to why I think it’s significant. There’s a book chapter coming out in an essay collection from the Centre for Printing History and Culture at Birmingham City University, so there will be more to read in due course.