Live Music Now Scotland at 40
Live Music Now Scotland’s 40th Birthday
Two years ago I heard a guitar recital by Jacopo Lazzaretti while attending the Haematology Day Ward in the Western General Hospital. Some months later, when I first met Carol Main, she told me that Live Music Now Scotland had been contacted by Dr Peter Johnson, consultant haematologist, who was overseeing the refit of the new wards. He saw music as important in the healing process, and in 2020, Carol accepted his invitation to visit the building work still in progress which necessitated wearing a hard hat and a mask! It was worth the effort: the pilot sessions in which I’d heard Pablo, Sophie Rocks and others received favourable feedback and weekly recitals are still going on. A friend recently told me how much she’d enjoyed the unexpected treat of a concert during her routine visit to the day ward.
Live Music Now Scotland was founded forty years ago and is celebrating its birthday with a number of special events. Carol Main has run the charity since the beginning, and when we met today, she spoke about its origins, its dual purpose, and its plans for the future. She is an enthusiastic ambassador for the organisation, which continues to bring music to people who have limited access to it, and to support young musicians in the crucial early stages of their careers.
Yehudi Menuhin founded Live Music Now in England in 1977. He had never forgotten seeing the transforming power of music when playing for those who’d suffered trauma at the end of the second world war. Also as a teacher of young musicians, he recognised their need to start their working lives in meaningful paid employment. When Carol first worked at the Live Music Now Scotland seven years later, her job was a half-day add-on to her existing employment with the National Association of Youth Orchestras. It’s grown a lot since then: LMNS now supports around 145 musicians, working in 45 solo or ensemble acts, who put on 750 performances a year. Astonishingly all this is accomplished with four full-time-equivalent staff (two full-time and five working 2 days a week)
The musicians, who specialise in classical, folk, jazz or other popular musical styles, are chosen by audition, and must commit to working with the organisation for four years. Most of their work takes place with children, in schools or organisations for young people with special needs, and with the elderly, in care homes or day care. Work in rural schools is often tied in with LMNS’s partnerships with festivals or music groups – for example, a project based in Duns Primary school, run in conjunction with Music at Paxton has recently led to a school concert. At a school outreach event in Skye, where LMNS works with Skye Chamber Music, a pupil explained that she had never heard classical music before and loved it. The children’s experience is enhanced, but so too is the experience of the musicians. Carol points out that after intense but isolating practice sessions during their education, young musicians have to start relating to their audiences – the key, she says, is interaction. Working with small groups of elderly patients, some with dementia, requires careful preparation of the programme, and flexibility in presentation. Informal settings and the opportunity for relaxed communication are beneficial to the musicians as well as their audience. LMNS is involved in activities in all of Scotland’s 32 local authorities, sometimes provided by their own returning musicians - recently native Shetlanders, harpist, Sophie Rocks and pianist, Amy Laurenson (2023 BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year) took part in LMNS events while each was visiting home.
LMNS’s partnerships with the St Magnus Festival and Music at Paxton, the National Galleries of Scotland, and the Usher Hall allow musicians to play to larger audiences, sometimes in grander settings, and perfect different types of presentation skills. The artists are also supported through a range of mentoring and presentations on the practicalities of their jobs. “We teach them what the conservatoires don’t,” Carol says. As well as learning about audience engagement, they can take workshops on the business aspects of self-employment, the one on filling up tax returns being especially popular. They find out about marketing, including in the intriguingly named session on being a ‘Fixer’s Friend’ – getting in touch with the person in the orchestra or opera company who might find you a playing opportunity. A former LMNS alumna, now a music therapist provides mindfulness training. Musicians are free to take on engagements other than those directly organised by LMNS, and in these cases, the organisation negotiates a fee.
From the beginning, Live Music Now has developed overseas. Menuhin started German and Austrian branches, and Carol has helped set up organisations in other European countries, including France and Lithuania. A Mexican-Scottish link was established last year when LMNS alumnus, Mexican guitarist Morgan Szymanski invited Scottish fiddler, Roo Geddes, to Mexico to work with him and guitarist Lavinia Negrete in a programme for rural schools. Music at Paxton hosts a reunion of the three players at 5pm on 23rd July – free tickets for this exciting event are still available on the Paxton website. In November, LMNS hosts for the first time the biennial international conference for fellow organisations in the rest of the UK and Europe.
Over the years many participants have gone on to a career in music, as solo singers and instrumentalists, within orchestras and opera houses, and in teaching. Famous alumni of Live Music Now in the UK include tenor Jamie MacDougall, Gaelic singer Mary Ann Kennedy, pianists Malcolm Martineau and Llyr Williams, and more recently two mezzos, now establishing international careers, Beth Taylor and the Glasgow-trained Bulgarian singer Svetlina Stoyanova.
The first of four 40th Anniversary celebrations took place in Kirkwall at the end of June, where Orkney’s St Magnus Festival has held LMNS public concerts and facilitated community outreach for a number of years. A further event is planned at Paxton House later this month, and Kirkcaldy Old Kirk, which is the home for the Tea and Tunes series for older people, has a special birthday tea in November. And in March 2025 LMNS’s work in collaboration with Skye Chamber Music culminates in a special public performance by Duo Beausoleil from LMN Munich.
Finally Carol is delighted to speak about the newest addition to the LMNS programme, Pathways, which provides extra support for musicians with disabilities. Ethan Loch, the blind pianist, who won the keyboard final of the BBC Young Musician of the Year in 2022 was one of the first participants on the pilot programme. Among those attending an informal gathering last November to attract other musicians to the scheme was traditional fiddler, David Nicholson, who is autistic and lives in Balcurvie in Fife. He was invited to join Pathways, and you can read more about him and his music here: David Nicholson – Live Music Now Scotland. In June Carol and he were delegates at an international conference on Equity in Music in Sofia. His conference speech seems to sum up what LMNS provides for its musicians and audiences.
“I was born and brought up in a little village in Fife. I grew up on a smallholding and to this day I take great pleasure in helping my dad do tractor work and other jobs there. It makes me proud to be a country boy. I come from a musical family and I started playing the violin (fiddle) at the age of 10 which is 24 years ago. I was diagnosed with being on the Autism Spectrum at secondary school and since then it has been a journey to rebuild myself and to have the confidence to be true to my authentic self.
I want to take this opportunity to speak about being a musician on the Live Music Now Scotland Pathways Scheme. This is a fabulous scheme which gives disabled musicians the chance to not only develop their career but to also perform with other musicians and to play music in a wide variety of settings in Scotland and beyond. This is important because far too many disabled musicians do not have access to opportunities to perform or to develop their musical skills and talent. I started on the scheme in February of this year. To get the news that I was on the scheme was a truly joyful moment. I was very fortunate to be able to choose two musicians to accompany me during some performances and I could not have chosen better. It is pleasure to have Megan MacDonald on accordion and Calum McIlroy on guitar to be with me over the coming period of time. They have been very understanding of myself, of my autism and have made me feel very positive and relaxed.
Our first performance was at my old Primary School in Fife in late April and that was a very powerful moment in my musical career. As an autistic musician to get the chance to go back to my old school and play some tunes was incredible. It brought back many memories and highlighted to me how far I have come in life. It boosted my confidence and made me realise that I can and will succeed. This is what makes the Pathways scheme so important. It gives musicians like me the chance to build confidence, it gives us opportunities to showcase our talents, to perform with other people and to bring joy to people who do not have easy access to musical performances. I cannot commend the scheme enough and I would love to see schemes like this replicated across Europe and beyond.”
