Press Release: Singing Workshop across the country in January
Get together with other singers in the area to celebrate new Scottish songs based on Burns
Scotland Sings is running harmony singing workshops across Scotland over Burns Weekend, working with some of the top singing leaders in the country. Workshops will be held in Dingwall, Lochgilphead, Alloway, Peebles and Perth.
You don’t have to be in a choir to join in, there are no auditions and you don’t have to be able to read music. Just come along on the day with energy and enthusiasm and you’ll go home having met new people and learned some songs to brighten up the dark nights.
Scotland Sings is a project devised by Hands up for Trad, the organisation that promotes Scottish traditional music. It commissioned two songwriters, Kim Edgar and Findlay Napier, to choose Burns songs and rewrite contemporary versions especially for the workshops. I Will Not Say Goodbye and Petals of a Red, Red Rose pay tribute to the legacy of Burns songs while bringing them into the 21st century.
Alison Burns, Scotland Sings Coordinator, said, “The workshops are part of a four year project to get more people singing together wherever they are in Scotland. The great thing is that everyone will be in the same boat as the songs we’ll be learning are brand new. There will be a warm welcome for everyone, whether you sing every week in a choir, haven’t sung for years or you usually just sing in the shower!”
The winning song in the recent Gaelic songwriting competition run by Scotland Sings will also be sung on the day in three of the workshops. Based on the myth of the water horse, an t-Each Uisge, David MacLennan’s winning song will be arranged and recorded by Mary Ann Kennedy, a well known figure in the Scottish trad music scene.
The new songs will be some of the first in our Renewing the Tradition downloadable songbook, which will be available to choirs across Scotland. It’s all part of Scotland Sings’ aims to increase the number of people singing, keep traditional music alive and make it relevant to singers today.
The cost for the day is £10 per person with a free place when you make a group booking for ten people.
More information and booking details can be found here:
http://projects.handsupfortrad.scot/scotlandsings/renewing-the-tradition-january-2015/
ENDS
Press contact: Alison Burns, Scotland Sings Coordinator
alison@aliburns.co.uk/ 01556 503 646 / 07801 244 867