posted by Louise Kirby, YMI Coordinator, Children & Learning, Schools & Learning

Burnside Primary P4- P7 received an 8 week Introduction to Scottish Music project delivered by musician Will Marshall. The Outcome for this project was for the young people increase their awareness of music and culture across Scotland, the UK and the world.  This project was funded by Youth Music Initiative.

The project showed and demonstrated various Scottish instruments played in Scottish music and they had the opportunity to try playing a small accordion.

They learnt about the 4 main Scottish rhythms and chords. Demonstrate Reels, Jigs, Strathspeys and Waltzes, and how to tell the difference.  They explored the chord groups, Major, Minor, 7th and Diminished and the pupils learnt how to recognise these from the sounds demonstrated.  Pupils learned Scottish and Gaelic songs and explored the stories behind these and what they meant.   They also learnt some basic Gaelic and learnt the Virginia Reel ceilidh dance.

Pupils feedback – ‘It makes me feel good about myself as we get to learn more, because I’ve never learnt any of this before, it’s more than just music.’ Pupils said they’d learnt –

They different rhythms – watermelon, chickens feet, haggis and sausages, oompa pa by playing the corner game.  Learnt Virginia Reel the dance.  How to say goodbye in Gaelic and count up to 5.  I recognise the happy, sad and scary chords.

Class teachers rated the quality of this project saying it was good, ‘Will had a good insight into the children and activities and learning were age and stage appropriate and children learnt about the music of Scotland.‘

Will Marshall Muscian ‘What a brilliant project to be involved with. I loved I could demonstrate with my accordion exactly what I was teaching and making it fun for them’