Students join Scottish Orchestra and perform well-loved piece

Joshua and Philippa Kind, in Years 10 and 8, are having great fun performing with the Nevis Ensemble, a Scottish Orchestra. Their connection with the group came about by chance, at the start of the lockdown, when their Mum read a piece on the Guardian website headlined ‘’Scottish orchestra seeks musicians for online performance’.

Mrs Kind said: “Knowing how much Joshua and Philippa love playing in the school orchestra and concert band, and their disappointment that they aren’t able to do so at this time, I mentioned the opportunity to them. It came as no surprise that they were both eager to be involved. It’s a great opportunity which they are really enjoying while gaining valuable experience.

“There seem to be a lot of similar orchestras around at the moment, which is great. The Nevis Ensemble is very inclusive, with musicians, non-musicians and even a dog!”

It has taken a couple of months for the project to come to fruition – primarily because the group received an unexpected response of 160 pieces, so it took a little longer than anticipated to edit and put everything together. Their first performance is ‘I’m gonna be (500 miles)’ by The Proclaimers, you can watch and listen to the video here

Joshua and Philippa commented: “We thoroughly enjoyed playing ‘500 Miles’ . We practised it many times together and had quite a few reruns of recording it – particularly Philippa who kept laughing during the piece! The challenge was a lot of fun and it was something to do in these strange times. It also reminded us of the enjoyable times we have with the concert band and orchestra. We are looking forward to the next one.”

Since it was founded in 2018, Scotland’s award-winning Nevis Ensemble has specialised in bringing music to unexpected settings and remote communities. The coronavirus pandemic prompted the launch of the Living Room Ensemble, with the aim of putting together a series of performances by musicians, and music lovers, across the country, played at home and then broadcast together online.

Over the next month the orchestra is encouraging people to submit videos of themselves playing instruments, banging pots and pans, singing along or dancing to the same piece of music. Musicians and non-musicians are welcome to take part, and sheet music can be downloaded from the website. To find out more about the Nevis Ensemble visit their website  here