Stirling success for classical music scheme

…since 2008 an audacious project to change the future for Raploch’s young people by immersing them in classical music has been working with 80% of children at nursery and primary schools. And now a new report commissioned by the Scottish government has concluded that the project, Sistema Scotland, has the potential “to achieve social transformation”…

The programme is based on the Venezuelan El Sistema, the celebrated music-education and social-inclusion project founded in the 1970s, which has produced musicians such as Gustavo Dudamel, the music director of the LA Philharmonic, and the acclaimed Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra

Sistema Scotland has 388 children involved, of whom 90 have joined the Big Noise Orchestra, playing music together for up to 20 hours a week, and receiving intensive tuition from experienced musicians…

The scheme costs £474,000 a year, with 11% of the funding coming from public sources, including Stirling council. The organisers of Sistema Scotland are now keen to increase fundraising efforts to establish versions of the scheme in other parts of the country, and aim to be working with two more communities in the next two years.

Scottish culture minister Fiona Hyslop said: “This evaluation shows that Sistema Scotland’s Big Noise Orchestra is a great cultural experience for the children involved, which is having a positive impact on their lives. They are learning through creativity and aspiring to be part of something bigger.”

Full story: Stirling success for classical music scheme | Music | The Guardian.

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