Sgoil Chiùil na Gàidhealtachd Annual Tour 2012

14th May 2012

The National Centre of Excellence in Traditional Music, Plockton High School, West Ross, is pleased to announce the dates for their whole school tour, with shows in Ullapool, Tain, Wick and Strathpeffer before the tour concludes with the final concert at Plockton.

The concerts will feature the 24 students in 7 bands, and also playing all together in a powerful finale. The Centre teaches accordion, clarsach, fiddle, pipes, piano, guitar, whistle, flute, and Scots and Gaelic song, and all of these will feature strongly on the programme. All of the youngsters are multi-talented and there are a few other instruments involved as well, so there really is something for everybody in the show.

There will be local support acts at most of the shows, and the students will also do schools workshops as part of the tour. The performance details are:

Monday 18th June, 7:30 p.m.: MacPhail Centre, Ullapool. Tickets £7/£3, tel. 01854 613336. www.macphailcentre.co.uk

Tuesday 19th June, 7:30 p.m.: Tain Royal Academy (with Gizzen Briggs). Tickets: £5/£3, on the door

Wednesday 20th June, 7.30 p.m.: MacKays Hotel, Wick (with The Young Traditionals).
Tickets: £5 / £3, telephone: 01955 631243

Thursday 21st June, 8.00 p.m.: Strathpeffer Pavilion. Tickets: £7/£3, telephone: 01997 420124. www.strathpefferpavilion.org

Saturday 23rd June, 7:30 p.m.: Plockton High School. Tickets: £7/£3, tel. 01599 544706. www.musicplockton.org

Since the National Centre of Excellence in Traditional Music was established at Plockton High School in May 2000, it has become renowned as a place where talented young traditional musicians can develop their skills. Its students learn playing and singing (both live and in the studio, composing and arranging, the history and context of traditional music, stagecraft, music technology, and all the other diverse skills which go to make up a modern professional musician.

Leavers are well equipped for further study or a career in music, but the Centre is not merely a hothouse for professional musicians. Many of its leavers have followed other career paths, but take their music with them wherever they go in life.

Admission to the Centre is by audition, and successful candidates receive top quality tuition and participate in a wide range of extra-curricular activities related to traditional music. There is a busy performing schedule, and the Centre makes a CD every year.

Further information is available from Centre Director Dougie Pincock on 01599 544706 or dougie.pincock[AT]highland.gov.uk