Pandemic fails to silence Mull Music Makers

from Mull & Iona Life #42 Summer 2021

Mega effort from Mull children

It has been over a year since parent-led project Mull Music Makers has been able to hold workshops in person but a virtual solution has hit the right note for now.

Usually a team of specialist music educators and violin instructors travel across to Mull from the mainland to teach around 40 youngsters at monthly workshops on the island, but when the virus brought that to a halt, the project went online instead so youngsters could still access live musicianship sessions and violin lessons.

Before lockdown and going on line, Mull Music makers use to hold monthly in-person workshops

The project has grown since going online last May to see new virtual ensemble sessions set up in some of the island’s schools and youngsters compose their own parts for a new Sounds of Mull creative piece premiered at a virtual summer concert in July.

‘Our main aim was to keep the learning going – the last thing we wanted after years of boosting the number of young people playing musical instruments on the island was for youngsters to

start giving up,’ said Laura Mandleberg, who is the project leader.

She added: ‘While there have been many challenges, poor internet being the main one – and lots of snapped strings! – there have defi nitely been lots

of positives “too. Youngsters have had to take more responsibility for their learning for example, tuning their own instruments, recording themselves practicing and playing along to click tracks. It has also been great working more closely with the island’s schools.’

This term youngsters have also been learning the Skerryvore tune, Everyday Heroes, which was written and recorded remotely by the band during the fi rst lockdown in April, and pays tribute to all of the NHS staff, care workers, volunteers and key workers helping the nation through the coronavirus pandemic.

Laura said: ‘The project has been using this beautiful song to draw inspiration and musical ideas from all the different age groups on the project, including our new starts.’ The plan is for the Mull Music Makers to come together at the end of the project with a shared creative performance.

The youngest of the groups have also been busy creating their own lyrics to sing along.

Here is their last verse: ‘And the music lifts us upwards though we cannot sing together this will not last forever and that fi lls us all with hope.’

Front man Martin Gillespie

said the band was delighted and honoured that Mull Music Makers had decided to use Everyday Heroes. Laura added: ‘Music-making will never be the same through the computer screen and teaching remotely can’t ever replace faceOur main aim to-face learning, but the last year has taught us that there was to keep the is a lot that can be done learning going. online if we are creative and this is especially valuable for remote island communities – good internet depending!’ The project hopes to still be able to run this year’s summer school in July and to go ahead with Mull Fiddle Week in August, celebrating local fi ddle traditions and aiming to inspire young people to enjoy and take part in traditional music. To read more about the Mull Music Makers project visit its Facebook Page or contact laura_mandleberg@ hotmail.com

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