Scottish Culture Online

As part of EYG’s exciting new project with the School of Scottish Studies Archives, we will be launching a Big Band so as many people can take part as possible.

We will provide 8 4-hour monthly workshops with Mike Vass, Matheu Watson and participants from the Archive Project. You’ll meet to form a band and rehearse tracks for a CD of material developed by participants in the Archive Project. They will be creating and arranging new and exciting tunes and songs which they’ll then teach to the Big Band. This is a fantastic opportunity to take part in one of our most exciting projects yet.

Band members need to be secondary school age, with an intermediate to advanced playing standard and experience of playing in a group (like the kind of classes that happen at the Easter Gaitherin). If you’re unsure whether it’s right for you, contact us to discuss it. The price is £40 per term, plus £10 for the recording session in the Spring (if you are eligible for a concession contact us). You will be able to register for the workshops via the shop. Anyone can come to any of the workshops; however spaces are limited for recording and so if you would like to be part of the final recording, you must be able to commit to at least 7 of the 8 workshops (and the recording day of course!).

Autumn term dates:

Sun 19th August 10am – 2pm (with Matheu Watson)
Sun 2nd September 10am – 2pm (with Mike Vass)
Sun 7th October 10am – 2pm (with Mike Vass)
Sun 11th November 10am – 2pm (with Mike Vass)

There will also be a fundraising gig on the 15th October, and a performance at the Scots Fiddle Festival 17th or 18th November (details to be confirmed). The venue will be 22 Walker St unless stated otherwise.

More info

This year 8 young musicians aged 16-25 are taking part in a very exciting new music project in partnership with the School of Scottish Studies Archives. They will aim to gain a deep understanding of the content of the sound Archives (a treasure trove of traditional music, songs, stories and oral history) and the context of the recordings, and then creatively respond to it. Through delving into this repository of heritage, the young musicians hope to make a genuine creative contribution to the living tradition of Scottish music.

• Kirsty Law, voice
• Elinor Evans, fiddle and clarsach
• Pàdruig Morrison, accordion and piano
• Alastair Mackie, guitar
• Roisin Anne Hughes, fiddle and accordion
• Hazel Turnbull, pipes
• Charlie Stewart, fiddle and double bass
• Robbie Greig, fiddle and Gaelic song

They will form an innovative and exciting creative band which will perform gigs and record an album of new material. The participants will also learn about tutoring and running rehearsals as they will teach selections of the music they have created to EYG’s new Big Band who will also aim to record a track on the album.

Over the coming year they will be working with four tutors: Mike Vass (multi-instrumentalist, composer, and experience tutor); Alasdair Roberts (musician/artist who has recently worked on “Archive Trails”, a commissioning project in the Archives funded by Creative Scotland); Matheu Watson (multi-instrumentalist and Gaelic speaker, who has most recently featured as a key soloist on the Hollywood blockbuster Disney/Pixar film “Brave”); and Mairi McFadyen (who has recently completed an Ethnomusicology PhD at the School of Scottish Studies exploring the ‘ballad experience’ and the imagination)

Edinburgh Youth Gaitherin
22, Walker Street
Edinburgh EH3 7HR
Reg. Charity no. SC 030682
www.eyg.org.uk
email info@eyg.org.uk