{"id":1810,"date":"2015-11-01T22:38:39","date_gmt":"2015-11-01T22:38:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/scotstradmusicawards\/?p=1810"},"modified":"2015-11-02T23:54:04","modified_gmt":"2015-11-02T23:54:04","slug":"mg-alba-scots-trad-music-awards-2015-the-small-hall-band","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/scotstradmusicawards\/mg-alba-scots-trad-music-awards-2015-the-small-hall-band\/","title":{"rendered":"MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards 2015: The Small Hall Band"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Small-Hall-Band\"Congratulations to The Small Hall Band who have been nominated in Community Project of the Year sponsored by Gordon Duncan Memorial Trust in the MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards 2015. Vote now!<\/a><\/p>\n

We asked Liz Marroni of The Small Hall Band the following questions.<\/p>\n

Tell us about yourself<\/strong>
\nThe Small Hall Band began in 1995, (long before our current members were born !) started by a small group of families who enjoyed playing Scottish Traditional music. Joining in is free, the only requirements being an interest in learning and playing traditional music and a willingness to give time, and have fun participating in concerts, ceilidhs, and music sessions. Parents have always been involved both as musicians and as organisational helpers, particularly with transport, although many have also learned instruments. Band members and families \/ friends come from different areas in the Scottish Borders, and North Northumberland as we are situated just outside Coldstream on the River Tweed\u2019s border with England. Our monthly practices are always highly sociable, with home made cakes featuring strongly. <\/p>\n

Over the years the band has expanded and has a sufficiently large repertoire to sustain varied and excellent concerts and lively family ceilidhs. The Band has played in over 100 different venues, many of them small village halls, across the South East of Scotland, North Northumberland and beyond, bringing traditional music, song and ceilidh dancing to many communities and hopefully inspiring others to join. At times the band has had as many as 39 folks on stage, mostly between the ages of 7 and 17, plus some adults. Our present band of about 26-30 comprise fiddle, flute, whistle, piano, guitar, banjo, cajon and mandolin players.<\/p>\n

Although membership has naturally changed over the years, many of the original members, including several who are now established professional musicians, working internationally, – Innes Watson, Lori Watson, Carly Blain, Christina Marroni, keep in regular touch and still play with us on occasions. Many others continue their involvement with music in their own families and other circumstances \u2013 including Andrew Waite, Chris Waite, Lillias Kinsman Blake and Rachel Cross.<\/p>\n

Why are you involved in Scottish music?<\/strong>
\nScottish Ceilidh dancing is a great social activity for all ages. Our Family Ceilidhs have always been well-attended lively celebrations, whether as part of festivals, local community events, charity fundraisers or school European Exchange visits. The band\u2019s long term involvement with The Border Gaitherin \u2013Coldstream, in May each year, has brought the music and dance to a wider audience, many from outwith Scotland. <\/p>\n

Our concerts also raise others\u2019 awareness of the vibrancy and quality of Scottish Traditional music. Several of the members have been finalists in the Scottish Burns Federation annual competitions and some now also bring a Scottish dimension to \u2018Folkestra\u2019 and The Ranters. Over the years the band has had a constant stream of winners at local folk festivals.
\n\u2018Passing on the tradition\u2019 has also been a feature of the band. Over the years, ex-Small Hall Band members have given us workshops – Lori Watson, Innes Watson, Lillias Kinsman Blake & Shona Mooney (The Shee), Carly Blain, and of course, one of our favourite guys, Chris Stout (not a previous SHB member, obviously!). They continue to inspire the current band to enjoy the music, to perform at their best and to create new tunes and arrangements. Already, we have now welcomed a much younger group referred to as \u2018The Small Hall Bandits\u2019 led by an older band member. Some of our older teenage members have also branched out to follow their own musical paths.<\/p>\n

Any particular career highlights?<\/strong>
\nOver the years the band has played at several prestigious events and locations, too numerous to list, but including a concert at the Millennium Dome in 2000; events at the Ecole Musical de Vif (Grenoble, France) in 2001 (with a return visit in 2003 and 2015).
\nThe current band members have been involved in the following :-
\nIn 2012 and 2014 the band helped to raise over \u00a31000 for the Isle of Muck new community hall.
\nA concert in Uyeasound, Unst, Shetland in 2013 contributed to a local charity as well as being a thoroughly memorable week !
\nMore recently the band were playing for these events:
\n2013 September – \u2018Folk Rockin\u2019 at Flodden 2013;
\n2014 July \u2013 Celebratory arrival of the Commonwealth Games torch to Scotland at Coldstream.
\n2014 November – Afternoon Recital at the |Scots Fiddle Festival
\n2015 June \u2013 Full morning workshop with Chris Stout – fantastic !
\n2015 August – Supporting concert band for visiting musicians from Grenoble, France
\n2015 September – Concert \u2013 \u2018Berwick Waite and Sea\u2019 project.<\/p>\n

What are your plans for the future?<\/strong>
\nThe current band have busy lives with many other commitments outwith school, but are still keen to enjoy coming together to perform and practice. They also continue to support other festivals at Newcastleton, Innerleithen, Edinburgh and Hexham Youth Gaitherings and Tinto Summer School.
\nAll our funds are raised through concerts and ceilidhs, and over the years have covered the costs of three CD\u2019s made for families and friends :- \u2018\u2019 Cakes & Ceilidh\u201d, and \u2018Small Hall Band All-Stars\u2019. Our third one, recorded in June 2015, as yet un-named, should be out in November 2015.
\nDiscussions about a Summer Tour in 2016 have commenced. We would also hope to be able to play at Celtic Connections soon and would also love to go to other countries.<\/p>\n

My family and myself have been involved since the beginning with The Small Hall Band and I still continue as \u2018Musical co-ordinator\u2019. It continues to be a great privilege for me to be associated with such aspiring young musicians and to see them develop both musically and personally through their commitment to the band.
\nLiz Marroni, October 2016<\/p>\n

Read more about The Small Hall Band<\/a>
\nhttp:\/\/www.smallhallband.stinge.com\/#<\/a>
\nFacebook: https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/thesmallhallband?fref=ts<\/a>
\nTwitter: http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

If you would like to come along to the MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards in Dundee’s Caird Hall call the Caird Hall box office on (01382) 434940 or buy online<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Congratulations to The Small Hall Band who have been nominated in Community Project of the Year sponsored by Gordon Duncan Memorial Trust in the MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards 2015. Vote now! We asked Liz Marroni of The Small Hall Band the following questions. Tell us about yourself The Small Hall Band began in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1811,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,13,18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1810","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"category-nominee","9":"category-nominee-2015","10":"entry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/scotstradmusicawards\/files\/2015\/10\/Small-Hall-Band.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/scotstradmusicawards\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/scotstradmusicawards\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/scotstradmusicawards\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/scotstradmusicawards\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/scotstradmusicawards\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1810"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/scotstradmusicawards\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1810\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1812,"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/scotstradmusicawards\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1810\/revisions\/1812"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/scotstradmusicawards\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/scotstradmusicawards\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/scotstradmusicawards\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/scotstradmusicawards\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}