Comhairle nan Eilean Siar awarded £10,000 from the Awards for All Big Lottery Fund

Comhairle nan Eilean Siar was recently awarded £10,000 from the Awards for All – Big Lottery Fund. The funding will go towards running a National Youth Orchestra of Scotland Residential weekend in Summer 2015.

NYOS will work with Young People on a pilot project for young people in Sir E Scott School, Harris and the Nicolson Institute. There will be places for 25 young people on the course  – wind, brass, violin, cello and double bass. The project will last for four days and will be tailored to meet the needs of the most able musicians in the schools. The musicians will be from Grade 3 to Grade 8. Uptake for music lessons in the schools is high and this residential course will give Young People a valuable opportunity to work with specialists in classical music.

NYOS will provide 10-12 young professional musicians, under 25 years of age, to work with Young People in the Western Isles. The young musicians will develop their CPD  through coaching and mentoring and as a consequence all participants will benefit from the project. Young People will be coached by professional musicians for three days and a showcase event will take place at the end of the four days where young people and the professional musicians will perform together. The professional musicians will also perform separately to inspire and motivate the young people.

This project is a stand-alone pilot but it is anticipated that it will be successful and in year two NYOS will follow up the work already done by visiting the islands on a termly basis to work with young musicians. This will motivate them and provide them with a progression pathway to possibly join the National Ensemble.

Director of Education at Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, Peter Carpenter, said, “This is a tremendous opportunity for our talented musicians to further develop their performance skills. We are pleased to be able to work in partnership with NYOS on this project. The expertise and talent of NYOS musicians is well known and our young people will gain from their support, skills and musical guidance”.

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