The doings of the Active Society for the Propagation of Contemporary Music are of such interest and so well written up by Chisholm and his wife, Diana, that this chapter is not only a long one, but has extended quotations from the 150 pages of Chisholm's unpublished lectures on Men and Music, which describe his encounters with some of the most famous composers and performers in twentieth-century music. They constitute a unique document, and their publication is long overdue. In the meantime, what follows here, in Chapter 4 and in Interlude: The Love of Sorabji will have to satisfy the curiosity of scholars of Bartók, Bax, Casella, Van Dieren, Hindemith, Ireland, Medtner, Petri, Schmitt, Cyril Scott, Sorabji, Szymanowski, Tovey, Lamond, Walton and others. But to begin with, it is helpful to establish the relatively modest but youthfully exuberant background from which Chisholm produced this extraordinary series of concerts.

In September 1928, Leff Pouishnoff wrote, glad that Chisholm was ‘back in England [sic]’, but hoping for greater things for him and offering to disseminate an orchestral score (unidentified) of Chisholm’s. On his return from Nova Scotia, Chisholm took up piano teaching in Glasgow. Margaret May describes him as ‘a very encouraging, if somewhat strict, teacher’. He taught the Leszetycki method ‘insisting on straight wrists at all times. He appeared to have a dislike of Brahms, and most of my pieces were by modern composers, especially Bartok.’

The lessons were given at a Chinese piano, in the conservatory at his parents’ home in Caerlaverock Road. It was ‘covered with (fearful) dragons’ (Margaret was four years old when she first encountered them); and there was a pipe organ in the hall, which Erik's father had given him as a birthday present. Alas, the piano did not survive the journey to Cape Town after the war. Chisholm was also appointed organist at St Matthew's Church in Glasgow, and it is probably for the excellent instrument there that he composed the Symphony from the Hebrides for organ, which is missing its conclusion.

Chisholm was still seeking composition lessons, though illness seems to have prevented him from visiting Holst, who recommended Gordon Jacob and Herbert Howells.