Joan Blue
by Pia Walker
Much has been written about Joan Blue and there was a moment sitting with Joan in her lovely home in Bankfoot, I was thinking, “What on earth can I say that hasn’t already been said?”
Joan was born in February 1933 in Perth (the original Fair Maid of Perth). Her parents lived in a tenement just across from the tennis courts. Her father and his brothers were drummers, her grandfather a violin teacher, her sister an accordion player and her mother a keen singer. When Joan was 10 her parents bought a piano for the princely sum of £10. The first tune Joan picked out on the keyboard was In the Mood. She wasn’t too keen on being taught by an elderly Mr Edward Nicol and it was years before her mother realised that she used skive off these classes. When she was 13 she changed piano teacher and her interest improved tremendously, however, she readily agrees that if it wasn’t for Jimmy Blue her musical career would have been a little bit different to what it became.
She began playing for various types of dance classes from the age of 14 and began an illustrious career as piano accompanist to many well-known bands from the age of 15. As was usual at that time, playing for dances meant learning both modern and Scottish styles and how to use the piano to support the individual musicians without drowning them out. She honed her skills and her ability to hold her own amongst other musicians in various bands including one where they didn’t play The Destiny Waltz, but called it The Dysentery Waltz. Joan also learnt to play without looking at the sheet music, a skill that came in handy when with another band they took a busload of women up to the Rannoch Hydro Electric Camp to play for the workers’ dances. She was far more interested in taking note of couples going out the door and how long it took before they came back in than the notes on the sheets of paper in front of her.
She became the first pianist, at 16, in Bill Wilkie’s Accordion Orchestra and credits Bill with being the biggest influence in her musical life. It was here she learned to vamp from Mick Ainsworth and incidentally met her husband to be, Jimmy Blue. Apparently Joan’s mum used to feed half the band after practice while they were waiting to take buses back home and according to Joan, Jimmy fell first for the eggs and chips served up by Joan’s mum and then fell for Joan! They married in 1955. It should have been earlier, but Jimmy had to buy a new accordion as he was joining the Ian Powrie Band, and so the wedding got postponed as there wasn’t money for both. They have 2 daughters, Virginia and Sandra who to date have made Joan a grandmother and great grandmother several times over.
With 2 daughters and a husband who travelled extensively as a professional musician, Joan only played occasionally. It is difficult to fit children, work and music in, especially when you don’t drive, and Joan did not get her licence until 1966. She now became more involved with music and became a super-user of baby-sitters, especially one family in Forgandenny who with one son and 7 daughters provided an endless supply of babysitters who, among other things, introduced Virginia and Sandra to pop-music, a genre not often heard in the Blue household.
In 1966 it was all change. Jimmy took over the band after Ian Powrie’s move to Australia. This involved buying a band bus, mics, other gear, getting a phone installed in the house. In that year also, Joan was asked to become a music teacher, a job she loved. One of her proudest moments was winning a choir competition with the Goodlyburn pupils at Perth Music Festival, a feat so much sweeter as she beat 12 qualified teachers. She had to give up teaching in 1969, as the General Teaching Council only wanted trained teachers and with work, bringing up children, music, being in charge of the band bookings etc., going to college was not an option. Instead she got a job at Kilgraston School, in Bridge of Earn as a secretary. It was supposed to be a temporary job, but “I became Personnel and Marketing Manager, which in 1995 involved a marketing trip to Hong Kong, China and Macao - and retired for the first time in 1998, then again a year later, etc.” In 1995, Joan started a Scottish Fiddle Group at Kilgraston, which she still works with to this day.
In 1977 Jimmy gave up being a professional musician, but still played semi-professionally all over the country, with Joan on piano, Angus Fitchet on fiddle (although Ian Powrie did join them on his return to Scotland in 1984 too), Jack Cooper on drums and they continued until Jimmy’s death in December 1999, incidentally on the same day that Ian Powrie returned to Australia for good.
Over the years, she also struck up a friendship with Pam Wilkie, a fellow pianist whom she obviously misses very much. “Pam put in such beautiful chords.” I’m sure that those two put the world to rights in their many ‘after-gig nocturnal phone calls to each other.
Joan could have retired from her musical life after Jimmy’s death. However, in February 2000 she was contacted by a young lady, Perdy Syers-Gibson, who she states gave her the necessary kick-start after Jimmy’s death. Perdy needed an accompanist for the various fiddle competitions she entered and they travelled the country, driven by Perdy’s mother, a driver who made each journey more than interesting apparently. From adding the wrong kind of fuel to the car causing a break-down on the road from the Green Welly Shop to Oban with Joan having to stand at the side of the road with her thumb out (hoping that nobody recognised her) to reversing on to a rockery, both of which incidents caused Perdy and Joan to have to catch lifts with others to various competitions.
Joan loved singing although she doesn’t do much any more. She used to sing with the Kinnoull band, with whom she played regularly for eight years. Just picture Joan belting out I love you Yeah, Yeah, Yeah! Today she only sings for the dementia group ‘Still Voices’ and for residents of Moncreiffe Nursing home in Bridge of Earn
She has worked and supported the NAAFC from its beginning; indeed, when husband Jimmy proposed forming a National Association, she got the job of writing to all the clubs. She was the first secretary of the Perth Club and was in that post for 23 years. She sees the clubs as a very important instrument in band communication “Before the clubs many bands used to come home from gigs via the Pavilion Café in Perth. This was the about the only chance they had of meeting other bands. The clubs now give all musicians a chance to meet and learn from each other and get to know what the audience want.” “In our day you learnt your trade playing with an already established band and experienced players. This doesn’t seem to happen any more”.
On being asked what the difference in music was then to what it is now, she points out that music was more basic. Sound effects etc. have moved music forward technically. She loves the lighter genre of music, operettas, musicals, and used to write and put on pantomimes with her WRI choir. She is not too keen on playing for Scottish country dancing, it is too strict and controlled, but enjoys the variety of tempos for old time dancing. Joan just loves to entertain and play the piano. She supports many clubs and orchestras and used to be seen with Stella Wilkie on the circuit playing together for “Music in Hospitals” for ten years. So let us therefore finish with a few words from Stella Wilkie on the phenomenon called Joan Blue.
“I can't remember when I first met Joan and her late husband Jimmy, but it is in the region of 40 years ago! I have had the pleasure of playing with Joan both in a band and as a duet. She is a true family friend, helping with the musical education of our daughters and in keeping my husband Allan in check on many of our trips to the Shetland festival! She is always cheerful, up for fun and her command of the English language is second to none. She would make a much more pithy summary of me than I can do of her. Many thanks for your friendship Joan. You are a treasure!"
Read more about Joan in the Box & Fiddle Nov 2014 and http://boxandfiddlearchive.weebly.com/joan-blue.html
Box and Fiddle
June 2016
Joan was born in February 1933 in Perth (the original Fair Maid of Perth). Her parents lived in a tenement just across from the tennis courts. Her father and his brothers were drummers, her grandfather a violin teacher, her sister an accordion player and her mother a keen singer. When Joan was 10 her parents bought a piano for the princely sum of £10. The first tune Joan picked out on the keyboard was In the Mood. She wasn’t too keen on being taught by an elderly Mr Edward Nicol and it was years before her mother realised that she used skive off these classes. When she was 13 she changed piano teacher and her interest improved tremendously, however, she readily agrees that if it wasn’t for Jimmy Blue her musical career would have been a little bit different to what it became.
She began playing for various types of dance classes from the age of 14 and began an illustrious career as piano accompanist to many well-known bands from the age of 15. As was usual at that time, playing for dances meant learning both modern and Scottish styles and how to use the piano to support the individual musicians without drowning them out. She honed her skills and her ability to hold her own amongst other musicians in various bands including one where they didn’t play The Destiny Waltz, but called it The Dysentery Waltz. Joan also learnt to play without looking at the sheet music, a skill that came in handy when with another band they took a busload of women up to the Rannoch Hydro Electric Camp to play for the workers’ dances. She was far more interested in taking note of couples going out the door and how long it took before they came back in than the notes on the sheets of paper in front of her.
She became the first pianist, at 16, in Bill Wilkie’s Accordion Orchestra and credits Bill with being the biggest influence in her musical life. It was here she learned to vamp from Mick Ainsworth and incidentally met her husband to be, Jimmy Blue. Apparently Joan’s mum used to feed half the band after practice while they were waiting to take buses back home and according to Joan, Jimmy fell first for the eggs and chips served up by Joan’s mum and then fell for Joan! They married in 1955. It should have been earlier, but Jimmy had to buy a new accordion as he was joining the Ian Powrie Band, and so the wedding got postponed as there wasn’t money for both. They have 2 daughters, Virginia and Sandra who to date have made Joan a grandmother and great grandmother several times over.
With 2 daughters and a husband who travelled extensively as a professional musician, Joan only played occasionally. It is difficult to fit children, work and music in, especially when you don’t drive, and Joan did not get her licence until 1966. She now became more involved with music and became a super-user of baby-sitters, especially one family in Forgandenny who with one son and 7 daughters provided an endless supply of babysitters who, among other things, introduced Virginia and Sandra to pop-music, a genre not often heard in the Blue household.
In 1966 it was all change. Jimmy took over the band after Ian Powrie’s move to Australia. This involved buying a band bus, mics, other gear, getting a phone installed in the house. In that year also, Joan was asked to become a music teacher, a job she loved. One of her proudest moments was winning a choir competition with the Goodlyburn pupils at Perth Music Festival, a feat so much sweeter as she beat 12 qualified teachers. She had to give up teaching in 1969, as the General Teaching Council only wanted trained teachers and with work, bringing up children, music, being in charge of the band bookings etc., going to college was not an option. Instead she got a job at Kilgraston School, in Bridge of Earn as a secretary. It was supposed to be a temporary job, but “I became Personnel and Marketing Manager, which in 1995 involved a marketing trip to Hong Kong, China and Macao - and retired for the first time in 1998, then again a year later, etc.” In 1995, Joan started a Scottish Fiddle Group at Kilgraston, which she still works with to this day.
In 1977 Jimmy gave up being a professional musician, but still played semi-professionally all over the country, with Joan on piano, Angus Fitchet on fiddle (although Ian Powrie did join them on his return to Scotland in 1984 too), Jack Cooper on drums and they continued until Jimmy’s death in December 1999, incidentally on the same day that Ian Powrie returned to Australia for good.
Over the years, she also struck up a friendship with Pam Wilkie, a fellow pianist whom she obviously misses very much. “Pam put in such beautiful chords.” I’m sure that those two put the world to rights in their many ‘after-gig nocturnal phone calls to each other.
Joan could have retired from her musical life after Jimmy’s death. However, in February 2000 she was contacted by a young lady, Perdy Syers-Gibson, who she states gave her the necessary kick-start after Jimmy’s death. Perdy needed an accompanist for the various fiddle competitions she entered and they travelled the country, driven by Perdy’s mother, a driver who made each journey more than interesting apparently. From adding the wrong kind of fuel to the car causing a break-down on the road from the Green Welly Shop to Oban with Joan having to stand at the side of the road with her thumb out (hoping that nobody recognised her) to reversing on to a rockery, both of which incidents caused Perdy and Joan to have to catch lifts with others to various competitions.
Joan loved singing although she doesn’t do much any more. She used to sing with the Kinnoull band, with whom she played regularly for eight years. Just picture Joan belting out I love you Yeah, Yeah, Yeah! Today she only sings for the dementia group ‘Still Voices’ and for residents of Moncreiffe Nursing home in Bridge of Earn
She has worked and supported the NAAFC from its beginning; indeed, when husband Jimmy proposed forming a National Association, she got the job of writing to all the clubs. She was the first secretary of the Perth Club and was in that post for 23 years. She sees the clubs as a very important instrument in band communication “Before the clubs many bands used to come home from gigs via the Pavilion Café in Perth. This was the about the only chance they had of meeting other bands. The clubs now give all musicians a chance to meet and learn from each other and get to know what the audience want.” “In our day you learnt your trade playing with an already established band and experienced players. This doesn’t seem to happen any more”.
On being asked what the difference in music was then to what it is now, she points out that music was more basic. Sound effects etc. have moved music forward technically. She loves the lighter genre of music, operettas, musicals, and used to write and put on pantomimes with her WRI choir. She is not too keen on playing for Scottish country dancing, it is too strict and controlled, but enjoys the variety of tempos for old time dancing. Joan just loves to entertain and play the piano. She supports many clubs and orchestras and used to be seen with Stella Wilkie on the circuit playing together for “Music in Hospitals” for ten years. So let us therefore finish with a few words from Stella Wilkie on the phenomenon called Joan Blue.
“I can't remember when I first met Joan and her late husband Jimmy, but it is in the region of 40 years ago! I have had the pleasure of playing with Joan both in a band and as a duet. She is a true family friend, helping with the musical education of our daughters and in keeping my husband Allan in check on many of our trips to the Shetland festival! She is always cheerful, up for fun and her command of the English language is second to none. She would make a much more pithy summary of me than I can do of her. Many thanks for your friendship Joan. You are a treasure!"
Read more about Joan in the Box & Fiddle Nov 2014 and http://boxandfiddlearchive.weebly.com/joan-blue.html
Box and Fiddle
June 2016