Another great workshop with Drake Music Scotland last Thursday saw a well-balanced mix of trad and technology with three musicians from each organisation exploring how to work together . We started with an improvisation round a given set of notes, tried out some scored pieces by Drake’s Clare Johnston, and went exploring with Hector the […]

We just had another brilliant Distil Residential in New Lanark. Thanks to all the participants and workshop leaders. Next stop Distil Showcase! Below are some photos from the event.

I can’t believe one year has passed and it is now nearly time for our Distil Residential! In 2002 thanks to the then Scottish Arts Council (SAC) and PRS Foundation we hosted our first residential. Dave Francis and I had an idea to make a National Scottish traditional music orchestra (or something like that) and we went […]

We really enjoyed our workshop with Drake Music Scotland on Friday 12th June in Edinburgh. The idea of the workshop was to work on making traditional music that was totally inclusive and could be performed by musicians with disabilities. Attending the workshop was for Distil was Karen Marshalsay, Alana MacInnes and Simon Thoumire. Attending for […]

Dressing up in lavish costumes, playing music upside down, shouting at the audience and someone dancing to Webern – a Mr McFall’s Chamber concert is not your average night out. But neither is this your average chamber group. Over the years, McFalls has performed everything from Astor Piazzolla to Frank Zappa, from Puccini to Captain […]

Last Wednesday 6th May was our second Distil Scratch Band day. Four composers were getting the chance to try out ideas writing for drums, piano, double bass and fiddle. The day wasn’t about writing a complete piece of music but more about learning how to notate the music so it could be performed by any […]