Gilder is remembered with gratitude by the poet and musician Labi Siffre in his poem "education education education". Siffre studied at the Gilder school, as did Richard Wright of Pink Floyd, Junior Campbell, David Essex, Christine McVie, John Chilton and (as a part-time student in the spring of 1963) the 15 year-old Andrew Lloyd Webber. The school attracted notable expatriate musicians from Africa and the Caribbean including Ebo Taylor, (the Ghanaian afrobeat guitarist, composer and bandleader), Mulatu Astatke (considered the father of Ethio-jazz) and Teddy Osei (founder member of Osibisa, a band that played a central role in developing a more international awareness of African music in the 1970s).