 A year later he returned to Scotland and became the organist at Barony Church ; however , as he had no School Leaving Certificate , he could not study at a university . Due to the influence of his future wife , Diana Brodie , he approached several influential music friends for letters of support for an exemption to enter university . In 1928 , he was accepted to study music at the University of Edinburgh , under his friend and mentor , the renowned musicologist Sir Donald Tovey . Chisholm graduated with a Bachelor of Music in 1931 and a Doctor of Music in 1934 . While at university , he had formed the Scottish Ballet Society in 1928 and the Active Society for the Propagation of Contemporary Music in 1929 with fellow composers Francis George Scott and Pat Shannon . In 1930 to 1934 he also worked as a music critic for the Glasgow Weekly Herald and the Scottish Daily Express . 
