Education Tour 2

Alasdair Nicolson, Lise Aferiat and Donnie Gillan are now half-way through our Education Tour of the Western Isles. Everyone arrived safely on Monday by air and ferry, and we arrived at The Nicolson Institute ready and rearing to go. Despite the security overload and the whole school going completely batty with the visit by Princess Anne we managed to start off our Composition Workshops with the visiting pupils from the Isle of Harris. (We unfortunately weren't invited to join her for tea :( ) The Masterclasses in the evening proved a great success, with 'cello, violin and piano pupils from all over Lewis and Harris making the most of having visiting professional musicians to give them extra advice. It was also lovely to meet with the local Music Teachers and have a chat about what's happening in the schools and communities in the area.

Day 2 saw the pupils from both Harris and Lewis coming together for more composition workshops. During the sessions they were given the opportunity for the musicians to play back their ideas as they were writing them - making suggestions for how to write for violin and 'cello. It was exciting to see the growing confidence in the pupils as the day went on, and by the end they were instructing the musicians on how exactly to play what they were intending. After a quick goodbye to the staff and pupils, we were off in the car for an incredibly picturesque drive to make our ferry connection from Leverburgh to Berneray. After a perfectly smooth twilight crossing, we arrived at our hotel ready to sample the local produce - delicious cockles, salmon and scallops. We're now excited to meet the pupils coming together this morning from Barra and Benbecula. More budding composers...