Marjorie Whylie

Marjorie Whylie СD OD (born 1944) is a Jamaican pianist, percussionist and educator who was musical director of the National Dance Theatre Company for 45 years.

Biography

Whylie was born in St. Andrew, Jamaica, in 1944. She began playing piano when she was two and a half years old and had formal lessons from the age of six. She performed in public from the age of five, attended St. Andrew High School from the age of nine, and as a student at the University of the West Indies (UWI) played steelpan.

She taught Spanish at Kingston College and began teaching music. In 1962, she was part of the "Roots and Rhythms" dance production set up to celebrate Jamaican independence and worked with Eddy Thomas and Rex Nettleford, who co-founded the National Dance Theatre Company (NDTC). Whylie joined the NDTC in 1965 as a pianist, going on to become leader of the NDTC singers, and she was musical director of the NDTC for 45 years before retiring in 2013. She also studied dance and for nine years, ballet.

Her interest in traditional Jamaican and African music was reflected in her work with the NDTC, with Nettleford describing Whylie's understanding of traditional music as critical to its artistic...

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