Introducing our Baillie Gifford Creative Learning Partnership

We aim to inspire and motivate people of all ages and backgrounds right across Scotland, and our Creative Learning programme is as important to us as our concert-giving. Everything we do is, above all, about the joy and enrichment of lives through music, supporting inclusion and positive social interaction, improving well-being and raising aspirations.

Our ambitions to grow and exceed expectations in these areas far outweigh our resources. From April 2019 onwards, however, we are able to extend our reach and introduce a new programme, all thanks to our Creative Learning Partner Baillie Gifford.

With Baillie Gifford’s support the SCO will launch a new Social Prescribing project, NEW VIBE in October 2019. Our Community Residency programme will expand, providing free access to high quality, innovative projects which build connection and community, diminish social isolation, and develop musicianship, creativity and confidence. And we’ll increase the reach of our education programmes for young musicians across Scotland which provide free, inclusive opportunities for young musicians who want to learn and excel.

SOCIAL PRESCRIBING: SCO NEW VIBE

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What is ‘social prescribing’?

Social prescribing enables GPs, nurses and other primary care professionals to refer people to a range of local, non-clinical services. Social prescribing is designed to support people with a wide range of social, emotional or practical needs, and many schemes are focussed on improving mental health and physical well-being. Those who could benefit from social prescribing schemes include people with mild or long-term mental health problems, vulnerable groups, and people who are socially isolated (https://www.kingsfund.

org.uk/publications/social-

prescribing)

The SCO runs several projects which support social prescribing and in October 2019, the Baillie Gifford partnership will enable us to launch, NEW VIBE, in partnership with the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS). NEW VIBE is designed to support young people aged 14-18 with a diagnosis of moderate to severe mental health problems who will be referred into the project by CAMHS.

Why are we focusing on mental health?

Mental health is one of the major public health challenges in Scotland, and we are all uncomfortably aware of the growing numbers of young people struggling with a lack of mental well-being. It is estimated that around one in ten children and young people aged between 5 and 16 years old have a clinically diagnosable mental health problem (https://www. seemescotland.org/).

What can NEW VIBE do?

Our aim is for NEW VIBE to provide a safe space for young people currently using the CAMHS service to feel heard, supported, and encouraged to develop musically and socially. It is open to young people who have an interest in any style of music, including classical, folk, rock and pop, and regardless of their musical experience. NEW VIBE will be led by internationally renowned animateur and guitarist Paul Griffiths alongside a team of specially trained expert musicians. The project will be supported by a carefully selected group of peer mentors, drawn from the existing cohort of young musicians who attend other SCO projects, and members of the CAMHS team.

MASTERWORKS

––––––The Baillie Gifford partnership will enable us to enhance our flagship education project, Masterworks, with new digital resources. Masterworks aims to reach secondary school music students in all 32 Scottish local authorities over a three-year cycle with an annual series of concerts, workshops and teacher-training sessions. The new digital resources will enable pupils to watch some of the SCO’s performance online and to access linked educational resources which support their curricular learning. We expect these new resources to be particularly useful for remote schools who cannot access the concerts but who have engaged with Masterworks through the workshop and teacher training programme. From 2017 to 2019, SCO musicians will have visited schools as far afield as Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles, as well as western areas of Argyll & Bute and Dumfries & Galloway.

Featured events: Concerts in Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Kilmarnock

Masterworks 2019 features Sir James MacMillan’s Tryst. As we celebrate his 60th birthday year, the concerts will include a full performance of this stunning piece conducted by the composer himself, with a guided presentation by Rachel Leach The content was superb, your presenter does a great job of keeping the pace and interest just right. Music teacher, 2018

The project is designed for S4-S6 music students. We encourage teachers to adopt Masterworks as part of their music curriculum, and teaching resources linked to National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher course requirements are made available online. We invite a small number of schools to take part in interactive creative compositon workshops led by expert Scottish Chamber Orchestra musicians.

Impressive, entertaining and spectacular. Student, 2017

Masterworks takes students on a creative journey, offering a fantastic opportunity for upper secondary school music students to experience the excitement of a live orchestra up close in concert, and to hone their listening, performing, composing and improvising skills through experiential workshops. The project is designed to open up new sound-worlds to young people, to encourage them to listen to a wider variety of genres, and to equip them with knowledge and musical tools to be more adventurous in their own compositions.

SOUNDMOVES: A WESTER HAILES RESIDENCY PROJECT

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Featured event:

The Scottish Chamber Orchestra, in partnership with Edinburgh International Film Festival & Edinburgh International Festival, presents Soundmoves: Music Movies on Friday 21 June 11am at The Hub, Castlehill, Edinburgh.

Pupils from Sighthill, Clovenstone and Canal View Primary Schools will showcase their own unique and expressive short films, accompanied by live performance. The six short movies featured are based on original ideas developed during a series of Soundmoves primary school workshops, and are created and performed by pupils and composer Matilda Brown, movement specialist Ana Almeida, videographer Sandy Butler and musicians from the SCO.

Our Soundmoves project forms part of the SCO’s Wester Hailes Residency and was designed to introduce primary pupils to music and movement – and to enhance life skills such as teamwork, communication, focus and confidence. Pupils and teachers take part in a series of creative workshops, exploring music and movement to create new pieces of work which bring together ideas from the whole class. The project is designed to ignite an interest and excitement for playing and listening to music, and to support the development of individual strengths and interests by giving pupils a forum to contribute to and influence creative decisions.

Residency background:

The SCO Wester Hailes Residency is a three-year programme of free creative music workshops and performances for people of all ages. The Residency aims to embed the SCO in the life of the community, inspiring and empowering local people to engage with music and the arts in Wester Hailes and beyond. The Residency programme is designed to make the SCO’s work accessible by bringing free, high quality music making to local community venues and schools and creating

opportunities for residents to engage with cultural activity in Edinburgh City Centre. Since the launch of the SCO Wester Hailes Residency in October 2017, the SCO has worked with 1500 people in the area. www.sco.org.uk/

westerhailes

I felt amazing because I didn’t know that I could play an instrument that good in my life. P3 pupil, Sighthill Primary I saw a new confidence in some children that I haven’t seen before... The children who speak English as an additional language particularly enjoyed sessions and singing along, having their own role to fulfil. The children loved the project, all motivated throughout which shows the cross-artform approach works to engage participants. They didn’t know they were learning. Teacher, Clovenstone Primary School … it really stretches my mind, and makes me feel more calm, and, yeah, let all the stress go away. P4 pupil, Canal View Primary School

It makes me feel happy that I’m getting to take part in this, and also makes me feel good about myself. P4 pupil, Canal View Primary School

SCO String Acadamy with SCO Violinist Rachel Smith

DEVELOPING TALENTED YOUNG MUSICIANS

––––––SCO musicians are passionate about engaging with young people through music and in the past year we have worked with over 10,000 young people across Scotland.

One of the programme strands we aim to grow is our work with talented young musicians, and in March 2019 we were proud to launch the SCO String Academy in partnership with St Mary’s Music School – a free initiative for young string players who have reached Grade 6+. Young musicians from all walks of life were invited to spend three Sunday afternoons working alongside SCO musicians to develop their technique, musicianship and orchestral playing. In addition to the enhanced psychological wellbeing that group music-making confers, the project aimed to help participants develop key life skills such as social confidence, teamwork, communication skills, and a sense of accomplishment, in a relaxed but focused environment.

50 string players aged 9-18 from Edinburgh, Midlothian, Fife, Dundee, Clackmannanshire, Falkirk and South Lanarkshire signed up for the course and enjoyed working with conductor Gordon Bragg (SCO Violin) and a team of SCO musicians. At the end of the three afternoons, families and supporters were treated to a delightful performance of music by Sibelius and Rautavaara. We were thoroughly impressed by the focus and motivation of the young musicians who took part and by the positive, friendly atmosphere they helped to create. The feedback from participants and parents told us that the social aspects of the project were very important, as

well as having fun and learning from each other and from the SCO. Plans are now underway for the next course in Autumn 2019. .

It was great fun and I made friends and met lots of interesting, lovely people

Really enjoyed it. I had fun learning the pieces

For me it was more of a social thing as well, to meet new people, to work with professional musicians, be inspired by them, see how their ideas of playing music and getting to know more repertoire ––––––The Wester Hailes Residency is kindly supported by The Castansa Trust, The Robertson Trust, Paul and Clare Rooney, The Christina Mary Hendrie Trust, Mrs Rowena Goffin’s Charitable Trust, The Stevenston Charitable Trust, The Nancie Massey Charitable Trust, Geraldine Kirkpatrick Charitable Trust, Ponton House Trust and Anonymous ––––––SCO String Academy 2019 was kindly supported by The Penpont Charitable Trust and St Mary’s Music School Development Fund. ––––––Masterworks 2019 is kindly supported by The Misses Barrie Charitable Trust, Aberdeen City Council Creative Funding, PF Charitable Trust, Gordon Fraser Charitable Trust, JTH Charitable Trust, The Educational Institute of Scotland and Tay Charitable Trust.