 Erik Chisholm was the son of John Chisholm , master house painter , and his wife , Elizabeth <unk> Macleod . He left Queen 's Park School at the early age of 13 due to ill @-@ health but showed a talent for music composition and some of his pieces were published during his childhood . He had piano lessons with Philip Halstead at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama , and later studied the organ under Herbert Walton , the organist at Glasgow Cathedral . By the time he was 12 he was giving organ recitals including an important one in Kingston upon Hull . The pianist Leff <unk> then became his principal teacher and mentor . In 1927 he travelled to Nova Scotia , Canada , where he was appointed the organist and choirmaster at the Westminster Presbyterian Church , New Glasgow , and director of music at Pictou Academy . 
