I was delighted to receive funding towards the costs of putting on workshops for the young people on the Isle of Arran as part of my winter tour in December.

These workshops were available to all high school students who played an instrument, traditional or otherwise and we had 30 participants.

The workshops were a huge success with Charlie Stewart teaching fiddle, Graeme Armstrong teaching guitar/multi instrument accompaniment and myself teaching the pipers. It was clear that the young people engaged with the new instructors.

The pipers learned a new tune to perform at the evening concert and also a couple of short melodies by ear which was a new experience and a different way of thinking. The fiddles and accompanists performed together playing two brand new tunes they had learned at the workshop and working on arrangement styles together as well.

Using the grant from the Gordon Duncan Memorial Trust allowed the musicians giving the workshop to be paid fairly and to offset the some of the costs of travel.

This is a model of workshop/performance in smaller local areas that I’d like to build in the future.

Thanks for everything that you do GDMT!