Drake Music Scotland

06/03/2025

Very excited that several of our collaborators and associate artists are involved in the shortlists for Royal Philharmonic Society awards taking place tonight.
Good luck to everyone, but in particular Sarah Lianne Lewis - Composer , Siwan Rhys, The Cumnock Tryst, Scottish Chamber Orchestra

Thanks to are partners for Letting the Light In NMC Recordings and

Thanks to the tireless team at RPS for putting it all together and showcasing the amazing musical activity being produced in the UK.


Thanks to:
PRS Foundation Beyond Borders Programme
Creative Scotland

The Royal Philharmonic Society Awards take place this evening live from Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. We'll celebrate classical music and musicians across the UK telling a vital and uplifting story about classical music's resonance and reach.

You can follow all the action on X and Bluesky .bsky.social from 7.15pm for live updates as we reveal the winners, and join in the conversation and celebrate with us using the hashtag .

Highlights from the show will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 at 7.30pm on 7 March, presented by Andrew McGregor. The film of the whole event will be available to stream freely on our website from 17 March, to see the winners take to the stage and hear performances from some of the nominees.

05/03/2025

Help celebrate International Women's Day with an event not to be missed! Hen Hoose Live at the Paisley Arts Centre in Glasgow on Saturday, March 8 at 7PM!

Buy tickets here: https://renfrewshireboxoffice.ticketsolve.com/ticketbooth/shows/1173660859

Image Description: concert information with a blue and pink image of women throwing hands in the center of a circle

Hen Hoose

25/02/2025

Don't miss out on the early bird rate!

https://figurenotes.org/developing-your-practice/

Image: A class of children play chimes and keyboards using Figurenotes.
Text: Figurenotes: Developing Your Practice. Online Training in Accessible Practices for Music Educators. 14th, 21st, & 28th May, 2025 9:30am-11:30am. Early Bird until 28th Feb. Book Now. Figurenotes.org.

Don't miss out on the early bird rate!

https://figurenotes.org/developing-your-practice/

Image: A class of children play chimes and keyboards using Figurenotes. Text: Figurenotes: Developing Your Practice. Online Training in Accessible Practices for Music Educators. 14th, 21st, & 28th May, 2025 9:30am-11:30am. Early Bird until 28th Feb. Book Now. Figurenotes.org.

21/02/2025

There's only a week left to secure your place at the early bird rate! Our online course is made for music educators and facilitators.

Find out more: https://figurenotes.org/early-bird-training-rate/

Image: A cartoon person sits at a computer on a meeting call. The main screen resembles a teacher with the Drake Music Scotland logo. Around the screen are speech bubbles with Figurenotes notation inside. A guitar rests next to the person sitting at the computer. They are writing on a pad.

Book your place by the end of February to access the early bird rate for our award-winning training for music educators.

11/02/2025

Young people at Braidburn School took part in a project with our Associate Musician, Farhad, this year. Through the project, the class earned an SQA unit at National 1 ICT: Working with Assistive Technologies! 📱🖲

This project was funded through The City of Edinburgh Council from Creative Scotland's Youth Music Initiative Funding.

Image Description 1: A young person sits smiling holding a piece of music technology (a small black box). They are wearing red glasses and a grey fleecy cardigan.

Image Description 2: A young person sits in a wheelchair at a desk in a classroom. They are smiling and playing ThumbJam on an iPad which sits on the desk. They have a white cuddly toy on their lap.

Image Description 3: A young person lies on their front on a red yoga mat on the floor of a classroom. They are playing a piece of music technology (a black bar with four switches along its top).

Image Description 4: A young person sits in a wheelchair and plays Thumbjam on an iPad. Another young person sits on a chair next to them and watches what the first young person is doing. Classroom trays are in the background.

07/02/2025

Here are some shots from the ABO conference today.
Good conversations at our session “less worry, more music”. Focussing on getting more disabled artists creating and performing music in concerts and festivals.
Thanks to Paul Hawkins from Attitude is Everything joining Ben Lunn - Composer and Conductor Thursa & Pete on the panel.

Good to see lots of important sessions about music education and broadening the diversity of orchestras and their work.
Association of British Orchestras
The Glasshouse International Centre for Music
Disabled Artist Network
Creative Scotland
PRS Foundation

01/02/2025

Pete spent a day at RNCM - Royal Northern College of Music as part of RNCM Disabilty week.
Great to meet up with PhD students Alex Chapman and Megan Steinberg and take part in a panel session about accessible instruments, and promoting better access for all disabled musicians and students.
Drake Music Scotland is delighted to be supporting Alex with their research into the auditory experiences of neurodivergent performers and audiences as the industry partner in a Collaborative Doctoral Award!
The OHMI Trust
RNCM Students' Union

30/01/2025

Delighted to share that 'Letting The Light In' by Sarah Lianne Lewis - Composer is nominated in the Chamber Scale Composition category in the Royal Philharmonic Society awards. This piece is part of the our brilliant album project devised by Ben Lunn - Composer and Conductor with collaborators Tŷ Cerdd and NMC Recordings

Find the whole album and 5 more brilliant tracks here - https://soundraiser.io/link/siwan-rhys-letting-the-light-in/

Also great to see our long time collaborators The Cumnock Tryst nominated in the Events & Series Categories!

The recording project was supported by PRS Foundation Beyond Borders
Thanks to Creative Scotland for supporting Drake Music Scotland.

The 2025 shortlists are revealed!

Congratulations to all this year's shortlistees who represent so many outstanding musical individuals, groups and initiatives inspiring communities across the UK.

The RPS Awards celebrate classical music and musicians across the country, telling a vital and uplifting story about classical music's resonance and reach. Discover more about all the nominees in our news story: https://royalphilharmonicsociety.org.uk/rps_today/news/2025-rps-awards-shortlists-announced

The RPS Awards will be presented at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire on Thursday 6 March at 7.15pm. The event will feature live performances from some of this year's nominees, hosted by BBC Radio 3's Jess Gillam and Tom McKinney. Everyone's invited to join in and be part of the celebration - with all tickets priced from £10-30.

The RPS Awards can only happen thanks to a range of dedicated supporters. We are especially grateful to this year's Principal Supporters - BBC Radio 3, ABRSM, BBC Music Magazine, Dorico from Steinberg and PRS for Music - as well as those supporting individual awards: https://royalphilharmonicsociety.org.uk/awards/rps_music_awards/supporters

📸 Pictured clockwise from top left: Streetwise Opera, Isata Kanneh-Mason, Sally Beamish, Dinis Sousa, RNCM - Royal Northern College of Music’s The Future is Green, Scottish Chamber Orchestra

29/01/2025

It was great to visit our Digital Orchestra: Edinburgh project last week at Castlebrae School to see how the group are getting on. Here are some photos from the session with young people playing iPad with Figurenotes on ThumbJam, Keyboards with Figurenotes and CMPSR by Digit Music.

Tomorrow evening we will find out if award nominated Digital Orchestra: Youth programme wins Excellence in SEND at the Music Teacher Magazine Music and Drama Awards. Wish us luck!!

Digital Orchestra Youth in Edinburgh greatly receives funding from Creative Scotland, Pear Tree Foundation and McGlashan Trust to ensure the regular sessions are able to continue.



Image Descriptions:
1 - The group play together. Associate Musician, Katie sits at a desk with a keyboard leading the session. Next to her is Associate Musician, Clare in a wheelchair playing iPad. Next to Clare are 3 young people, two playing iPads and one singing into a microphone.
2. Associate Musician, Clare and two young people are playing Figurenotes on Thumbjam on iPad.
3. Close up of the same two you people playing Thumbjam on iPad with Figurenotes
4. Young person singing into a microphone
5. Young person sitting on the steps of the hall playing a small keyboard with Figurenotes
6. Young person sits with full concentration playing Thumbjam on iPad with Figurenotes
7. Two young people playing Thumbjam on iPad with Figurenotes and one young person playing CMPSR while hugging a cushion.

24/01/2025

We had a lovely morning yesterday in John Fergus School in Fife. Our Associate Musician, Fiona firstly delivered session to an individual who really enjoys a more sensory approach, before a group of students performed to their classmates and teachers. The group performed two signed songs, 'I Love My Planet' and 'One, Two, Three, Open Your Eyes And See'. Thank you for such a wonderful and welcoming morning.

This project is part of our project funded by Fife Council through Creative Scotland.



Image Descriptions: 5 young people and 3 staff members are sitting signing songs with Fiona facing them at the keyboard. The young people are wearing earth and heart images around their necks for the themes of the songs.

Second image is a purple hued photo of Fiona, a young person in a wheelchair and her support. Fiona is holding some sensory lights on a rain drum.

23/01/2025

Due to the red weather warning in place in several areas across the country tomorrow (Friday 24th January), we have decided to reschedule all MusicSPACE sessions to another day. There will therefore be no MusicSPACE sessions on Friday 24th January. Normal scheduling will resume next week.

Image Description: A screenshot of the red weather warning information from the Met Office website. Edinburgh has a red warning for wind from 10am to 5pm on Friday 24th January. Things to expect include: flying debris resulting in danger to life, large waves being thrown on to coastal roads, very dangerous driving conditions with fallen trees on roads, power cuts, damage to buildings and homes, roads, bridges and railway lines closed and delays to public transport.

13/01/2025

We are teaming up with our colleagues to survey disabled artists in Scotland about their training needs. Please share widely - deadline Monday 3rd February Disabled Artist Network

Take this survey powered by surveymonkey.com. Create your own surveys for free.

08/01/2025

We've had a lovely time with our new Associate Musician, Tilly, this week. Tilly is taking on some of our projects this year so came into the office for some training on Figurenotes and music tech. 🔴🟨🟢🟦 ThumbJam

We are running 60 LEARN projects in 12 local authorities across the country this year. The projects are funded by Creative Scotland's Youth Music Initiative Funding.

13/12/2024

Please nominate Drake Music Scotland in the Benefact Group Movement for Good Draw. We could be in to receive £1,000 with your nomination. Visit the link below to nominate us now.

https://movementforgood.com/index.php?cn=SC026908&ct=disability&i=1734086999-32793.gif&utm_source=holiday+card&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=M4G2024card&utm_id=M4G2024card

Image Description: An animated elf wearing green holding lots of presents and smiling. Next to that is the Drake Music Scotland Loog and words that read "Wishing our friends and supporters and Happy Christmas. Please nominate us to win £1,000 today! then the Benefact Group logo and Movement for Good Logo.

30/11/2024

Looking forward to Southside Community Orchestra’s Christmas Concert next Monday at Southside Community Centre with donations kindly being collected for us! Thanks so much for your support and we wish you all the best for the concert! 🎻🎻🎄🎄

27/11/2024

Great news for Clarion users. You can now access Figurenotes colours and patterns within the instrument. “Figurenotes is an incredible resource, and we’re thrilled that it’s now accessible to musicians who play Clarion. We hope this will create new opportunities for many more musicians to make...

25/11/2024

Less than 2 weeks until the closing date for our Digital Orchestra: Youth recruitment.

We're looking to recruit 2 organised and locally based Centre Coordinators to look after our Edinburgh and North East centres to work alongside our delivering musicians. Closing date 6th December at 5pm

All information on how to apply can be found in our Guidance Document and Application form that can be found on our website: https://drakemusicscotland.org/get-involved/vacancies/

Image Description: Digital Orchestra: Youth. Are you one of our new Centre Coordinators? We are recruiting for two organised individuals to look after our sessions in Stonehaven and Edinburgh. Digital Orchestra: North East - Wednesday evenings 3.30pm-5pm based in Stonehaven. Digital Orchestra: Edinburgh - Thursday evenings 3.30pm-5.30pm in Craigmillar, Edinburgh.

14/11/2024

Young people at Lochgilphead Joint Campus took part in a project with our Associate Musician, Ron, last year. They formed a band, G-TwentyEighters, and performed their original music in front of the school! 🎸

This project was funded through Argyll and Bute Council from Creative Scotland's Youth Music Initiative Funding.