Live Music Now! Scotland
Live Music Now!
Live Music Now! Scotland
Performances
Vibe
Live Music Now! is a UK-wide charitable organisation ‘committed to the active engagement of people of all ages, and from all walks of life in all sorts of music’. It is the largest outreach music organisation in the UK and was founded in 1977 by violinist Yehudi Menuhin and his friend Ian Stoutzker, who is the current chairman. Live Music Now! has two main aims: to promote the enjoyment and experience of live music amongst people who would not normally have access to it, and to assist gifted young professional musicians at the outset of their careers. The range of audiences and participants is far-reaching and includes children, young people, the elderly, and those whose circumstances are particularly stressful or challenging. Nearly 250,000 people are reached annually though the 3,000 events, concerts and workshops which Live Music Now! coordinates.
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There are more than 320 young musicians employed by Live Music Now! There is an age limit of 27 for instrumentalists and 30 for singers. Auditions are held around the UK, and are open to soloists and ensembles at the start of their careers. The musicians selected from these auditions stay with the organisation for a minimum of two years and are given training and paid performance opportunities throughout their time with Live Music Now! |
Live Music Now! in partnership with Making Music
Earlier this year, Live Music Now! announced a new partnership with Making Music, the representative body of 2,200 UK music societies. Together they will combine the skills and experience of Live Music Now! as an outreach music scheme with Making Music’s experience as a promoter development organisation. Each participating music society will be able to facilitate two outreach workshops with local groups, in addition to a public performance. Communities in Scotland and the Midlands will be the pilot areas, with performances from September 2006 onwards. This programme, which is supported by The Paul Hamlyn Foundation, aims to develop an active regional network for outreach work as well as public performances, through the concerts and outreach workshops which will take place in communities. It also aims to develop understanding and skills of the value of outreach work within voluntary Promoting Societies.
The Scottish pilot project will give 10 promoting music societies access to Live Music Now! musicians at a very reduced fee. The first of these outreach performances will be given by the Amici Wind Qunitet in December and will take place at the Dundee Chamber Music Club.
Youth Music projectsLive Music Now! Scotland has received funding from the Youth Music Initiative (YMI) for several different projects. In the first half of 2005, YMI helped them to take high quality music by Scottish traditional musicians to island schools and communities where such provision was non-existent.
| A second grant from the YMI enabled Live Music Now! Scotland to take high quality live music performances and workshops to special needs schools throughout Scotland, and to also take high quality live music performances and workshops to young people in remand or in custody in prison. This project started in November 2004 and was completed at the end of March 2006. |
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Most recently, an exciting new collaboration with Celtic Connections began in January 2006, funded by the YMI. A series of workshops is being held in a number of Glasgow schools for children with special needs, with six to eight schools receiving intensive workshops from Live Music Now's Scottish traditional musicians.
Past activities
Between June and December 2005, Live Music Now! Scotland teamed up with Scottish cultural establishments in an initiative aimed at widening access to galleries and museums in Edinburgh. The National Museums of Scotland and the National Galleries of Scotland created performance spaces set against a combination of permanent and temporary exhibitions in order to offer a more culturally comprehensive experience to visitors. Performances were tailored to coincide with the content of each collection, such as a programme of traditional Russian music to complement Nicholas and Alexandra: the Last Tsar and Tsarina, an exhibition at the Royal Museum, and French and South American music for the National Gallery’s Gauguin exhibition.
Upcoming performances in Scotland at Hawthornden Court, Museum of Scotland, will be given by Kathleen Graham (clarsach and Gaelic song) on Sunday 28 May, and Angus Lyon (accordion) and Ruaridh Campbell (fiddle) on Sunday 25 June. Both concerts take place from 12.45 – 3.15 pm.
Vibe is Live Music Now’s newsletter. To download Vibe, visit the Live Music Now! website.
| For more information on Live Music Now! in Scotland, phone 0131 332 6356 or visit the Live Music Now! website. |
Live Music Now! Scotland receives funding from Local Authorities, charitable organisations, private and business sponsors, venues and earned income at performances, as well as from the Scottish Arts Council, the Scottish Arts Council National Lottery Fund, and the Youth Music Initiative. |