New music project is striking the right note

From Carna to Kinvara, from New Inn to Athenry, 200 young people from music schools and youth orchestras all over Galway are getting a unique opportunity to learn first-hand about what’s involved in composing classical and traditional music in an innovative eight-month project which will come to fruition in the city in May.

The students have been working with Scottish musician and composer James Ross, writing and rehearsing original pieces, which they will perform at a gala concert in Seapoint on May 10.

This scheme is the brainchild of the Galway Music Education Partnership, which was set up in 2011, involving all the main music schools in the county, led by the Galway Roscommon Education and Training Board (GRETB – formerly the VEC).

Last year they appointed James Ross as Composer in Residence for Galway, teaching young people what’s involved in the process of musical composition from the first notes to the final performance.

James’s diverse musical background makes him ideal for this job. He grew up in Wick in the Scotland Highlands and the first instrument he played was the piano accordion. Later he studied classical music, specialising in piano, and went on to train in music school in Glasgow.

On a Thursday evening in Athenry, James is bounding with energy as he takes to the piano, where he is conducting members of Athenry Youth Orchestra  in conjunction with their leader, Katharine Mannion. The youngsters, from seven up, are playing fiddles, violas, cellos, bass and wind instruments, and following instructions with ease as they rehearse the piece that they have composed with James for the Seapoint concert.

James has a history of working with young people and on community music projects in Scotland and Australia.  Last year he composed the soundtrack for Theatre Workshop Scotland’s film, The Happy Lands – a BBC film developed and created with members of the Fife mining community

He was in Melbourne last July, working with young people from Scotland and Australia when he saw the ad for the Galway position.

The job description appealed to him and he was aware of the strong, shared musical legacy between Scotland and Ireland, as he has an MA from the World Music Centre in the University of Limerick. The fact that his musician girlfriend is from Cork was an added draw, he says with a laugh.

Out of nine applicants, the Music Education Partnership shortlisted three for interview. According to Louise Ryan, GRETB Youth Officer, who has nurtured this project from the start, James was outstanding.

“We asked him how he’d feel about working with different groups of young people whom he had never met, both composing and rehearsing. He was so enthusiastic and had so many ideas. And he had done projects with young people previously,” she explains.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.